The patronage of this shrine, dedicated to the Madonna, refers to the town of Loreto (Marche, Italy). This is one of the great and important Marian pilgrimage sites in Europe, along with Lourdes in the French Pyrenees and Fatima in Portugal. Unlike the other two places mentioned, however, Loreto has not become known through apparitions of the Mother of God. Here, pilgrims can present something very tangible: Mary's childhood home in Nazareth (Israel). Her parents—not mentioned by name in the biblical writings of the New Testament—are mentioned in apocryphal traditions: Saint Anne and Saint Joachim are thus the grandparents of Jesus Christ (their common feast day in the calendar of saints is July 26).
Crusaders probably dismantled the venerated building in Nazareth and brought it to Europe when the era of the Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land came to an end towards the end of the 13th century. But this very sober assumption is countered by a much more interesting legend: According to this, four angels carried out the translation and flew the house over the Mediterranean.