Our Lady of Tirano

Marian Advocation of Tirano (Lombardy)

About Our Lady of Tirano in Tirano (Lombardy, Italy) there is a well-known tradition: local traditionOur Lady appeared the 29 September 1504 a Mario Omodei (or Omodo), a inhabitant of Tirano, promising the end of a grave plague if a temple was built in his honor outside the walls of the city. The same tradition refers to the fact that, as the epidemic ceased, the people, grateful, placed the the first stone of the sanctuary on March 25, 1505.

Main data

Origin and history

About Our Lady of Tirano in Tirano (Lombardy, Italy) there is a well-known tradition: local traditionOur Lady appeared the 29 September 1504 a Mario Omodei (or Omodo), a inhabitant of Tirano, promising the end of a grave plague if a temple was built in his honor outside the walls of the city. The same tradition refers to the fact that, as the epidemic ceased, the people, grateful, placed the the first stone of the sanctuary on March 25, 1505.

As regards documented historythe sources indicate that the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Tirano is an important Marian center of the Valtellina, in the province of Sondrio, Lombardy region, Italy, and that its construction is effectively located in the early 16th century, linked to the memory of the plague and the expansion of the Marian cult in the Alpine area. It is recognized as the main Marian sanctuary of the Valtellina and reference point for pilgrims from Italy and from neighbouring countries.

No reference to a "department of Lombardy" in Colombia nor a Marian advocation called "Our Lady of Tirano" linked to a municipality called Tirano in Colombia. It does not contain in the revised sources that there is an autonomous advocation in Colombia under this title or an official Marian sanctuary bearing this name. The invocation described therefore corresponds to the Madonna di Tirano de Italiaand there is no historical development of its own in Colombian territory.

The image and the sanctuary

Devotion focuses on the imagen de la Madonna di Tirano, venerada en el Sanctuary of the Virgin of Tirano (en italiano, Sanctuary of the Madonna di Tirano), in the town of Tirano, province of Sondrio, Lombardy, Italy. The accessible sources do not describe the material (wood, stone, canvas) or all the iconographic details of the original image; therefore, the typology is not safely recorded (for example, if it is a round package size or a dress image). It is clear that this is a Marian image of devotional typepresented as the Virgin who intervenes in favor of the people during the plague, and who occupies a prominent place in the presbytery of the sanctuary.

El sanctuary is located "on the Swiss-Italian border" and "dates from 1505," that is, its construction is located immediately after the traditional date of the apparition. It is considered the principal Marian sanctuary de la Valtellina and a spiritual reference of the Alpine Lombard area. In the sources consulted it is not clearly specified whether the temple has been elevated to the title of minor basilica (a) the Commission's proposal National sanctuary; therefore this canon range is not safely recorded in the revised documentation.

Sponsorship and coronation

According to available sources, 1946 Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Blessed Virgin of Tirano "special heavenly patron of all Europe". This data indicates a broad patronagenot only the city of Tirano or the Valtellina, but also the European reality, in a context of post-war and peace-seeking. However, at the local level, Madonna di Tirano is universally recognized as patrona de Tirano and as a great protector of the Valtellina; this is part of the devotional tradition and the ordinary pastoral use, although it is not always formulated in precise legal terms.

As regards canonical coronationthe sources consulted do not explicitly mention the Year ni el Pontiff or Pontifical Delegate having carried out a formal canonical coronation of the image. The verified documentation speaks of the patronage granted by Pius XII, but does not collect the data of a canonical coronation according to the rules of the Holy See. Therefore, following the requested approach: does not contain a documented canonical coronation.

Party and devotion

La main party of the Virgin of Tirano is celebrated the 29 September, a date that recalls the tradition of the apparition of Mario Omodi in 1504 and the intervention of the Virgin during the plague. That day the town of Tirano and the whole Valtellina gathered around the sanctuary to honor their patron, with solemn liturgical celebrations, processions and acts of popular piety.

La devotion a la Madonna di Tirano has a marked character peregrine: the sanctuary, located in the Alpine area and near the border with Switzerland, receives faithful from the region, from other parts of Italy and from neighbouring countries, who come to give thanks, ask for protection and to entrust their intentions to the Virgin. The memory of the Pest over has marked the tone of devotion: many pleas are related to health, protection from calamities and social peace. There are no precise figures of inflow in the sources consulted, but the rating of "main sanctuary of the Valtellina" indicates a significant and stable flow throughout the year.

There are no specific popular traditions of Colombia linked to this advocation; the devotional experience described belongs to the Lombardo-Italian context. Any possible presence of this image or title in Colombian communities would, in that case, be a imported devotion or local, from which no documented data are found in the sources consulted.

Link to the Rosary

The revised sources do not mention a specific or historical relationship documented between the Virgin of Tirano and the prayer of the Rosary (for example, the Rosary's cofradies linked to the sanctuary, promises linked to the Rosary's prayer in the apparitions, etc.). There is therefore no particular and explicit link to this form of prayer.

However, from the perspective of the Marian spirituality of the Church, the Rosary It naturally accompanies devotion to Madonna di Tirano. Where Mary is venerated as in times of danger - as in Tirano, in memory of the plague - the Rosary becomes a school of trust and abandonment in God's providence: by meditating on the mysteries of Christ's life with Mary, the faithful also learn to read their own trials (diseases, social crises, wars) in the light of Passion and Resurrection. In this sense, although it does not contain a specific rosarian tradition, the prayer of the Rosary is presented as a privileged way of uniting the faith of the pilgrim people with the intercession of the Virgin of Tirano, both in Italy and in any community that adopts her as a mother and a lawyer.