11-20 February 2019
Santa Casa research in Croatia
Between February 11-20, Erin Giffin visited the libraries of Zagreb and travelled down the coast from Trsat to Primosten to visit and compare Adriatic replicas of the Santa Casa di Loreto.
Erin Giffin visited the Holy House replicas at Varaždin, Karlovac, as well as the shrine of Our Lady of Trsat where the Holy House purportedly stood for 3 years, 7 months, and 4 days. From Trsat, she travelled south to the traditional Venetian stronghold of Zadar, where another Holy House replica had once received devotion, and then on to Primošten, a community due east from Loreto with long associations with the Loretan Madonna. The city of Primošten honors the Virgin of Loreto in their central cathedral of St George, and recently unveiled a 17-meter tall replica of the Loretan Madonna on a bluff overlooking the city in 2017.
These visits are part of a larger exploration of replicas of the Santa Casa di Loreto across Europe. To find out more, see the research profile “Devotional Translations.”