Opera Santa Maria della Luce
I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me does not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
(Jn 8, 12)
Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Luce
Website Sanctuary
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Brief history of the Sanctuary
How did the devotion to the Most Holy Virgin of Light come about?
In 1829, exactly on April 24, in the early hours of the day, in the parish church of S. Mattia Apostolo in Collelungo di San Venanzo, the frescoed image of the Virgin enthroned with the Child on her knees and sides the saints Christopher and Sebastian.
The image is a valuable work attributed to Pietro di Nicola, a 15th century painter from Orvieto. Probably commissioned as an ex-voto in the ancient church, a Castrense parish church, built inside the Monaldeschi castle of Collelungo di Orvieto (thus identified at the time), an Orvieto defense outpost on the middle course of the Tiber at the gates of the Todi territory.
The fresco was discovered following the detachment of the plaster during the celebration of mass on April 24, 1829. The testimonies and handwritten information, preserved in the archive, were signed by the then parish priest Don Antonio Tei and by some devotees, witnesses of 'event.
From the descriptions made by the priest and by those present it is clear that the discovery of the sacred image was defined as prodigious. It is reported, always in the texts, of eye healings and some extraordinary facts; and above all that from that day there was a constant increase of interest on the part of faithful devotees of the Sacred Image of Our Lady of Light, so called because of the cartouche held in the hand of the Child Jesus that shows the Johannine passage "... Qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris… ”,“… whoever follows me will not walk in darkness… ”(Gospel of John 8:12). Consequential was the reference to seeing, hence entrusting oneself to Mary as the Mother of Light and protector of the eyes. Truly Johannine is the title attributed to the Mother of Jesus, since the fourth evangelist speaks of the "... he saw and believed ..." (John 20,8) which occurred when the first disciples found the empty tomb of Jesus.
The "day of the prodigy", April 24, 1829, was followed by a century of history of popular devotion full of significant details. Some notebooks are always kept in the archives that narrate various moments related to the prodigious image of the Madonna della Luce. Precious ex-votos and mementos testify to the entrustment and gratitude to the Holy Virgin by various devotees.
On the first Sunday of September 1929 the new church was inaugurated, today a Sanctuary, built by the then parish priest Don Salvatore Nucci and the Faina family.
The new temple was used to welcome the Sacred Image detached from the original wall of the ancient church. Dear Don Salvatore Nucci fell ill during the novena in preparation for the inauguration of the new church and after a few days he died at the age of 44. Today its remains rest inside the Sanctuary.
In the thirties of the last century the Sanctuary was frequented by the then Msgr. Giovan Battista Montini, the future Pope Paul VI. Family friend of Igino Righetti and Maria Faina, Msgr. Montini, had the opportunity to frequent Collelungo and to know the prodigious history of the image of the Madonna della Luce. Interesting were the references in some of his letters from the 1960s addressed to the Righetti-Faina family, in which, as pontiff, Msgr. Montini remembered, entrusting himself to the protection of the Madonna della Luce. "... of that Light, he wrote, I need it so much ...".
In 1984, Mons. Decio Lucio Grandoni, with an episcopal decree (can. 557-562 and 1232 of the Cod. Dir. Can.) Erects the parish church of Collelungo in the Sanctuary of S. Maria della Luce.
On April 25, 1985 the first issue of the Semestrale S. Maria della Luce comes out.
On 2 October 1986, a "spiritual pact" was made with the Congregation of the Sisters of Mary Child to seal a collaboration with the Shrine of Maria SS Childina guarded by the Milanese nuns.
On April 8, 1992, Mons. Decio Lucio Grandoni blesses Mother Grazia Fabioneri of the Urbanist Poor Clares of Orvieto and two other nuns of the monasteries of Spello and Montalto Marche leaving for Mexico City. Here the new community begins the Monastery and Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Luz and on May 13, 2000 the bishop of Mexico City consecrates the new church.
Today, in that monastery-sanctuary of mission, Our Lady of Light is prayed and invoked by many faithful.
In 2000, John Paul II, a pilgrim to Orvieto, on the Solemnity of Corpus Domini mentions the Madonna della Luce among the most significant Marian devotions of the Diocese of Orvieto-Todi.
At the Sanctuary there are precious paintings and ex-votos that will soon form a collection of art and local faith. In the ancient parish church there are precious frescoes, recently restored and a banner
by prof. Gino Frittelli of Florence (1879-1950), the eighth in the Orvieto series depicting the Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena. In 2003 the 1st calendar “POWER AND CHARITY OF GOD” was printed.
May the Most Holy Virgin of Light bless and protect everyone!