| The Basilica of the Virgin of the Consolation | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Santuario della Consolata Map ofTurin | |
| 45°04′36″N7°40′45″E / 45.07667°N 7.67917°E /45.07667; 7.67917 | |
| Country | Italy |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Guarino Guarini |
| Style | Baroque |
| Administration | |
| Archdiocese | Turin |
TheBasilica della Madonna Consolata (English:The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Consolation) is aRoman Catholic minorbasilica andMarian shrine in centralTurin,Piedmont,Italy. Located on the intersection of Via Consolata and Via Carlo Ignazio Giulio, the shrine is dedicated to theBlessed Virgin Mary under the title ofOur Lady of Consolation.
Pope Pius X granted a pontifical coronation towards the venerated icon ofMadonna della Consolata on 18 June 1904. The same pontiff raised the shrine to the status ofminor basilica byPontifical Decree on 7 April 1906.
TheBenedictine Order were the first monastic order to settle in this location. A church at the site, probably dedicated to theBlessed Virgin Mary, stood adjacent to the ancientRoman walls of the city. It is held that in the 5th century, Bishop Maximus erected a church dedicated toSaint Andrew with a small chapel to the Virgin with an icon. The icon, however, became the object of great veneration.
In 929 AD,Adalbert I of Ivrea ordered the construction of a monastery and endowed it with some territories. TheRomanesque bell tower dates to about this time, and was built next to the foundation of one of the corner turrets of the old Roman fort which later became Turin.
Pious legends from the twelfth century claim that a blind traveling pilgrim had his vision restored by the icon during aMarian apparition of the Virgin inside the church. Inside the shrine, ex votos document centuries of miracles attributed to the Virgin.[1]
During the reign ofDuke of Savoy,Charles Felix of Sardinia, theCistercian Oblates dedicated to the Marian icon of this title crowned the image on their own accord on 20 June 1829.
The Marquise of Savona, Delfina Gavotti was a patroness of the shrine in the early turn of 20th century, having appeared in the list of patrons of the shrine literatureMissioni Consolata published in August 1901. Accordingly, she procured theBambino Gesu of Arenzano.
Pope Pius X granted a decree of Pontifical coronation towards the image on 18 June 1904. Its ensemble of twenty-four stars was donated by former Queen of Italy,Margherita of Savoy while the rest of its regalia were donated from the princes of Savoy and noble ladies of Turin. The decree was granted to and executed by the Prefect of theSacred Congregation of the Index, CardinalVincenzo Vannutelli in a public religious event. A grand total of six Cardinals attended the rite of coronation, including CardinalGiulio Boschi (Ferrara),Giuseppe Callegari (Padua),Alfonso Capecelatro (Capua),Andrea Carlo Ferrari (Milan), andDomenico Svampa (Bologna).
The shrine was bombed by theRoyal Air Force of Britain on 13 August 1943.[2]
Pope Francis gifted theGolden Rose to the shrine on occasion of its historical relationship with the HolyShroud of Turin in 21 June 2015.[3]
The church was originally built in the style of abasilica. Over the years the church and the icon of Our Lady of Consolation were rebuilt respectively restored by various religious orders. In 1448 the prior of Sant'Andrea expanded the church building one bay to the west. With the increased popularity of devotion toOur Lady of Consolation, the church changed from a parish to a shrine.[2]
The first major reconstruction leading to the present church was commissioned in 1678 byMarie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours.[4] ArchitectGuarino Guarini and engineer Antonio Bertola created the elliptical shape of the church nave, and added a new hexagonal chapel on the north side to accommodate the venerated icon of Mary.[2]
The architectFilippo Juvarra in 1729—1740 added the North presbytery, thus creating a church with two apparent axis: a main altar on the east, while retaining the famed icon as a chapel to the north. This period also saw the decoration of the dome byGiovanni Battista Crosato.[5]
The neoclassical facade, portico, and burial crypt on the south–north axis date from 1845 to 1860 with contributions byPietro Anselmetti; further additions were made in 1899—1904 under the guidance ofCarlo Ceppi.
The interior has a jubilantly polychrome rococo decoration with colored marbles and solomonic columns. The Juvarra altar has two marble angels in adoration byCarlo Antonio Tantardini. The interior has a sculpture of two praying queens byVincenzo Vela. Outside the church is a statue of a virgin and child on a column.
The church serves as a burial place for a number of saints affiliated with Turin:Giuseppe Cafasso andLeonardo Murialdo, as well as the BlessedGiuseppe Allamano, rector (1880—1926) and founder of the Mission Institute of the Consolata. Every June 20, a procession of the icon of the Virgin takes place in the streets of the city.[6][7]
The church is an eclectic collection of architecture, and includes portions of an ancient Roman wall, aRomanesque bell-tower, abaroque set of domes, almostByzantine, sheltering a gothic icon, with two porticos, one of which hasNeoclassic severity. The clashing of Guarini's and Juvarra's often mathematical architecture with the highly decorated interior, stubbornly magnetic to a ritualistic popular piety, leads to a modern synthesis with immanent overtones.
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