Our Lady of Help Sanctuary
Sacred Mount of Ossuccio inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
The Our Lady of Help Sanctuary stands in the town of Ossuccio on Lake Como's eastern shore.
It is situated on the mountain slope at 400 m. above sea level above Ossuccio a Lenno, facing Comacina Island.
Popular tradition ties the beginning of the devotion to the Madonna Lady to an ancient statue of Mary and to an ancient painting.
The statue, in white marble, probably hidden on the scene during times of conflict and invasions, was discovered here by a young deaf-mute girl who had the gift of healing. The painting, which portrays the Virgin with Baby Jesus is and St. Eufemia, is very old (1501).
The Sanctuary is from various epochs: the central body was completed in 1537. The way of the chapels begins nearly a kilometre away from the Sanctuary, along which are lined up 14 small Baroque temples, which contain the scenes portraying the facts of the life of Jesus and the Madonna, remembered in the mysteries of the rosary (the 15 th mystery is portrayed in the Sanctuary ).
The facts are portrayed with life-sized statues in stucco and terracotta and with frescoes.
The chapels, realized between 1635 and 1710, are true masterpieces of stucco decorators from the Val d'Intelvi school, and portray a singular ethnographic and folkloristic documentation of those centuries, with the main author being stucco decorator Agostino Silva, of Morbio (1620-1706).
The natural beauty and the silence surrounding it, notably help to make the Sanctuary a privileged place of meeting with God.
Helping mankind to encounter God, by means of His Son Jesus, is the mission that the Madonna carries out in her sanctuaries.
For information: Rectory 0344-55211 Restaurant 0344 - 56311
The St. John festival takes place on Comacina Island, at Tremezzo on Lake Como on June 24th, the day of St. John the Baptist. ...continue |
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