Santa Maria delle Grazie Sanctuary

About

The sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie (Cremish dialect: santüare dale Grasie) is a place of Marian worship located in Crema.

The sanctuary is located in the historic center, at the southern limits of the fortified city near the Venetian walls. The open space in front of the church, which was later extended with the opening of the walls into a street, was called Via dello Spitale in ancient times and the name was changed in 1931 to the current Via delle Grazie.

The origins of the cult are not based on a Marian apparition but on devotion to a votive image. Near the present church, inside the Torrione del Miliato (from the convent of the Humiliati ), an image depicting a Madonna and Child had been painted by a certain Giovanni da Caravaggio during the 15th century. The image was later protected by a canopy with an altar and, later, a portico with a gate. Only later, in 1537, were miracles reported: in the same year the school of the Santissimo Sacramento of the church of the Santissima Trinità placed itself under the protection of the fresco, taking care of the place. The acts of the Castelli visit of 1579 call it Santa Maria del Toresino, those of the visitor Regazzoni of 1583 Santa Mariae de Turione in Civitatis.

The location, however, was not very appropriate: the risk of war forced the civil authorities to continuously maintain the city's defensive apparatus with reinforcements and modernizations, a task that endangered the existence of the votive icon. Military experts repeatedly warned the ecclesiastical authorities that they might have to demolish the portico to change the place where the sacred image stood.

At the end of the 16th century the ancient church of Saints Philip and James, annexed to the former convent of the Humiliati (the order had been suppressed by Pope Pius V in 1567), had been demolished. The area was purchased for 4,000 Lire by the Santissimo Sacramento consortium with the specific aim of building a church and transferring the votive image there and, thanks also to numerous donations, the construction of a new building could begin in 1601.

The church was completed in 1609 and in 1613 the fresco on the tower was detached and transferred to the new building.

The laying of the foundation stone is dated June 1, 1601 and the construction of the church lasted for nine years due to various factors, including a famine and the allocation of funds to the construction of the church and the convent of the Poor Converted.

In 1606 the bell tower was completed and in 1609 the church was consecrated; in 1613 the sacred image was transferred there in the presence of religious authorities (led by the Bishop of Crema, Monsignor Gian Giacomo Diedo), civil authorities (the Podestà and Captain Pietro Capello and the Superintendent Pietro Bondemier), the Superintendents and the faithful. The sources that have come down to us are uncertain as to the date on which the image was moved: January 18, July 25 or August 25.

After 1620 the church was provided with a crucifix, a gate separating the nave from the presbytery, a choir and an organ above the main entrance in 1628.

In 1641 Gian Giacomo Barbelli was given the task of frescoing the entire interior of the church: a job he completed in two years.

There are no reports of significant events in the sanctuary until the 19th century: the church, being a subsidiary of the parish church of the Holy Trinity, avoided demolition during the Napoleonic era ; however, at the beginning of the 19th century, the consortium of the Holy Sacrament was suppressed and the church was administered by a special committee. Furthermore, in 1804, a new set of bells cast by the Crespi company was installed.

In 1824 the gate was dismantled and a new altar was built, with the consequent removal of the ancient and venerated image and the installation of two marble statues.

Between 1834 and 1835 a new organ was installed by the Serassi company of Bergamo (the year the old instrument was installed is not known) and the new choir loft by Giovanni Annessa.

On October 26, 1891, at the request of the bishop of Crema, Monsignor Francesco Sabbia, the Vatican Chapter granted the coronation of the image of the Madonna and Child : restoration work was carried out and the paintings were restored by the painter Angelo Bacchetta. The official ceremony took place on September 8, 1892, in the presence of Monsignor de Neckere of the Vatican Chapter and Monsignor Geremia Bonomelli, bishop of Cremona. Two days later, on September 11, the bishop of Mantua, Monsignor Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, the future Pope Pius X, celebrated a solemn pontifical mass there.

In 1894 the church was detached from the parish of the Holy Trinity and placed under the direct jurisdiction of the bishop, as it still is today, except for the period between 1941 and 1977 when the church was run by the Comboni Missionaries.

As mentioned above, the church stands on the site where another place of worship dedicated to Saints Philip and James and run by the Humiliati friars once stood, and was demolished in 1583. On the side, in the former convent, in 1616 Monsignor Pietro Emo decided to transfer the seminary there, while his successor Monsignor Faustino Griffoni had it demolished, acquired some adjacent buildings using family assets and had it rebuilt. Bishops Lodovico Calini and Marcantonio Lombardi also ordered extensions. The Cisalpine Republic requisitioned it in 1797 and the seminarians found refuge in the bishop's palace; they returned a few years later under the episcopate of Monsignor Tommaso Ronna, remaining there until 1937 when Monsignor Francesco Maria Franco inaugurated a new seminary. The building was then sold to the Comboni Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, who lived there and also officiated in the sanctuary until 1977, when it was sold to the province of Cremona to be used as a school.

As mentioned above, the church stands on the site where another place of worship dedicated to Saints Philip and James and run by the Humiliati friars once stood, and was demolished in 1583. On the side, in the former convent, in 1616 Monsignor Pietro Emo decided to transfer the seminary there, while his successor Monsignor Faustino Griffoni had it demolished, acquired some adjacent buildings using family assets and had it rebuilt. Bishops Lodovico Calini and Marcantonio Lombardi also ordered extensions. The Cisalpine Republic requisitioned it in 1797 and the seminarians found refuge in the bishop's palace; they returned a few years later under the episcopate of Monsignor Tommaso Ronna, remaining there until 1937 when Monsignor Francesco Maria Franco inaugurated a new seminary. The building was then sold to the Comboni Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, who lived there and also officiated in the sanctuary until 1977, when it was sold to the province of Cremona to be used as a school.

The façade has two orders: the lower one is divided by slightly projecting pilasters that divide the order into three parts; in the center is the entrance surmounted by a mosaic from 1955. An architrave with a broken tympanum rests on the pilasters. The upper level has the same layout as the lower one: in the center there is a large window and on the sides there are empty niches. Above the second architrave there is a triangular tympanum.

The bell tower is incorporated into the southern side of the church building: it is completely plastered with angular pilasters. The belfry extends the angular pilasters of the shaft, has round-arched biforas and supports an entablature with a decorated frieze. The spire is conical and surrounded by small pillars.

The interior is a single rectangular hall divided into three bays with a barrel vault. A triumphal arch leads to the square presbytery, which also has a barrel vault; at the base of the arch a beam supports a 17th-century crucifix; on the front of the beam is an inscription: