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APULICA / FAITH

Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows

Sanctuary · Castelpetroso (Isernia) · Molise

In brief

Festivals and dates

From the 1888 apparitions to the basilica

On 22 March 1888, at the foot of Monte Patalecchia, two peasant women of Castelpetroso, Fabiana Cicchino, known as Bibiana, and Serafina Valentino, were looking for a lost sheep when they were drawn by an intense light. Bibiana saw Our Lady of Sorrows with the lifeless body of Jesus; on 1 April the vision was repeated for Serafina. The news spread quickly and drew pilgrims from all over the region.

On 26 September 1888 the Bishop of Bojano, Francesco Macarone Palmieri, went up to the site to investigate and he too saw Our Lady of Sorrows. The first healings followed, including that of young Augusto Acquaderni with the water of the spring: his father Carlo, editor in Bologna of the magazine Il Servo di Maria, then promoted the building of a shrine.

The foundation stone was laid on 28 September 1890, before thirty thousand faithful, to a neo-Gothic design by the Bolognese engineer Francesco Gualandi, using local stone worked by the stonemasons of Oratino. Financial difficulties and the bishop's death slowed the work for a long time, and it was completed in 1975 thanks to Mgr Alberto Carinci and the offerings of the faithful and of emigrants.

Sources: La luce di Castelpetroso, luogo di speranza e devozione - Arcidiocesi di Campobasso-Bojano · Storia - Basilica Addolorata · Solennità di Maria Santissima Addolorata, Patrona del Molise - Arcidiocesi di Campobasso-Bojano

The sorrowful Mother, patroness of Molise

In the image that appeared in 1888 the Virgin looks up to heaven with her arms open in a gesture of offering, her dead Son at her feet: an image of sorrow and of trust in God that has become for the faithful a sign of consolation and hope. On 6 December 1973 Paul VI proclaimed Our Lady of Sorrows of Castelpetroso patroness of Molise.

The shrine, called the 'Little Lourdes of Italy', welcomes more than one hundred thousand pilgrims every year. Since 1893 organised pilgrimages on foot have also come here, some up to 80 kilometres long, from towns such as Alife, Baselice, Castello del Matese, Pietramelara and San Gregorio Matese.

On 19 March 1995 John Paul II celebrated Mass in front of the shrine and recalled that the faithful had contributed to its construction, even offering the copper for the roof. On 5 July 2014 the shrine welcomed Pope Francis.

Sources: La luce di Castelpetroso, luogo di speranza e devozione - Arcidiocesi di Campobasso-Bojano · Basilica dell'Addolorata - Santuario di Castelpetroso · Storia - Basilica Addolorata · Basilica Minore dell'Addolorata - Comune di Castelpetroso · Giovanni Paolo II, Santa Messa davanti al Santuario della Madonna Addolorata a Castelpetroso (19 marzo 1995)

Basilica, Via Matris and Place of the Apparitions

The neo-Gothic basilica, built in local stone, stands just outside the medieval core of Castelpetroso. During Mgr Carinci's episcopate the great dome, new chapels and the Via Matris were built: a path with seven chapels dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary that leads to the Place of the Apparitions.

There, in a grotto, a bronze group shows the Virgin as she appeared to Bibiana, with the seer and her sheep and, a little further on, Serafina running up; a stone with a cross marks the exact spot of the vision and an illuminated cross recalls the one set up by the first pilgrims. Nearby stands the stone Chapel of the Apparition, blessed in 1947, with a mosaic of Our Lady of Sorrows. Close by is the spring held to be miraculous, covered in 1941 by a small shrine inscribed 'Eia Mater Fons Amoris'.

In the village, the church of San Martino Vescovo, from the second half of the 13th century, is worth a stop, with its 14th-century portal and an 18th-century Deposition attributed to Francesco Solimena.

Sources: Basilica dell'Addolorata - Santuario di Castelpetroso · Storia - Basilica Addolorata · Castelpetroso - Italia.it · Basilica - Basilica Addolorata

The feasts of Our Lady of Sorrows

On 22 March the anniversary of the apparitions is celebrated. The celebrations open with the traditional Settenario (seven days of prayer) in honour of Our Lady of Sorrows, led by the parishes of the area; on the evening of the eve a torchlight procession climbs the path to the place of the apparitions, and on the feast day, after the morning Masses, the archbishop presides over the solemn Pontifical Mass. Thousands of faithful gather at the foot of the basilica.

On 15 September the shrine celebrates the Solemnity of Our Lady of Sorrows, patroness of Molise: in the universal Church it is a memorial, but here it has the rank of a solemnity because it is the feast of the church's title.

At the end of September the laying of the foundation stone on 28 September 1890 is remembered; it took place on the fourth Sunday of the month, and local tradition has kept that date. In 2026 the anniversary was celebrated from 19 to 27 September with the Settenario, the Via Matris, a torchlight procession from Guasto to the place of the apparitions and the aggregation of the basilica to Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

Sources: La luce di Castelpetroso, luogo di speranza e devozione - Arcidiocesi di Campobasso-Bojano · Solennità di Maria Santissima Addolorata, Patrona del Molise - Arcidiocesi di Campobasso-Bojano · Il Santuario di Castelpetroso aggregato alla Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore - Arcidiocesi di Campobasso-Bojano

Visiting the shrine

The basilica is on Via Santuario in Castelpetroso, in the province of Isernia; the shrine describes it as about two hours from Rome. Besides the basilica, the visit includes the Via Matris, the chapel and Place of the Apparitions, and the spring.

The shrine offers help with organising pilgrimages on its official website (santuarioaddolorata.it), which also carries information on the celebrations and the Marian spirituality magazine 'Eco dell'Addolorata'.

Sources: Basilica dell'Addolorata - Santuario di Castelpetroso · Solennità di Maria Santissima Addolorata, Patrona del Molise - Arcidiocesi di Campobasso-Bojano · Basilica - Basilica Addolorata

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