OUR LADY OF OROPA

Day 170: October 29

Our Lady of Oropa, Biella, Italy



The Sanctuary of Oropa is the most important Marian Sanctuary in the Alps. Black Madonna of the Shrine came down to us through the devotion of St Eusebius of Vercelli.

The sanctuary of Oropa is a Marian sanctuary – dedicated to the Black Madonna – located a dozen kilometers north of the city of Biella, at about 1,159 meters above sea level, in a natural amphitheater of mountains that surround the city below and are part of the Biella Pre-Alps.

The sanctuary includes in addition to a sacred mountain (the Sacred Mount of Oropa, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003), the original church built on the basis of an ancient chapel and the current sanctuary itself equipped with various structures intended for the hospitality of the faithful and tourists. In March 1957 Pope Pius XII elevated it to the dignity of a minor basilica.

According to tradition, the sanctuary of Oropa was founded by St Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli in the fourth century, who brought with him the venerated statue of the Virgin and Child, while fleeing Palestine due to the fury of the Arian persecution. Unfortunately, there is no documentable evidence, but it is certain that it was thanks to St Eusebius that Christianity and Marian devotion spread in the Biella valleys. At that time, in fact, the population of the vast territory that roughly corresponds to today's Piedmont was still almost all pagan.

In Vercelli Roman polytheism prevailed, while in the Alpine valleys and in Monferrato the cult of the ancient Celts was preserved intact. Where the apostolic soul of St Eusebius shone was the commitment to eliminate paganism, especially in the centers of ancient worship such as Oropa and Crea, replacing the cult of the Celtic female deities with the cult of the Mother of God, Mary.

St Eusebius is said to have hidden the statue among the rocks where the Roc Chapel now stands, built in the first half of the eighteenth century by the inhabitants of Fontainemore, a town in the Aosta Valley still strongly linked to the Sanctuary by the ancient night procession that winds its way through the mountains every five years from Fontainemore in Valle d'Aosta to Oropa, still preserving the traditions and ancient charm.

In a Bull of Pope Innocent III of 2 May 1207, two churches dedicated to St Maria and St Bartolomew are mentioned in Oropa. According to the most recent historical studies, these buildings date back to at least the eighth and ninth centuries. These are two small mountain buildings. While St Mary disappeared in the expansion of the sanctuary, St Bartholomew was recently rediscovered and reopened for worship.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Hail Mary, behold your son, show him that you are his mother! My soul, behold your mother, show her that you are her child! Holy Mary, remember us when you are in the Lord's presence and speak a good word on your behalf, so that he may find his delight in us."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, New Jersey, 1997, p. 384)

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