First Sunday in October
Maria Loreto, Starý Hroznatov, Cheb, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
On the first Sunday in October, 1664, Jesuits laid the foundation stone
of the Loreto chapel near an old castle in Starý Hroznatov (German
Altkinsberg), three miles outside the city of Cheb. The following year, on
November 15, the statue of the Virgin and Child arrived from Loreto,
Italy, where it had been blessed at the foot of the Black Madonna in the
House of the Holy Family, believed to have been transported to
Italy by angels. On July 7, 1667, the first mass was said in the chapel,
followed by a procession. Soon regular pilgrimages were taking place from
both Bohemia and Germany. A major devotional complex grew up on the site,
with a large Way of the Cross and church, well attended into the 20th
century.
But after World War II, German residents of the area were expelled, and under the Communist regime, the shrine complex in the no-man's land on the German border fell steadily into ruin. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, pilgrims began returning to the site, and the exiled Hart family made its restoration possible. To fulfill a vow he had made as he lay wounded on a snowy Russian battlefield in the war, Anton Hart donated and raised money, starting a German society devoted to the revival of Maria Loreto in 1992. His sister Hermina had the damaged statue and its ornaments restored. As the Germans worked with the Czechs to restore the shrine, it became a locus for and symbol of Czech-German reconciliation and cooperation. The first official Czech-German pilgrimage took place October 10, 1993. Since then, it is held every first Sunday of October, to commemorate the shrine's foundation.
On October 1, 1994, the Chapel was rededicated and on October 6, 1996, the Holy Spirit Church. On May 15, 2008, the 3' dark lindenwood statue, in a newly jeweled mantle of precious metal, returned to the shrine.
Information and image from parish website, Rímskokatolická farnost Cheb, www.farnostcheb.cz; see also the Association's site, Homepage des Fördervereins Maria Loreto e.V, www.maria-loreto.de.
Throughout the Catholic world, many Marian celebrations occur on the first Sunday in October because of its proximity to the Feast of the Rosary (October 7), often combined with harvest festivals: | Mariathal, Kramsach, Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria (Mary's Valley). Procession; also on Corpus Christi & August 15. |
| Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van de Rozenkrans, Antwerp, Belgium (Our Dear Lady of the Rosary). Procession from St. Paul's Church. |
| Marche Notre-Dame, Aisemont, Namur, Belgium |
| Nossa Senhora da Penha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Our Lady of the Crag). Sundays of Oct., torchlight procession on 1st or 2nd Sat. |
| Notre Dame de Randol, Cournols, Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. Route Mariale, trek from Clermont to Abbey. |
| Maria Gern, Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria, Bavaria, Germany. Second Sunday after Michaelmas, September 29. |
| Maria Sondheim, Arnstein, Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany |
| Madonna del Rosario, Montodine, Cremona, Lombardy, Italy |
| Beata Vergine del Buonconsiglio, Cento, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Dodici Morelli district (Blessed Virgin of Good Counsel) |
| Beata Vergine del Rosario, Poggio Renatico, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Coronella district. Fiera, mass, procession. |
| Madonna del Rosario, Monterubbiano, Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy |
| Madonna del Rosario, Gambatesa, Campobasso, Molise, Italy, S. Bartolomeo church. With grape festival. |
| Madonna della Vittoria, Nepi, Viterbo, Latium, Italy (Madonna of the Victory) |
| Madonna del Rosario, Genazzano, Roma, Latium, Italy. With grape festival. |
| Madonna del S.S. Rosario, Norma, Latina, Latium, Italy |
| Madonna della Pace, Ceccano, Frosinone, Latium, Italy |
| Madonna del Rosario, Calitri, Avellino, Campania, Italy |
| Madonna del Lume, Santa Flavia, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Porticello district |
| Madonna del Rosario, Roccalumera, Messina, Sicily, Italy, Allume district. Street procession. |
| Madonna del Rosario, Ventimiglia di Sicilia, Catania, Sicily, Italy |
| Madonna delle Grazie, Pietraperzia, Enna, Sicily, Italy |
| Maria Santissima del Rosario, Montedoro, Caltanissetta, Sicily, Italy. With sausage festival. |
| Madonna del Rosario, Cittanova, Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy |
| Madonna del Rosario, Borgia, Cardinale, Falerna, & Santa Caterina dello Ionio, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy |
| Madonna del Rosario, Bonifati, Guardia Piemontese, Marzi, & Pietrafitta, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy |
| Madonna del Rosario, Fardella, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy |
| Madonna del Rosario, San Chirico Nuovo, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy |
| Madonna del Rosario, Aliano, Matera, Basilicata, Italy |
| Madonna delle Rine, Taviano, Lecce, Apulia, Italy. Festa & fair. |
| Madonna del Rosario, Tricase, Lecce, Apulia, Italy |
| Onze Lieve Vrouw van Waddinxveen, Waddinxveen, South Holland, Netherlands |
| Onze Lieve Vrouw van Weert, Weert, Limburg, Netherlands. Opening of Rosary Month. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Moro, Ancash, Peru. District's patronal fiesta honors "Mamá Chayo" with masses, processions, and fireworks. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Urpay, Pataz, La Libertad, Peru. District's patronal fiesta. |
| Virgen de Cocharcas, Izcuchaca, Huancavelica, Peru. Fiesta. |
| Nossa Senhora do Rosário, Santo Tirso, Porto, Norte, Portugal, Água Longa district. Festa. |
| Nossa Senhora das Areias, Aveiro, Centro, Portugal São Jacinto district (Our Lady of the Sands). Festa. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Collado, Cieza, Besaya, Cantabria, Spain. Village's patronal fiesta. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Salinas de Añana, Álava, Basque Country, Spain. Village's patronal fiesta. |
| Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Berceo, La Rioja, Spain. Fiesta. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Tormantos, La Rioja, Spain. Fiesta, pepper tasting. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Villaseca, Fonzaleche, La Rioja, Spain. Thanksgiving fiesta. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Añón de Moncayo, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. Fiesta. Also first weekend in August. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Bárboles, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. Fiesta. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Lucena de Jalón, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. Village's patronal fiesta: games, mass, concert. |
| Virgen de Rosario, Broto, Huesca, Aragon, Spain. Fiesta. |
| Nuestra Señora de Atocha, Madrid, Spain. Fiesta. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Alatoz, Albacete, Castilla La Mancha, Spain. Fiesta. |
| Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Los Barrios, Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain. Procession. |
| Virgen del Rosario, Salobreña, Granada, Andalucía, Spain |
| Virgen del Rosario, Bullas, Murcia, Spain |
| Virgen de la Encarnación, Valleseco, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain |
| Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Fasnia, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain |
| Virgen del Rosario, Durí, Trujillo, Venezuela |