Our Lady of Vicoforte / Regina Montis Regalis

Marian Invocation of Vicoforte (Piedmont)

La advocación de Our Lady of Vicoforte, also called Regina Montis Regalis o Madonna di Vicoforte, is attached to the sanctuary of Vicoforte, in the Italian Piedmont, and to the devotional history of the house of Savoy. Local tradition places the origin of veneration in the veneration of a Marian image in the place, within a tradition of piety that was growing to become a great center of pilgrimage and religious reference of the ancient Saboyan state.

Main data

Origin and history

La advocación de Our Lady of Vicoforte, also called Regina Montis Regalis o Madonna di Vicoforte, is attached to the sanctuary of Vicoforte, in the Italian Piedmont, and to the devotional history of the house of Savoy. Local tradition places the origin of veneration in the veneration of a Marian image in the place, within a tradition of piety that was growing to become a great center of pilgrimage and religious reference of the ancient Saboyan state.

La documented history The shrine shows an evolution linked to the Savoy monarchy and the architectural development of the temple, whose great elliptical dome has made it internationally famous. The image was recognized with a canonical coronation in 1889, data that is recorded in the references consulted on this advocation.

The image and the sanctuary

The advocation is venerated in the Vicoforte Sanctuary, officially known as Santuary-Basilica Regina Montis Regalis o Sanctuary of Madonna di Vicoforte. The whole is famous for its elliptical dome, considered the largest of its kind in the world, and for its strong historical connection with Savoy's Marian devotion.

As for the image, the sources consulted do not here provide a sufficiently precise technical description - material, authorship or detailed iconography - to safely affirm it. Therefore, these data no constan in the sources used for this tab.

Sponsorship and coronation

Vicoforte is an advocation linked above all to the Vicoforte sanctuary y a la religious memory of the house of Savoy; the sources consulted do not contain a universal, diocesan or national patronage explicitly formulated for this specific advocation.

A canonical coronation in 1889. The name of the Pontiff or the delegate who executed it has not been confirmed with certainty from the available sources; therefore, these data are recorded as no consta.

Party and devotion

La main party se celebra el September 8in continuity with the liturgical solemnity of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.

The devotion is marked by the pilgrimage to the sanctuary and for the veneration of the Virgin as Queen and Mother in a place deeply identified with the religious history of Pyamontea. The sources consulted do not provide current flow figures or verifiable details on specific popular traditions; these data, therefore, no constan.

Link to the Rosary

In the sources consulted no consta a specific and documented relationship between this advocation and the prayer of the Rosary as a rip and Vicoforte's history.

However, the Marian spirituality of the sanctuary is well aligned with the Rosary, because this prayer contemplates the mysteries of Christ with Mary and expresses precisely the attitude of praise, contemplation and supplication that supports traditional Marian devotion.