FLYING LADY OF LORETO

The Virgin Mary supposedly flew her house in Nazareth to Loreto in 1294 on the twelfth day of December. In 1291, the angels carried it to Illyria which is Tarsetto in modern Croatia from Nazareth and from Illyria it went to Loreto. But excavations made by archaeologists in the 1960s indicate that the stones were moved from Palestine to Loreto by ship. As for the angels they seem to have been introduced into the story by somebody who was hard of hearing for a family called Angeli that ruled Epirus was responsible for the move. A document was found not many years ago that was written in 1294 that stated that the stones were part of a dowry in a royal wedding. The stones seem to have been inscribed upon by Jewish believers in Jesus which makes them ancient. But it is hard to believe that the Jews who attacked Mary in their writings even though her faults would not have reflected badly on Jesus and though the idea of worshipping her was popularised by the Church centuries later would have tolerated such a house.

It would have been razed to the ground. The inscriptions are fake and there is no evidence of authenticity. No doubt there would always have been a few Jews who believed in Jesus but only as a Jewish prophet. It is even believed that the Virgin was born in the house. This idea originated with Pope Julius II from about 1507. But there no evidence that she or her parents always lived in the house. If Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to register in the census then it seems probable that they were born there so the claim is improbable. When Jesus seemed to have been accepted as a king by Pilate it would seem to have been the case that Pilate knew he was king which would mean that Mary was really the beautiful Mariamme who was married to King Herod and who disappeared and was thought to have been murdered. This Jewish princess would hardly have been living in a stone house in Nazareth.

The New Catholic Encyclopaedia under Loreto says that the house of the Virgin was moved four times because it took that to find a place where it would be venerated properly. Surely the angels that carried it would not have got it so wrong so often! Were they stupid? The stone and mortar are said to be from Nazareth and the house has no foundations which is supposed to support the idea that angels lifted it and carried it. One would expect angels to lift foundations and all.

The research of a man called Chevalier in 1906 found that there was no evidence that the house was ever in Nazareth and its disappearance was not mentioned until the 1500s and there was no evidence for the miraculous translation until 1472 when it was too late.