L’immagine meravigliosa (reg. Richard Brooks - 1951)

Object Name
Lady of Loreto statue.

Object/Collection Description
Calabrian Painted plaster statue of the Lady of Loreto mounted on a carved wooden stand with concealed wheels, topped with an arch of electric light bulbs, decorated with plastic flowers. Holy Card depicting the original statue in Plati (captioned, published photograph of the Lady of Loreto statue in Plati) Catholic community.

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Cath Catanzariti’s conversation with Pasqualino Mittiga provided much of the background to the statue. In 1948, Pasqualino’s uncle Saverino Mittiga wanted to reproduce the tradition of the Festa delia Madonna di Loreto from Plati, his town of origin in Calabria. On behalf of the Calabrian Catholic community in Hanwood, he commissioned an artisan in Sydney to make a statue after the original in his home town of Plati, in a church at Parochia Oi Madonna Oi Loreto. A published holy card with a photograph of the statue was provided to the artisan as a basis.
In that same year, the completed statue was delivered to Griffith and the Calabrian community celebrated the feast of the Madonna to celebrate the Catholic mystery of the Assumption of Our Lady (held in September of that year). From 1948 until the late 1960s, the yearly festa was celebrated, coinciding with the feast day in Calabria. There would be a sung mass as soon as the mass was finished there was a two kilometre procession with the Madonna placed on a float, carried by the faithful, led by the priest and altar boys. The procession was heralded by musicians, playing bagpipes (ceramei) and drums. The role of the musicians was to let the faithful know that Our Lady was moving forward. Once the Madonna returned from the procession, she would be left outside the church, draped with a ribbon around the neck. The women would then approach and venerate the statue, pinning cash donations to the ribbon. This was followed by festivities (festa) at which the parish committee would hold a raffle (pesca). The evening ended with fire works.
The veneration of the Lady of Loreto underwent a war-time revival in Plati. Plati oral tradition, as retold in Hanwood, was that the German Air Force had attacked Plati, but bombed the river, which they had mistaken for a major road going through the town. The town was thus saved from aerial bombing raids and the Lady of Loreto was venerated for saving the town. Lady of Loreto, the patron saint of aviators, had saved her devotees and her statue in Plati from enemy aviators. The holy card identifies the Lady of Loreto as the patroness of Plati.
People still remembered observance of Good Friday in Plati’, recalling the torture and crucifixion of Jesus Christ after a political trial. The town of Plati’ observed the sombre atmosphere of mourning in respect of the death of Christ. The faithful would assemble in the church at about 9 am to commence a procession with the carrying of a wooden cross. During the procession the Stations of the Cross were re-enacted on a three km journey ending on the hill overlooking the town. The hill was called Calvario; the cross that had been carried would be placed upright with two other crosses places on each side representing the two thieves. On Saturday morning the Madonna, would be carried on a float, clothed in black, to meet her son as a re-enactment of Easter morning with the Risen Christ. A statue of her son, Jesus, would be placed on a separate float. The climax of Easter morning was La Confrontata, at which the floats would be moved quickly as if running towards each other, for an instant, and then separated, before meeting again. La Confrontata was accompanied by outpouring of devotion and of grief for the suffering of Christ and his mother.
After the late 1960s the yearly festa was dropped, possibly affected by a period of rapid social change (reflected in reforms to the Catholic liturgy by the Second Vatican Council), However the festa was revived for a time in c1995 and conducted up to c 2003. This transfer of devotional practice of Mary from Plati in Calabria to Hanwood in Australia has an interesting historical parallel with the transfer of devotion to Mary from Ephesus in Turkey to Loreto in Italy.

Written by Peter Kabaila
March 2008

Edited by Stephen Thompson
Migration Heritage Centre
March 2008

Questo testo è parte di uno più esteso che trovate qui:

http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/statue/