Our Lady of Graces

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Our Lady of Graces (Italian - Madonna delle Grazie or Nostra Signora delle Grazie) or St Mary of Graces (Italian - Santa Maria delle Grazie) is a devotion to the Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. ("Grazie" may also be translated as "Thanks".) Churches with this dedication often owe their foundation to thankfulness for graces received from the Virgin Mary, and are particularly numerous in Italy and the Italian parts of Switzerland, running to several hundreds if not thousands.

1 Patronage
2 Churches
- 2.1 Italy
- 2.2 Switzerland
3 Chapels, oratories and other sanctuaries
4 Paintings
5 Statues
6 Festivals
7 References

[edit] Patronage

"Our Lady of Graces" is the patron saint of the diocese of Faenza, as well as this (very incomplete) list of Italian towns:

Cautano
Decimoputzu.
Nettuno (where Nostra Signora delle Grazie e Santa Maria Goretti is part-dedicated to her)
Sanluri
Toritto
Zabbar

[edit] Churches

[edit] Italy

The Baroque church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont, Italy

Alanno, Abruzzo: A renaissance church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, built around 1485 to venerate a miraculous apparition of the Madonna.
Alife
Anghiari, Tuscany: Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie o della Propositura, constructed 1628–1740.^[1]^, ^[2]
Anversa degli Abruzzi
Arezzo, Tuscany: A late Gothic church built close to the site of a well which had been associated with Paganism, and had been destroyed at the behest of Saint Bernardino of Siena.^[3]
Arzignano, Veneto: The Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, built after the plague of 1485.
Bevagna
Brescia, Lombardy: Basilica of Madonna delle Grazie
Capua
Casale Monferrato
Castelfranco di Pietralunga
Castiglion Fiorentino
Castiglione d'Orcia
Cerignola
Città di Castello
Colle Faggio di Monteleone di Spoleto
Cortona
Fabro
Faenza
Farnese, Lazio: The Clarissan monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.^[4]
Floridia
Foligno
Giano dell'Umbria, Umbria: A small country church, medieval in origin, but restructured in the classical style.^[5]
Grado
Gravedona
Gravina in Puglia
Imperia
Magione
Magliano Sabina
Maiori
Mantova
Massa Lubrense
Melilli
Milan, Lombardy: Santa Maria delle Grazie, site of the mural of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.
Modugno
Montalcino
Montefalco
Montegabbione
Montepescali di Grosseto
Monteleone d'Orvieto
Monterotondo
Montevarchi
Monticelli di Olevano sul Tusciano
Montone
Monza
Naples (at least three),
Parma
Paternò
Perugia
Piancastagnaio
Piazzetta Mondragone
Pistoia
Preggio di Umbertide
Rome (at least three),
San Giovanni d'Asso
San Giovanni Rotondo
Sansepolcro
San Severo
Sant'Anatolia di Narco
Scandriglia
Scanno
Scansano
Senigallia
Terracina
Toritto
Trevi
Varallo
Venice
Vicovaro
Vigevano
Villa Santa Maria
Zafferana Etnea

[edit] Switzerland

Bellinzona, Canton Ticino: A late fifteenth-century church which was attached to a Franciscan convent.^[6]

[edit] Chapels, oratories and other sanctuaries

[edit] Paintings

There are many thousands of paintings by this name thruout Italy. Some may be seen at Grosseto Cathedral (by Matteo di Giovanni, 1470), in the church of San Lorenzo at Poggibonsi, and in the cathedral of Perugia. Unlike the Madonna del Soccorso or the Madonna della Misericordia, the Madonna delle Grazie has no particular iconography, although many of these paintings represent just the head or bust of the Virgin.

[edit] Statues

There are statues of her by Antonello Gagini at Chiesa dell'Osservanza, Catanzaro and the church of Madrice Vecchia, Castelbuono, and by Vincenzo Gagini at the Church of San Martino, Randazzo.

[edit] Festivals

Festivals to her are again celebrated in many places. In Italy one of the most famous is at Catenanuova. In Stamford, Connecticut she is celebrated by emigrants from Minturno.