23rd February : Our Lady Of The Rocks
23rd February
Our Lady Of The Rocks
Country : Spain
Year : 1616
There are shrines of this or similar names, one of the best known being the Madonna del Sasso at Locarno in Switzerland. The Franciscans established a house there in the thirteenth century.
One of the friars had a vision of Our Lady, and the pilgrimage church of the Annunciation was accordingly built there in 1616. In the same country there is a pilgrimage chapel of St. Mary of the High Rocks (Marienkapelle zu hohen Fluen) in the Valais canton. Here the statue of Our Lady is said to have been found floating in the River Rhone.
The shrine of Our Lady of the Rocks at Castel Sant’ Elia in the Italian region is approached by 144 steps. These steps were cut from the living rock by a hermit of the eighteenth century, Joseph Rodio. It took him fourteen years to do so. At the top, in a little chapel, is an image of Mary that was crowned in 1896. The place is still in charge of the Franciscans.
