OUR LADY OF MERCY

Day 172: October 31

Our Lady of Mercy, Banchette di Bioglio, Biella, Italy

The Sanctuary of the "Madonna della Misericordia" (Our Lady of Mercy) of Banchette in Bioglio, in the province of Vercelli, stands in a pleasant position, on the slopes of Mount Rovella, surrounded by green woods, 700 meters above sea level. 

The history of the Sanctuary, made up of faith and love for the Madonna, dates back to 1400, although the precise date of its construction is not known. In a document, preserved in the archives of the parish house of Pettinengo, there is the testamentary deed, dated August 14, 1514, made by Bernardino Bellia, who, "struck by the plague, had himself taken to the public road in the canton of Villa in Pettinengo and, in the presence of some witnesses, dictated his will to the assistant curate D. Antonio Azario, since it had not been possible, because of the plague, find a notary. The first of his testamentary will concerns the church of St Maria of Banchette, to which he left a plot of land with a farmhouse."

It is therefore evident that in that year there was already a church dedicated to the Madonna in Banchette. The oldest description of the church is contained in the report on the Pastoral Visit of 1573: 'the building is only partially covered by the vault, the floor is completely missing, the windows are without glass; however, there are two altars adorned with frescoes, and the alms collected are used in the expenses of the building.'

The presence of the two altars indicates that at the end of the 1500's this church, although not a parish church, reached considerable importance in popular devotion. Towards the end of the same century, the church was enlarged and brought to three naves. From the minutes of the Pastoral Visit of 1606 we learn that the Image of the Madonna, placed on the central altar, is surrounded by some frescoes, of which some fragments can still be glimpsed today. The bishop's visitor ordered them to be repainted or destroyed, while paying greater attention to the figure of the Madonna, an object of great devotion on the part of the faithful, "whom he invited not to touch and change, not even with the construction of a new choir or a large wooden altarpiece."

An ancient popular tradition reports that, among the stumps of the woods, there was a simple, modest tabernacle with the image of Our Lady of Grace, venerated by the woodcutters; one of the many pylons that testify to the popular faith of all time. One day, an exalted man threw a stone against the image of the Virgin that hit the forehead of the Virgin, leaving a bruise (hence the name "Madona dal bull"). The locals were outraged, and in repair they worked to build a church in which the pylon of outrage was incorporated. Although written documents are lacking, the tradition does not seem entirely invented, because the fresco of the Madonna, which still exists, retains a conspicuous mark on the forehead, as if it had been hit by a stone.

"From the examination of this fresco, on the sides of which you can see fragments of other paintings, placed on a circular wall, one must think that this pillar believed to be a small chapel, with a semicircular apse entirely frescoed, one of the many chapels built in the Biella area between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, so poor that they even lacked the façade wall. This last detail may have allowed the anonymous sacrilegious character to throw a stone at the Virgin. The very title of "Our Lady of Mercy", given to this church, could confirm the tradition.

There are numerous paintings, especially sixteenth-century paintings, depicting the Our Lady of Mery, but all of them portray her standing, with her arms open and with a large mantle, supported by Angels, under which devotees and faithful are gathered. In Banchette, on the other hand, this title is given to an image of the Madonna seated on a throne and with the Child on her knees, according to the common pictorial iconography of the Madonnas of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The title "of Mercy" could therefore refer to the sacrilegious act, which according to tradition is at the origin of the Sanctuary: the populations who invoke mercy and mercy from the Virgin for such an offense."

In 1753 an altar dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows was erected in a side chapel; devotion to the "Queen of Sorrows" was thus added to that of the "Mother of Mercy."

The Sanctuary is flanked by a hospice that was, from the earliest times, a center of cultural works, with schools for residents, and of welfare works for the poor of the place and for pilgrims who came to venerate the Madonna, or were passing through towards the Valle di Mosso, Bioglio, Pettinengo.

Since 1948 the Sanctuary has been entrusted to the care of the Barnabite Fathers who, with great zeal, have provided for its restoration and pastoral service. The numerous votive offerings testify to the trust of the faithful in the goodness of Our Lady and Mary's generosity in fulfilling the requests of those who turn to her.

St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Hail Mary, Mother of my Lord, blessed are you because you have believed and thus all that the Lord promised has been fulfilled in you. Holy Mary, from dawn till night I have hoped in you; Mother into your hands I commend my spirit."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, New Jersey, 1997, p. 387)