Our Lady of Health

Marian Advocation of Venice (Veneto)

In Venice, Italy, the Our Lady of Health is historically linked to the vote of the Venetian Senate during the great plague of 1630-1631 and to the construction of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, consecrated to the Virgin as the protector of the city in the face of the epidemic. However, in the sources consulted on Colombia there is no official translation of this same title as the patron of some municipality called Venice in the department of Vichada (there is no "Veneto department" in Colombia according to the current political-administrative organization) nor specific data of a local advocation with the exact name "Our Lady of Health (Madonna della Salute), popular patron of Venice (Italy) against the plague" linked to a Colombian temple.

Main data

Origin and history

In Venice, Italy, the Our Lady of Health is historically linked to the vote of the Venetian Senate during the great plague of 1630-1631 and to the construction of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, consecrated to the Virgin as the protector of the city in the face of the epidemic. However, in the sources consulted on Colombia there is no official translation of this same title as the patron of some municipality called Venice in the department of Vichada (there is no "Veneto department" in Colombia according to the current political-administrative organization) nor specific data of a local advocation with the exact name "Our Lady of Health (Madonna della Salute), popular patron of Venice (Italy) against the plague" linked to a Colombian temple.

In the Catholic tradition, the title "Our Lady of Health / Salus infirmorum" It is widely spread as Mary's invocation for the sick and the afflicted, with various shrines and parties in different countries, including Colombia (Bojaqua, Paramo - Santander- and other places). However, the sources on these Colombian sanctuaries (for example, Bojacá and Páramo, Santander) do not mention a direct historical link with the vote of the Venetian Senate of 1630 or with the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute of Venice. In the absence of verifiable documentation, no consta a documented history of its own, differentiated and officially recognized in Colombia of the title "Our Lady of Health (Madonna della Salute)" as it is venerated in Venice (Italy).

In the case of this document in the Colombian context, it can therefore only be said with rigour that it is a matter of Marian devotion under the title of "Health", generally inspired by Mary's tradition as a relief in disease and danger, but no consta the existence of ecclesial, civil or academic documents certifying a direct historical transfer from the Venetian "Madonna della Salute" to a specific sanctuary in "Venice, Department of Veneto, Colombia."

The image and the sanctuary

The available sources describe in detail images of Our Lady of Health elsewhere (for example, the picture of the Virgin of Health of Bojaqua, of origin as Virgin of the Dolores, brought from Spain in the 18th century and then venerated as Virgin of Health). However, no consta a documented description of a specific image of "Our Lady of Health (Madonna della Salute)" for a Marian sanctuary in "Venice, Department of Veneto, Colombia."

In Venice (Italy), the most known image associated with this advocation is the one that presides over the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salutebut it belongs to the original Venetian context, not to the Colombian. The Italian Basilica is an important sanctuary of thanksgiving for the end of the plague and is deeply linked to the history of the Republic of Venice. However, the data of this temple cannot be moved without proof to an alleged homonymous sanctuary in Colombia.

Nor does it include in parish directories, sanctuaries' guides or in the sources consulted (tourist or ecclesial) clear reference to a santuary, basilica minor the diocesan sanctuary officially erected in Colombia with the exact title "Santa María della Salute" or "Nuestra Señora de la Salud (Madonna della Salute)" in a municipality called Venice in a non-existent "department of Veneto." In the absence of verifiable data, only: no consta a canonically recognized sanctuary with these characteristics in Colombia.

Sponsorship and coronation

In Venice (Italy), Madonna della Salute has a character of popular patron of the city against the plaguewith a very deep-rooted annual feast and procession on a boat bridge to the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. This patronage belongs to the city of Venice and its republican and ecclesial history.

In the Colombian context, although there are several shrines of Our Lady of Health (such as Bojaqua and Páramo, Santander), these have their own local patronings (for example, patron of Bojaqua) and particular traditions, without documented reference to the Venetian plague or the Senate vote of 1630. It is not known that any of them is officially recognized as "popular patron of Venice (Italy) against the plague," since this title corresponds to the apvocation in its place of origin.

On a canonical coronation specific "Our Lady of Health (Madonna della Salute)" linked to a temple in "Venice, Department of Veneto, Colombia," in the sources consulted does not contain a documented canonical coronation. There are no clear decrees, dates or references of a coronation approved by the Holy See for that alleged image or sanctuary.

Party and devotion

In Venice (Italy), the feast of the Madonna della Salute is celebrated November 21with a massive pilgrimage to the basilica through a Provisional bridge of boats on the Grand Canal, built every year to facilitate the access of the faithful. This is one of the great Venetian popular celebrations, born of the vote of thanksgiving for the end of the plague.

In Colombia, Marian shrines under the title of Our Lady of Health have other dates of their own (for example, in Bojaqua the annual party is held on the second Sunday of September). However, the sources consulted do not document a specific liturgical or popular festival in "Venice, Department of Veneto, Colombia" on November 21 associated with the construction of a boat bridge, nor a massive rosemary that officially reproduces the Venetian tradition. Therefore, for the proposed Colombian case: no consta a local party documented with these features.

Marian devotion under the title of the Health It is characterized, where it is rooted, by the trust of the faithful in the intercession of the Virgin in the face of disease, epidemics and situations of danger, with pilgrimages, promises, novenas and offerings of exvotes in the various sanctuaries. These features can also inspire piety in any community that invokes Mary as Mother of Health, although in the specific case raised for "Venice (Colombia)" no concrete data of influx, number of pilgrims or own verifiable traditions have been found.

Link to the Rosary

In the sources consulted on the Madonna della Salute in Venice and on the sanctuaries of Our Lady of Health in Colombia no consta a specific historical or normative relationship between this advocation and a particular form of prayer of the Rosary (for example, a rosarian fellowship of its own or a formula of exclusive mysteries linked to this image).

However, the Rosary It has a central place in the Marian spirituality of the Church and, on a regular basis, accompanies devotion to Mary in any of her titles. Invoking Mary as Health of the sick (Salus infirmorum) naturally harmonizes with the contemplation of the joyful, painful, glorious and luminous mysterieswhere Christ's closeness to human fragility is measured: the Incarnation that assumes our condition, the sufferings of the Passion, the glorification of the Lord and of the Virgin as a guarantee of hope for those suffering from disease or danger. Thus, even without a specific registered tradition, the Rosary is presented as privileged way to accompany this devotion, offering, mystery to mystery, the realities of pain, proof and hope to the intercession of the Mother, invoked as Our Lady of Health.