On June 26, 2021, the Holy Father appointed His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, as Papal Legate for the fifth centenary of the Coronation of the Black Madonna of Oropa, to be held in the Marian Shrine of the diocese of Biella, Italy, on August 29, 2021, final Sunday of the month, the day on which every 100 years since 1620 the effigy of the Blessed Virgin Mary is crowned.
The Legate will be accompanied by a Mission composed of the following ecclesiastics:
1. Reverend Canon Ezio Zanotti, parish priest of Sant’Eurosia and Santa Maria della Pace in Pralungo, as well as a member of the administration council of the Shrine of Oropa;
2. Reverend Canon Giovanni Panigoni, former delegate administrator of the administration council of the Shrine of Oropa and currently pastor and archpriest of Saint Giacomo in Biella Piazzo.
The original image of the Black Virgin of Monte Oropa was made in the third century. She was brought by St. Eusebius of Vercelli from the Middle East to his diocese of Vercelli. The image was made of cedar of Lebanon and painted black. A mid-fourth century intensified the persecution of Mary (mother of Jesus), and St. Eusebius had to hide her in the mountains of Sacro Monte di Oropa, about 9 miles from Biella, Italy. When they tried to move the engraving, its weight increased and they had to leave it there, in the mountains, where it currently presides over a massive shrine. Before the Christians, celts had a black fertility goddess which was replaced by her. The Black Virgin is also known as Madonna Nera di Oropa or María Reina de Monte Oropa, and she is the patroness of Lomas del Mirador City, in La Matanza Partido, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
Letter of the Holy Father
Venerabili Fratri Nostro
IOANNI BAPTISTAE S.R.E. Cardinali RE
Collegii Cardinalium Decano
Maior aurora resplendet inter angelos pulchritudo gloriae Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, quae “amicta sole, et luna sub pedibus eius, et super caput eius corona stellarum duodecim” (Apc 12,1) tamquam Regina et Mater super hominum aeternam salutem amanter suaviterque evigilat. Cuius tuto praesidio christifideles firmiter confidunt, qui ad eius praeclaram effigiem Oropensem iam a sescentis annis peregrinantur, atque per hanc Dominam Nigram, quae formosa est sicut tabernacula Cedar, sicut pelles Salma (cfr Ct 1,5), copiosas gratias a Deo pleno misericodiae recipiunt.
Novimus autem ex litteris Venerabilis Fratris Roberti Farinella, Episcopi Bugellensis, celebre simulacrum Beatissimae Virginis Mariae in montibus Bugellae, Dominae Nigrae titulo appellatum, corona aurea rursus coronatum iri, sicut ab anno MDCXX centesimo quoque anno fieri solet. Quapropter Egregius Praesul humanissime quaesivit ad sollemniorem efficiendum memoratum coronationis ritum magisque honorandam Deiparam Virginem Mariam, ut Nos Patrem Purpuratum eligamus, qui apud hoc sanctuarium inter Missarum sollemnia personam Nostram gerat. Te quidem, Venerabilis Frater Noster, qui praees Collegio Cardinalium atque multos per annos Nobis Nostrisque Praedecessoribus magno animo praestas auxilium, ad memoratam celebrationem fidenter destinamus, ut Nostro nomine effigiem Dominae Nigrae sollemniter novo diademate corones. Itaque hisce Litteris Legatum Nostrum te nominamus ad supra dictum incoronationis officium sollemni modo explendum die XXIX mensis Augusti Oropae.
Cum vero liturgicis ritibus praesidebis Nostramque benignam istic adstantibus significabis salutationem, praesertim illius communitatis Pastori. Populum deinde congregatum ferventer hortaberis ut Beatissimam Mariam Virginem piissime colat: non tamen verbis, sed tali modo – sicut mire vultus Mariae et Iesu sine ullo pulvere quotannis invenitur ut animaeque christifidelium sine macula peccati magis magisque fiant.
Nos profecto tuam missionem precibus comitabimur, dum iam nunc enixe te, Venerabilis Frater Noster, committimus amantissimae tutelae Sanctissimae Dei Genetricis Mariae eiusque Sponsi sancti Ioseph, cui hic annus praecipue est deditus, necnon sancti Eusebii Vercellensis, qui illis in partibus Italiae Evangelium praedicabat. Apostolicam denique Nostram Benedictionem prolixe tibi imprimis elargimur, cum omnibus ad quos nunc mitteris communicandam, vicissim pro gravi Nostro Petrino ministerio exercendo preces postulantes.
Ex Aedibus Vaticanis, die V mensis Augusti, anno MMXXI, Pontificatus Nostri nono.
FRANCISCUS
© Libreria Editrice Vatican
