Feast of the Madonna Nera del Sacro Monte di Viggiano

Regina della Lucania, ora pro nobis

The first Sunday in September is the Feast of the Madonna Nera del Sacro Monte, Patroness & Queen of Lucania (Basilicata). In commemoration of its discovery, the miraculous statue of the Blessed Mother is brought down in Procession from its mountain chapel to the Santuario della Madonna Nera del Sacro Monte di Viggiano in Potenza for a three day festival. Extremely popular, the celebration draws tens of thousands of pilgrims each year from all over Southern Italy and devoted expats from around the world. On the first Sunday of May, the image is returned in similar fashion to her sanctuary on the sacred mountain.

During the 11th century moslem raiders ravaged Lucania for booty and slaves. In 1050 they sacked the old Roman town of Grumentum, leaving it completely destroyed. The survivors fled to the countryside for safety and, according to legend, a group of refugees buried the statue for safekeeping in a cave atop a nearby mountain. There it laid, hidden for centuries, until one night shepherds from Viggiano saw flashes of blue light coming from the mountain top. Curious, they climbed the summit and discovered the statue in the cave, wrapped only in a simple shroud.

Ecstatic, the shepherds brought the unearthed statue back to Viggiano, where it was placed in the Chiesa S. Maria del Deposito. A sanctuary was subsequently erected on the mountain so pilgrims could visit the place of its discovery. Later, under Spanish dominion, the sanctuary and church were renovated in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries, respectively. The Spanish also had the wooden statue gilded in the style of the Virgin of Montserrat in Catalonia. 

In 1890 Pope Leo XIII solemnly crowned the Madonna Nera del Sacro Monte, Patroness and Queen of Basilicata. This was reaffirmed in a Papal Bull in 1965 by Pope Paul VI. (Bolla "Lucanae Genti" di Paolo VI dell'11/XII/1965) 

In 2013 the statue visited Toronto, Canada, which boasts one of the largest Lucanian populations outside of Basilicata.

In celebration, I'm posting a Prayer to the Madonna di Viggiano in Italian. The accompanying photo comes courtesy of the Santuario della Madonna Nera del Sacro Monte di Viggiano facebook page. Evviva Regina della Lucania!

Preghiera alla Madonna di Viggiano

O Vergine Santissima, Madre di Dio e della Chiesa, Ti ringraziamo di esserti degnata di scegliere da secoli tra le genti lucane questo sacro Monte per collocarvi la Tua prodigiosa Immagine e Ti ringraziamo per tutte le grazie che quivi concedi a quanti a Te ricorrono. Nessuno mai Ti ha pregato invano. Anche noi a Te ricorriamo e Ti supplichiamo per la Passione, Morte e Risurrezione di Gesù e per i Tuoi dolori e le Tue glorie. Accoglici, o Maria, clemente e pietosa, sotto il Tuo manto, che è manto materno; concedici la grazia particolare che Ti domandiamo...e proteggici da ogni male e specialmente dal peccato, che è il male più grande. Fa', o Madonna del Sacro Monte, Madre nostra, che possiamo godere sempre della Tua amorevole protezione in vita e più ancora in morte e che veniamo poi a vederti sul Monte Eterno in cielo e a ringraziarTi e benedirTi per sempre, Amen.