santuario, mariano, diocesano, basilica, Santuario Basilica Santa Maria Madonna della Catena

The Santuario Basilica Santa Maria Madonna della Catena rises from a medieval past, its story beginning in 1301 when a blind beggar, Simone Adami, is said to have recovered his sight at a spring beside an ancient hermitage. On the wall there, an image of the Madonna was found. The painting, a Galaktotrophousa showing the Virgin nursing the Christ Child, who holds a rose, became an object of local devotion. She also holds a chain, an iconographic plea for liberation from bondage. The present sanctuary and its convent were begun in 1852. Inside, marble and grand frescoes by Lucillo Grassi date from 1942. The sacred canvas was restored by the Vatican in 1966. Pope Paul VI raised the church to a Minor Basilica in that same year. In 1984, Pope John Paul II crowned the image during his visit to Calabria. By 1988, it was formally constituted a Diocesan Marian Sanctuary. The building thus layers centuries of faith, from a miraculous spring to papal honours.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.