Oropa Sanctuary: history and times

Oropa Sanctuary - Our journey to discover the places of pilgrimage continues this week with the Oropa Sanctuary, I went there at least a couple of times and it is absolutely worth it. Oropa Sanctuary is a twelve kilometers from Biella, in Piedmont is a Marian shrine and is dedicated to the Black Madonna. The sanctuary consists of the Sacro Monte Sacro Monte di Oropa, the original church and the present sanctuary, the one with the structures used to house the faithful visiting. From the sanctuary you can reach the refuge Savoy and Lake of Mucrone mind a cable car takes you to the summit of Monte Camino. Also remember right now that the Sacro Monte di Oropa is part of the Sacred Mountains of Piedmont and Lombardy, and since 2003 is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Oropa Sanctuary: history and origins Tradition has it that the Oropa Sanctuary was founded by St. Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli in the fourth century in this very area where paganism worshiped the great boulders and the worship of the ancient Celtic goddesses. From the first half of the fourteenth century, in the Sanctuary of Oropa is venerated Gothic statue of the Black Madonna. Originally the statue was housed in a chapel, the place you can see it in the north wall of the ancient basilica, near a boulder. We get to the fifteenth century, here the families of Biella build several private houses to accommodate the pilgrims. But it is in the Baroque period that the Shrine expands, architecturally speaking, thanks to the interest of the House of Savoy. Oropa to intervene names like Filippo Juvarra, its the Porta Regia, Ignatius Galletti and Guarino Guarini. Around the ancient Basilica so you decide to build a shrine to house the most of the pilgrims. In the seventeenth century the plague hits hard the Piedmont, but the town of Biella vows to Our Lady of Oropa and is not touched here every year even now Biella makes a solemn procession to Oropa. Since 1620, then, in a hundred years you have the crowning of the statue of the Black Madonna. On a hill west of the Sanctuary, is then built the Holy Mount. Legend has it that the statue of the Black Madonna had been hidden by Sant'Eusebio under a boulder, to prevent it impadronissero heretics. In the early seventeenth century on this rock was built the chapel of the Roc. Then the old church of Oropa was built incorporating a second boulder, the roc 'dla life where women were pagan rubbing to propitiate the birth of children. In the nineteenth century, it was decided to build a second court to accommodate even the cemetery, while the monumental cemetery is located west of the sanctuary, near the route of the Sacred Mountain. Here you will find several esoteric symbols related to Freemasonry. In the twentieth century will begin the work to build the new church. Stumble as within the Sanctuary there is a weather-seismic observatory. There are some peculiarities related to the statue of the Black Madonna of Oropa: the statue is not worn out and there is no trace of woodworm, the foot is not consumed despite the habit of touching, on the faces of the Virgin and the Child does not stop powder. Oropa Sanctuary: times of Masses Here is the schedule of Masses at the Shrine of Oropa: Hours Holidays Ancient Basilica: 7:30 am - 9:00 to 10:30 - 16:30 to 18:15 (15:15 Rosary and Eucharistic Procession) Upper Basilica: 11.45 Hours Weekdays Ancient Basilica: 7.10 am (praise) - 7:30 to 9:00 (Saturday only) - 10.30 - 16:30 to 18:15 (Vigil) Upper Basilica: 11.30 (July and August) Confessions Ancient Basilica: 8:00 to 12:00 hours / 15:00 to 19:00 every day Upper Basilica: Holidays: half an hour before Mass Oropa Sanctuary: Getting there Oropa Sanctuary is located in via Oropa Sanctuary 480, 13900 Biella to Oropa (BI). The phone number is +39 015.25551200. Oropa Sanctuary is located 14 km from Biella on highway 144; 56 km from Vercelli on highway 230; at 87km from Turin on the A4 Turin-Milan exit Santhià; 115 km from Milan on the A4 Turin-Milan exit Carisio. Coming from Alexandria, you have to exit at Santhià and take the ss 143, while from Aosta have to take the junction Ivrea-Santhià exit Santhià. If you take the train, the train station is to Biella S. Paolo 14 km from Oropa, and buses depart from the station of Biella, line 360.