In today’s Sanctuary of Capodigiano the Virgin and Child Jesus presented the “white sandwich” to San Garardo
Il The Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie of Capodigiano, the small town of Muro Lucano, is back in celebration. After years of closure, due to the pandemic, we are back celebrating an anniversary felt by the people of Muresi, that of the Madonna delle Grazie. The Holy Mass and the liturgy agree with the deep faith of the faithful who go to the feet of the Virgin and her Child.
The Sanctuary is a place of double religious value: the statue behind the altar is the protagonist of one of the miracles of the Patron Saint of Basilicata, Gerardo Majella of Muro Lucano.
In fact, here in 1732, at just six years old,. Gerardo receives a white sandwich from the hands of a “smiling child” and in the background you can see a beautiful Lady.
Inside the Church, there are fragments of medieval frescoes (including an Angel and Madonna entwined between two unrecognizable saints), a 1400s statue of the Madonna delle Grazie placed on the high altar, and the canvas painted by Louis Moser of Viennawhich recalls the apparitions of the Madonna and the Child Jesus with the white sandwich to San Gerardo: the painter in 1943 he used a child from Muro, who is still alive today, as a model for the painting.
On the day of the celebration there is no shortage of lighting and festive activities. A day that has been recreated and renewed over the centuries, in a place that has undergone profound transformations: In Numistrone, Dr. Martuscelli tells where the Sanctuary is today,”was cheaper and tasty site. The gray oak crowns the hills surrounding the plain where the church is… under the shade of those majestic trees, after the mass has been heard and the procession returns, tables are laid on the grass. We return to the church at vestments, and afterwards we dance on the lawns late.”
To jump further back in time, this Church was built between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th centuryIt was previously a place of worship, precisely an ancient pagan temple where the god Janus was honoured. Il the master builder was Sarolo da Murofamous architect and builder who created numerous religious buildings in Basilicata.
Lions and the sacrificial funeral altardating back to the Roman imperial age, beautify the two entrances, equipped with colored bronze doors.
