Our Lady of the Covolo (Pieve of the Grappa)

Marian devotion

Our Lady of the Covolo, in Italian Blessed Virgin of the Covoloit is venerated in Fietta, town of Pieve del Grappa, in the Italian province of Treviso. The sanctuary is linked to a cave or refuge on the slopes of Mount Frontale and to a Marian tradition that the Diocese of Padua places in the mid-12th century.

Where is he?

The Shrine of the Blessed Vergine del Covolo is located in Fietta, within the municipality of Pieve del Grappa, Veneto, Italy. The name Cocktail is related to the rocky shelter or cave of tradition. The map's coordinate corresponds to the shrine building that OpenStreetMap identifies with that name, in Via Madonna del Covolo, and not to an estimate of memory over the cave.

Documented history of the sanctuary

The source of the Diocese of Padua distinguishes the original account from the historical phases of the building. Tradition places the beginning of devotion in the mid-12th century, but there is no contemporary document in the source that allows for the historical fact of the apparition or the healing narrated. The subsequent growth of the pilgrimage and the expansion of the first chapel in 1541 and 1605 are documented.

The present temple was erected in 1809 following a project attributed to Antonio Canova. The access road opened in 1844 with the free collaboration of peasants from over thirty villages between the Piave and Brenta rivers. This data shows that the sanctuary was not only an isolated place of prayer: its access and maintenance involved a wide network of communities in the area.

The same diocesan story recalls an episode that occurred on Good Friday 1845. A block removed from the mountain fell on the sacristy and the presbytery and reached the valley, dragging the image of wood. The source states that the image was unharmed and presented as an extraordinary fact within the memory of the sanctuary. Here we collect it as a devotional account documented by the source, without turning it on our own into a statement of miracle.

At the beginning of the 20th century the church was extended and decorated with paintings by Don Demetrio Alpago. After World War I, the building had been used as a small campaign hospital. The Diocese of Padua indicates that the sanctuary was raised as such on March 25, 1916. On 8 September 1923, Cardinal Pietro La Fontaine, Patriarch of Venice, crowned the venerated image of the Virgin and the Child.

The popular collaboration continued in later works. The bell tower was raised by a human chain that transported the bricks from Crespano to the Covolo. After World War II, the parishes in the area wanted to honor the Virgin by building fifteen small capitals along the way, one for each mystery of the Rosary. During the Marian year of 1987, a cross-way was also carried out that follows the valley path and ends next to the Constantinian cross.

The tradition of apparition

According to the story transmitted by the diocese, during a storm a deaf-muda pastoralist sought refuge in a cave on the slopes of the Frontale. While praying, the Virgin would have appeared. The Lady would have asked him to go to Crespano to announce that she wanted a chapel in that place and that she would shed thanks and blessings on those who invoked it. As a confirmation, always according to tradition, the pastoralist would have immediately recovered the ear and the speech.

The account explains the birth of the chapel and the title of Mary as a refuge for sinners. The word Covolo It must not be confused with a test of the event: it designates the rocky place that tradition relates to the pastor's shelter. The diocesan source retains this narrative within the spiritual history of the sanctuary, while the enlargements, coronation and works of the way belong to the documentable history of veneration.

The source of the Three Busi

Next to the sanctuary is the called source of the "three busi." Local tradition states that it was the Virgin herself who had the water sprout from the rock. The Diocese of Padua relates this gesture to the Christian symbolism of water: baptism, purification, blessing and renewal of life. It does not contain a medical report or a decree that allows the source to be presented as a miracle in the canonical sense; it does contain its place within the popular piety of the Covolo.

Ecclesial State

The diocese recognizes the sanctuary, maintains its pastoral attention and documents its elevation as a sanctuary and the coronation of the image. There is no formal decree in the cross-sectional sources that states supernatural the apparition of the pastor or that canonically approves healing as a miracle. This fact sheet therefore distinguishes the permitted veneration and the history of the place of specific judgment on the supernatural origin of tradition.

Devotion and prayer

The road to the Covolo unites pilgrimage, contemplation and memory of the Rosary. The fifteen capitals built after the Second World War remember the mysteries of the Rosary, and the path of the Cross leads prayer to the cross. Christian devotion does not attribute to Mary the worship due to God: it is venerated as the Mother of the Lord and asked to intercede before Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Holy Mary of the Covolo, the refuge of sinners, accompanies those who seek light, listen and comfort. He intercedes before Jesus for our families, for the sick and for those who feel without voice or hope. Help us to hear the word of God, to live an active faith and to walk with humility towards your Son. Amen.

Sources

• Diocese of Padua: Blessed Vergine del Covolo.
• OpenStreetMap: Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Covolo.

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Documented extension

The pastoral tourism page of the Italian Episcopal Conference places the sanctuary on the slopes of Mount Grappa, about 600 metres above sea level. It describes the current building, built between 1804 and 1809 by the architect Antonio Canova de Possagno: it preserves to the north the old chapel attached to the rock and adds to the south a roundabout with atrium held by eight columns of Ionian style. Architecture allows us to understand how the place of pilgrimage was integrating the memory of the cave and the built temple, without that architectural evolution showing for itself the supernatural origin of the story.

The same source recalls the fifteen capitals of the Mysteries of the Rosary arranged on the way up from Crespano and points out on September 8, the feast of the Nativity of Mary, as the solemnity of the sanctuary and the patron feast. They are elements of the devotional and pastoral history of the Covolo. The graces, cures and signs that tradition relates to the place remain differentiated from a canonically recognized miracle when there is no concrete pronunciation.