Old Sanctuary

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The first place of worship dedicated to Our Lady of Caravaggio in the old Linha Palmeiro, formerly part of the Dona Isabel Colony (currently Bento Gonçalves), was a 12 square meter wooden chapel with a small porch at the entrance built by immigrants Antônio Franceschet and Pasqual Pasa due to the lack of a temple in the area, which forced them to hold services inside their homes. After it was finished, donations allowed the space to be extended to accommodate 100 people. The venerated image was an engraving of Our Lady of Loreto brought from Italy in 1876 by Natal Faoro and lent by him to the community. In 1885, a statue of the Virgin of Caravaggio was acquired from the Italian sculptor Pietro Stangherlin, who lived in Caxias do Sul. It was brought from Caxias in procession and, since then, a tradition of pilgrimages to the chapel has developed. Later, the community gathered to build a masonry church and pottery was improvised to manufacture the bricks for the structure of the temple, while the carved stone remained for the adjoining bell tower. The building was inaugurated in 1890. In 1900, the bell tower clock, built by Augusto Rombaldi, was installed.

In Their Own Story

On May 26, 1921, the parish received the status of a diocesan shrine and a permanent secular clergy to attend worship and organize pilgrimages. In 1959, Our Lady of Caravaggio was declared patroness of the Diocese of Caxias do Sul. After 1963, the temple, unable to accommodate the influx of devotees, transferred its status as a parish church to the building next door, which had a capacity for around 2,000 people. Currently, the shrine gathers around 140 families and seven subordinate chapels. In 2006, it was listed as a landmark site by the Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul - IPHAE), along with the rest of the sanctuary complex, due to its importance to history, art and culture. Between 2005 and 2012, the chapel underwent restoration work led by Marinês Gallon. The result was criticized as disastrous by Ricardo Frantz, the former coordinator of the Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art collection: 'Restoration, unlike what was done here, is a process based on respect for the original work, in which its distinctive characteristics are kept exactly as they are so that they can say what they have to say, fulfilling their role as an authentic and legible document, without entirely arbitrary interventions like this one, which falsify what they claim to preserve. [...] The entire texture of the paintings has been altered, countless details have been added, others removed, the colors have changed their tones, the volumes and contours have changed. [...] In fact, we're looking at a copy, because all that's really left of the original is the overall composition. The whole effect is that of a new work, even though it resembles the one that originated it. [...] To study art and history on the basis of testimonies that have been tampered with to such an extent is to learn false things that lead to misleading conclusions and nonsense. That's not educating, that's not documenting the facts correctly, that's creating an artificial reality. This distorted knowledge ends up multiplying, creates tradition and becomes a truer history than the authentic truth that we insisted on hiding under layers of 'creative' paint, even though it may have been done with the best of intentions.' In 2012, the process of listing two surrounding areas was launched in order to create a landscape and cultural complex. The main pilgrimage currently attracts between 200,000 and 300,000 faithful and is the largest religious festival in the northeast of Rio Grande do Sul.

Reader's Guide

The Old Sanctuary is a physical building you can visit inside the current Sanctuary of Our Lady of Caravaggio in Farroupilha, Rio Grande do Sul. It is not a network of ruins or a faction. The site has a simple neoclassical and neo-Gothic facade with a triangular pediment, a single central door, and the date 1890 inscribed at the top. Inside, a single nave leads to a chancel with a neo-Gothic altarpiece. The walls are decorated with ornamental paintings by Antônio Cremonese, including trompe-l'oeil garlands and marbled effects. The barrel vaulted ceiling is made of light blue wood dotted with tiny golden stars. Two neo-Gothic carved altars sit next to the crossing arch: one dedicated to St. Anne with a rare statue of the Virgin Mary as a baby wrapped in cloths, and the other in honor of St. Anthony the Abbot. The main altarpiece includes a pair of images depicting the patroness blessing the kneeling seer Joaneta, made by the Atelier Zambelli. At the base of the altarpiece is a scene in relief depicting the Last Supper. The bell tower, to the left of the church, is made of stone with a neo-Gothic crown, a clock, and three bells imported from Italy which, according to tradition, have the power to ward off hailstorms with their ringing. The belfry is topped off by a large figure of an angel blessing the people. The temple has an audio system that narrates the apparition of the Virgin in Italy, the history of the shrine and its traditions.

Did You Know?

• The first chapel was only 12 square meters and built by immigrants Antônio Franceschet and Pasqual Pasa.
• The venerated image was originally an engraving of Our Lady of Loreto brought from Italy in 1876 by Natal Faoro.
• The statue of the Virgin of Caravaggio was acquired in 1885 from Italian sculptor Pietro Stangherlin, who lived in Caxias do Sul.
• The bell tower clock was built by Augusto Rombaldi and installed in 1900.
• The three bells in the bell tower are said to have the power to ward off hailstorms with their ringing.