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The Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano, sometimes called simply Monte Gargano, is the oldest shrine in Western Europe dedicated to the archangel Michael. It is located at 41°43′N 15°58′E / 41.71°N 15.96°E / 41.71; 15.96 on Mount Gargano, Italy, part of the commune of Monte Sant'Angelo, in the province of Foggia, northern Apulia (Italy). The historic site and its environs are protected by the Parco Nazionale del Gargano.
History
The legend of the Archangel's apparition at Gargano is related in the Roman Breviary for May 8. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, in Michael's veneration at Monte Gargano (Garganus Mons), "his original glory as patron in war was restored to him," for the earlier shrine, at Chonae near Colossae, east of Laodicea (modern Khonas, east of Denizli) on the Lycus in Phrygia, was dedicated to him as healer; it is still the site of a miraculous church of St. Michael.
The first apparitions of the archangel Michael in Western Europe were granted to the Bishop of Sipontum (rebuilt in 1256 as Manfredonia), in Apulia. The Archangel appeared four times:
The first apparition - The episode of the bull
One day a rich lord of Siponto used to pasture his herds on the Gargano mountain. All of a sudden the most beautiful bull disappeared. The owner searched for him anxiously in all the most hidden places and at last found him on top of the mountain kneeling down at the opening of a cave. Angrily he shot an arrow at the rebellious animal, but instead of hitting the bull the arrow unaccountably wounded the foot of the wealthy lord. Worried by the event, he went to see the bishop who, after hearing the account of the extraordinary adventure ordered three days of prayer and penance. As the third day ended, the Archangel Michael appeared to the bishop and indicated the transformation into a Christian church of a grotto sacred to Mithras, on Monte Tumba. He spoke to him: “I am the Archangel Michael, and am always in the presence of God. The cave is sacred for me, I have chosen it; I myself am its watchful custodian... There where the rock opens wide the sins of men can be forgiven... What is asked for here in prayer will be granted. Therefore, go to the mountain and dedicate the grotto to the Christian religion”. But because this mysterious mountain was almost impossible to reach and it had also been the place of pagan cults, the bishop hesitated a long time before deciding to obey the words of the Archangel.
The second apparition - The episode of the victory
The second apparition of Saint Michael, known as “of the Victory” is traditionally dated in the year 492, even if scholars of today refer the episode to the war of the Longobard duke, Grimoaldo, and the Greeks in 662 - 663, when the victory that took place on 8 May was attributed by the Longobards to the intercession and help of Saint Michael. According to tradition the town of Siponto besieged by enemy troops was on the point of surrender. The bishop Saint Lorenzo obtained a truce of three days from the enemy and he turned to the Celestial Leader with faith, prayer and penance. At the end of the third day the Archangel Michael appeared to the bishop and foretold a complete victory. This message filled the hearts of the besieged with hope. The defenders left the town and fought a furious battle accompanied by thunderbolts and lightning of extraordinary intensity. The victory of the people of Siponto was complete with the extermination of the enemy.
The third apparition - The episode of the dedication
The third apparition is called “the episode of the Dedication. "According to tradition in the year 493, after the victory, the bishop now wanted to obey the Celestial Protector and consecrate the grotto to Saint Michael as a sign of gratitude, encouraged also by the positive opinion expressed by Pope Gelasio I (492 - 496), but the Archangel appeared to him again and announced that he himself had already consecrated the grotto. So the bishop of Siponto, together with seven other Apulian bishops went in procession with the people and clergy of Siponto to the holy place. During the procession a wonderful thing happened: some eagles sheltered the bishops from the rays of the sun with their outspread wings. When they arrived at the grotto they found that a primitive altar had already been erected, covered with a vermilion altar cloth and surmounted by a Cross; moreover, according to the legend, they found the footprint of Saint Michael in the rock. With immense joy the holy bishop offered the first divine Sacrifice. It was 29 September. The grotto itself is the only place of worship not consecrated by human hand and over the centuries has received the title of “Celestial Basilica”.
The fourth apparition
A terrible pestilence raged all over Southern Italy in the year 1656. Archbishop Alfonso Puccinelli, unable to find human means of stopping the epidemic, had recourse to the Archangel Michael with prayers and fasting. The Archbishop even thought of forcing the divine will by placing a supplication written in the name of all the towns-people in the hands of the statue of Saint Michael. And then as dawn was breaking on 22 September, while he was praying in a room of the bishop’s palace of Monte Sant’Angelo, there was a sort of earthquake and Saint Michael appeared to him in dazzling splendour and ordered him to bless the stones of the grotto engraving them with the sign of the cross and the letters MA (Michael Archangel). Whoever kept those stones devoutly would have been immune from the plague. The bishop did what he was told to do. Very soon, not only the town was delivered from the plague, but also all those who asked for the stones wherever they lived. As a perpetual memento of the prodigy and out of eternal gratitude, the Archbishop erected a monument to Saint Michael in the square of the town where it stands to this day, in front of the balcony of that room where the apparition is said to have taken place, with the following words inscribed in Latin:
TO THE PRINCE OF THE ANGELS
CONQUEROR OF THE PLAGUE
PATRON AND GUARDIAN
WE PLACE THIS MONUMENT
IN ETERNAL GRATITUDE
ALFONSO PUCCINELLI
1656
The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea), the compendium of Christian mythology compiled by Jacobus de Varagine between 1260-1275, narrates the first of the apparitions of Michael:
When he appeared in the Mount of Gargan. This mountain is in Naples, which is named Gargan and is by the city named Syponte. And in the year of our Lord three hundred and ninety, was in the same city of Syponte a man which was named Garganus, which, after some books, had taken that name of the mountain, or else the mountain took the name of the man. And he was right rich, and had a great multitude of sheep and beasts, and as they pastured about the sides of the mountains it happed that a bull left the other beasts, and went upon high on the mountain and returned not home again with the other beasts. Then this rich man, the owner, took a great multitude of servants, and did do seek this bull all about, and at the last he was found on high on the mountain by the entry of a hole or a cave. And then the master was wroth because he had strayed alone from other beasts, and made one of his servants to shoot an arrow at him. And anon the arrow returned with the wind and smote him that had shot it, wherewith they of the city were troubled with this thing, and went to the bishop and inquired of him what was to be done in this thing, that was so wonderful. And then he commanded them to fast three days and to pray unto God. And when this was done Saint Michael appeared to the bishop, saying: Know ye that this man is so hurt by my will. I am Michael the archangel, which will that this place be worshipped in earth, and will have it surely kept. And therefore I have proved that I am keeper of this place by the demonstrance and showing of this thing. And then anon the bishop and they of the city went with procession unto that place, and durst not enter into it, but made their prayers withoutforth.
Pope Gelasius I (reigned 492-496) directed that a basilica be erected enclosing the space. The Basilica di San Giovanni in Tumba is the final resting-place of the Lombard king Rothari (died 652); the designation "tumba" is now applied to the cupola on squinches.
To Michael's dramatic later intercession, appearing with flaming sword atop the mountain, in the midst of a storm on the eve of the battle, the Lombards of Sipontum attributed their victory (May 8, 663) over the Greeks loyal to the Byzantine emperor, and so, in commemoration of this victory, the church of Sipontum instituted a special feast honoring the Archangel, on May 8, which then spread throughout the Catholic Church. Since the time of Pius V it has been formalized as Apparitio S. Michaelis although it originally did not commemorate the apparition, but the victory of the barbarian Lombards over the Orthodox Greeks, faithful subjects of the Byzantine Emperor in the East and the patriarch of Constantinople, and thorns in the papal side.
Architecture
The complex of buildings consists of the Battistero di San Giovanni in Tumba, damaged in 1942, and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The baptistery presents a rectangular storey on which rests an octagon supporting an elliptical section and a high drum that supports the cupola. The church erected in the eleventh century by Archbishop Leone stands upon the remains of an ancient necropolis. A few remnants attest to its once-rich fresco decoration.
The Castello was enlarged by the Normans upon an episcopal residence of Orso, Bishop of Benevento, to provide a suitable seat for the Honor Montis Sancti Angeli, further modified by Frederick II. The massive, octagonal campanile was built in the late 13th century by Emperor Frederick II of Sicily as a watchtower. It was turned into a bell tower by Charles I of Anjou.
Behind a forecourt the sanctuary presents a portico of two Gothic arches, the right one of 1395 by the local architect Simone, the left one a reconstruction of 1865. From the portico steps lead down to the low arched nave. The cavern can be accessed from a Romanesque portal, called the Portale del Toro ("Gate of the Bull"): the doors, in bronze, were made in Constantinople in 1076, the donation of an Amalfitan noble. They are divided in 24 panels portraying episodes of angels from the Old and New Testaments.
The archaic cavern opening to the left, with its holy well, is full of votive offerings, especially the 12th century marble bishop's throne supported on crouching lions. Among the ex voto objects is a statue of the Archangel by Andrea Sansovino.
Pilgrimages
During centuries, millions of pilgrims went to Monte Sant'Angelo in order to visit the “Celestial Basilica”. Among the pilgrims who visited the Saint Michale Archangel Sanctuary were many popes (Gelasius I, Leo IX, Urban II, Alexander III, Gregory X, Celestine V, John XXIII as Cardinal, John Paul II), saints (Bridget of Sweden, Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas Aquinas) emperors, kings and princes (Louis II of Italy, Otto III, Herny II, Matilda of Tuscany, Charles I of Naples, Ferdinand II of Aragon). Also Francis of Assisi went to visit the Sanctuary, but feeling himself unworthy to enter the grotto, he stopped in prayer and meditation at the entrance, kissed and carved on a stone the sign of the cross in the form of “T” (tau).
Plenary indulgence
By authority of the Supreme Pontiff, the Apostolic Penitentiary willingly grants the plenary indulgence with the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayers for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff) and a resolute relinquishing of all attachment to sin, to be gained by the faithful in the shrine of Saint Michael Archangel when they devoutly assist at a sacred function or recite at least the Our Father and the Creed:
1. On the day of the liturgical celebration of the apparition of Saint Michael Archangel (8 May), of the Dedication of the Shrine (29 September), of the Blessed Virgin Mary Liberatrix (2 July), of the Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (26 July) and of Saint Lucy Virgin and Martyr (13 December).
2. Each time they devoutly come here on pilgrimage;
3. Once a year on the day chosen freely by each faithful.
This present concession is valid in perpetuum. Notwithstanding any case to the contrary.
The guardians
Since 13 July 1996, the pastoral care of Saint Michael Archangel Sanctuary has been given to the Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel.
See also
Notes
- See the Latin hagiographical account, "Apparitio Sancti Michaelis in Monte Tumba", Acta Sanctorum, September vol. 8, pp. 76-79.
- "La Tomba di Rotari è un battistero del XII secolo con copertura a cupola (o Tumba)."
- Itinerari turistici Monte Sant' Angelo - Gargano
- The votive offerings have been studied in Giovanni Battista Bronzini, Ex voto e Santuari in Puglia: 1. Il Gargano (Florence:Olschki) 1993.
External links
- ildiariomontanaro.it - la testata giornalistica di Monte Sant'Angelo, a cura dell'associazione culturale Obiettivo Gargano.
- santuariosanmichele.it
- Jacopus de Voragine, Golden Legend: Saint Michael
- Selected modern bibliography
- Virtual tour of the Sanctuary
- Monte Sant’Angelo & the Gargano Photos
References
Arnold, J.C. "Arcadia Becomes Jerusalem: Angelic Caverns and Shrine Conversion at Monte Gargano." Speculum vol. 75 (July 2000), pp. 567–88
N. Everett, "The Liber de apparitione S. Michaelis in Monte Gargano and the hagiography of dispossession", Analecta Bollandiana 120 (2002), 364-391. (Argues that the Liber reflects conflict between the churches of Siponto and Benevento over control of the Gargano shrine, and that the Liber dates c.663-750).
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