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APULICA / FAITH

Sanctuary and Abbey of Montevergine

Sanctuary · Mercogliano · Campania

In brief

Festivals and dates

From William's hermitage to abbey

The sanctuary's origins go back to William of Vercelli, a young pilgrim who in the 12th century, after visiting some of the great shrines of his day, including Santiago de Compostela, Rome and the shrine of Saint Michael on the Gargano, withdrew to live as a hermit on Mount Partenio, not far from Avellino. According to a medieval life of the saint, the Saviour appeared to him and asked him to build a church on that mountain dedicated to the Virgin. A community of monks, the Verginian Congregation, grew up around him, and the first church was consecrated at Pentecost 1126 by the bishop of Avellino.

In the following centuries the abbey and basilica enjoyed the favour of the kings of Sicily; in 1261 Pope Alexander IV made Montevergine a diocese in its own right, the abbey «nullius», directly subject to the Holy See. Then came a period of decline, the commendam from 1430 and the 19th-century suppressions, when the abbey was kept on as an archive of the Kingdom. In 1879 the Verginian congregation merged with the Subiaco congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict.

Alongside worship, the monks ran an extensive network of care, with hospitals and rest houses for pilgrims, such as the hospice that stood in today's Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo. A document of 1139 already describes the faithful climbing to the church of Saint Mary to ask for mercy, and in 1263 Pope Urban IV attested the veneration it enjoyed among the people of the region.

Sources: Santuario di Montevergine a Mercogliano - Italia.it · La Diocesi di Montevergine - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Storia della Congregazione - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Storia del pellegrinaggio - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine

Mamma Schiavona and pilgrim traditions

The heart of the devotion is the great 13th-century panel of Our Lady of Montevergine, which the faithful call «Mamma Schiavona». The Virgin sits enthroned with the Child on her lap, surrounded by angels, with Angevin lilies in the background. Over time the image was enriched with crowns, in 1661 and 1712, and after a theft in 1799 it was covered with necklaces and ornaments, removed during the 1960 restoration. The devotion, which began with Saint William urging people to look to Mary, spread across Campania and, through emigration, abroad.

Popular traditions grew up around the pilgrimage, and the sanctuary keeps their memory. Young women hoping to marry would knot broom branches together along the paths, coming back the following year with their husband to untie them. Girls dressed in white, called «verginelle» or «scapillate», often climbed barefoot to fulfil a vow. On the way home there were cart races and the «cantata 'a figliola», a contest of improvised songs about the glories of the Virgin.

One traditional pilgrim gesture is a stop at the chapel of the «misura», where they sit on the «Madonna's chair» and kiss the print of her foot. Offerings of gold and ex-votos, given in thanks for graces received, bear witness to centuries of trust.

Sources: Santuario di Montevergine a Mercogliano - Italia.it · Madonna - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Storia della Congregazione - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Tradizione del pellegrinaggio - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Pellegrini e pellegrinaggi a Montevergine - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine

The two basilicas, the crypt and the museum

From the courtyard one enters the old basilica through a white-marble Gothic portal of the late 13th century, commissioned by the House of Anjou, with a fresco of Pentecost in the tympanum recalling the consecration of the first church. The old church is a Baroque rebuilding of a Gothic one: the high altar, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, lapis lazuli and agate, dates from the mid-17th century, and the Blessed Sacrament chapel keeps a late-13th-century canopy with a 15th-century marble ciborium.

Next to it stands the new basilica, designed by Florestano di Fausto in a reworked Romanesque style, begun in 1952 and opened for worship in 1961. It has three naves and a presbytery dominated by a throne of marble and bronze set against a mosaic by János Hajnal; since 2022 it has displayed a Pentecost by Piero Casentini. The crypt holds the tomb of Saint William of Vercelli.

Facing the basilica, the Abbey Museum, laid out on two floors around the 16th-century cloister, holds a 12th-century abbatial chair with Arab-style inlay, the panel of the Madonna of Saint William, a 13th-century wooden crucifix of the French school, paintings, statues and vestments. It also houses a permanent nativity-scene exhibition and the gold offered by devotees to the Madonna.

Sources: Santuario di Montevergine a Mercogliano - Italia.it · La Basilica Cattedrale - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Tradizione del pellegrinaggio - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Il portale principale della Basilica - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Pellegrini e pellegrinaggi a Montevergine - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine

The September solemnity

On 1 September the sanctuary celebrates the solemnity of Saint Mary of Montevergine, the feast of its Madonna, with special services; in 2012, for example, it was attended by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, then Vatican Secretary of State. For centuries the busiest pilgrimages have gathered around the main Marian feasts.

Pentecost also has special meaning for Montevergine, because on that day in 1126 the first church was consecrated, as the fresco above the old basilica's portal recalls. For each year's programme it is best to check the sanctuary's website.

Sources: Gli orari della messa per la Madonna di Montevergine nel 1 settembre - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Solennità di S. Maria di Montevergine 1 settembre 2012 - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Madonna - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · La Diocesi di Montevergine - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Il portale principale della Basilica - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine

Going up to Montevergine

The sanctuary stands on Mount Partenio, in the municipality of Mercogliano, a short distance from Avellino. The most distinctive way up is the funicular from Mercogliano: first planned by Abbot Guglielmo De Cesare in the 19th century, it was inaugurated in 1956 and is now run by AIR Campania. Its two cars, each holding sixty people, cover a route of about 1,670 metres and reach the top in around seven minutes, on one of the steepest lines in Europe.

The sanctuary's website gives the funicular and the footpath as the ways to get there; timetables are published on the AIR Campania website. At the top, besides the two basilicas and the museum, the Benedictine community welcomes pilgrims and visitors to a small guest house inside the abbey, open in the warmer months.

Sources: Santuario di Montevergine a Mercogliano - Italia.it · La funicolare - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Funicolare - Air Campania · Il Santuario - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Storia del pellegrinaggio - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine · Foresteria - Santuario Abbazia di Montevergine

The place

Sources