The birth of the sanctuary is linked to the apparition of the Madonna to the young Filippo Viotti, which according to tradition took place in August 1532, in the mountains near the town. The Virgin would have asked the child to have a church built on that spot and he, deaf and dumb, would then be miraculously healed. The community of Paitone, in honor of the Virgin's request, therefore decides to build a new sanctuary dedicated to her. The authorization from the diocese of Brescia arrives on 11 May 1534, drawn up by Mattia Ugoni, auxiliary of Bishop Andrea Corner. Among other things, we read precisely that "having received your humble and devoted request, just presented to us, to found, to erect, build and build a church [...] in that place where the Most Holy Virgin appeared Maria and where many miracles are said to work, we, with the tenor of this letter, grant this license and faculty ".
The sanctuary is enriched by a canvas by Moretto, which the painter would have painted based firmly on the testimony of the young Philip. The tale of the miraculous apparition and of how Moretto set out to perform the work was handed down to us by Carlo Ridolfi who, however very emphatically, wrote in 1648: "He gathered a peasant (Filippo Viotti) more silvestri in the bosom of that mountain, to which Mary Most Holy appeared in the semblance of a grave Matrona, girded in white, committing to him that he would make those peoples understand that in her name they would build a Church on that summit, which in this way would certainly cease an accident of evil, The little boy obeyed, and he too obtained sanity: After the Temple was built, the painting was ordered to Moretto; to stick to the description given by the farmer): but struggling in vain, he thought that some grave sin of his prevented the effect, so that reconciled himself with great devotion to God, he took the Most Holy Eucharist, and then he resumed work, and the image was made to him in all respects similar to that which the Peasant had seen, which he portrayed at his feet, with the basket of blackberries on his arm, from which they obtain graces and favors from the Divine hand ". The apparition of the Virgin, which Ridolfi does not say, took place on a stone, which is then used as the basis of the main altar of the church.
The sanctuary was built in about two years and is constantly embellished, building the portico on the facade and opening the vast square in front. Over the centuries, many other miracles linked to the sanctuary would have been recorded, all linked to sudden and inexplicable healings.
Translated by Google •
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