Shrine of Our Lady of Grace (Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie)

Address: Viale Maria Baj, 14019 Villanova D'asti AT, Italia
Tel: 0141 948164
Email: info@santuariovillanova.it
TripAdvisor: link

Highlights

Shrine opened in 1870 in neoclassical style.


This Sanctuary was inaugurated and opened for worship on August 14, 1870, following prodigious events that occurred, particularly in the years 1821-22-23, on the place where the sacred bulding stands.

Near the ancient ramparts of Villanova, there appeared, in the concave bosom of a small valley, a spring of living water; and those who, afflicted by illness, drank with faith of that water, invoking the help of the Blessed Virgin, were soon healed.

According to popular tradition, in the same place, a pious young girl named Maria Bai, who used to lead the cattle to pasture, arrived at the place, prostrated herself in prayer and alternated fervent orations with the work of his hands. During that time, she was repeatedly cheered by apparitions of Our Lady, who expressed the wish that a chapel be erected near the fountain.

Having later built a pylon, or little chapel, which still exists today, an extraordinary number of people, rushed to visit the place, chosen by Our Lady, to dispense her graces more widely. The many healings and graces received, drinking with faith the water of the spring, did not take long to spread to neighboring countries.

It was a beautiful and moving show to see, for years, every day, an extraordinary competition of pilgrims, to visit the miraculous place, so that the hotels, the cafes, the houses, were full of strangers, so that they could not contain the people who came to implore Our Lady's graces.

Therefore, the desire to build a Sanctuary, to be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, was very intense. The honor of raising the desired temple was reserved for the pious priest Don Luigi Crovella. Those were calamitous times, also due to the succession of local factions of the Municipality administration.

And so many were the difficulties facing this erection, that even the most zealous, to whom his thoughts were communicated, confirmed that they felt they were failing in the implementation of his desire. But Don Crovella persevered, and strong of the ascendancy over the population, he insisted on translating fervent hopes into reality.

In the meantime he ennobled his mission with an exemplary priesthood, offering a continuous example of edifying piety and the study of God's science. And he thus prepared the ways by ""watching, praying, standing in faith, working manfully, and all doing in charity".

True men who built something intended to last more than the day of their lives, always had a transcendental view of the world, precisely because they judged with an eye that went beyond the moment.

On the project of the architect Talucchi of Turin, he laid the foundations of the Sanctuary in 1866, and four years later, that is August 14, 1870, it was opened to worship by His Exc. Msgr. Savio, Bishop of Asti, among the immense crowd rushed to propitiate new graces, in the temple, from the piety of the villanovesi, inaugurated in honor of the Virgin Mary.

Don Crovella who, of his life made an apostolate for the Shrine that illustrates Villanova, rejoiced. The mirror of his disinterest, the severity of his existence, wove around his name, fame of a righteous man, who has honored the native country in life, and continues to exercise on souls, the influence of goodness, supported by hope. His mortal remains, after more than fifty years, were transported from the Cemetery to the Shrine he founded, May 3, 1936, at the source of the ancient bastions. Remembering Don Crovella, is an act of exquisite Christian gratitude.

The populations are still looking, moved, this place, full of so many cherished  memories, and in the temple of Our Lady, meditate compacts, with how much faith a crowd of believers hail in these fortunate outlines, to implore the outpouring of the divine graces.

Everything here is a reminder that the Church is not a composition of stones, but a living edifice, of which Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, and members the faithful, who, by his grace, become like living stones, formed by faith, strengthened by hope, united by charity, just as St. Augustine thought. The building, artistically, reveals the forms of the style called Empire or Neoclassic, that is, return to the beauties of Roman antiquity.

Even the decorative element accompanies the constructive element. The arches are round, ie with the semicircular arch. The interior decorations make the building more graceful and  spiraling all grace and simplicity. The beautiful dome, surmounted by a statue of the Holy Virgin, seems to invite the thought to detach itself from the low things, and represents the vows of all the faithful who are in agreement with God.

The two side altars are dedicated one to St. Joseph, other to St. Luigi Gonzaga. Many improvements were recently made to the Sanctuary, by the rector Don Carlo Torta, aided effectively by the population.

Important embellishment are the beautiful colored glazes, drawn to figures of saints and sacred stories, repeating to the eye what the priests say to the ear, and so, by the senses and the imagination, reaching the heart and the intellect. The devout functions, are followed by the people of Villanova, who often goes to the Shrine, especially on Sundays, where the soul is more in contact with God.

The sacred images, the beautiful simulacrum of the Holy Virgin and Child, the numerous ex voto, and the tomb of the founder of the Sanctuary, asleep in the hope of the resurrection, all infuses an austere piety together and consoling.

And she is invoked by all, the Blessed Virgin of Graces, that she may take to prosper, our families and our countryside ,and interpose her mediation with God, that she may command the clouds that they may prepare in due time the fertilizing rains; command to the sun that, with the activity of its rays, ripen the fruits of our fields; commands to hail that do not damage our farms, and away from our homes and our homeland, infirmities and discord.


• Who was Maria Baj?

Researches around this girl have not yet yielded the desired results. Existing registry documents in the Villanova municipal archives examined so far have found a number of girls named Maria Bai, or Baj, born in the early 1800s or at the end of 1700.

None, however, would have been 18 years old in 1803 (the year in which, according to tradition, apparitions of the Virgin to the 18-year-old shepherdess occurred).

According to tradition, the girl apparently lived on the corner between the streets of San Paolo and Francesco I. She would have often gone to pasture in the valley of the fountain, with a few cows.

These apparitions are therefore (at least for now) not documented except by orally handed down traditions.

The fact then (documented) that the devotion to the Virgin in the valley and the graces obtained were earlier, certainly at least since the end of 1700, raises other historical doubts.


Insights

Comune di Villanova d'Asti
https://www.comune.villanova.at.it/


GAL BMA - Gruppo di Azione Locale del Basso Monferrato Astigiano
https://www.monferratoastigiano.it/




See also...


• Events in Villanova d'Asti


• Villanova d'Asti tourist guide


• Municipium, the App of your Municipality