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 The construction of the Sanctuary: Francesco Gonzaga and Cardinal Tinti receive a model of the building from Bartolino Da Novara. |
The history of one of the most illustrious temples built in honour of Our Lady is rooted in the beginnings of the second millennium. In that period, in the old locality of Prato Lamberto, a humble tabernacle was erected with a tablet bearing the image of Our Lady and the Child Jesus, a miraculous image dearly loved by the fishermen from the surrounding lake. Because of the mercies received from the tender image of devotion, it was decided to erect a small oratorio around the tabernacle. 1399 marked the year of change in the fortunes of the "Grazie". The IV of the people, Francesco Gonzaga made a promise to Our Lady of the Grazie - in exchange for ending the plague which had struck the town of Mantova, he would build a temple in honour of Our Lady. But the promise was probably also related to a previous pilgrimage to Jerusalem which Gonzaga may have undertaken to free him from excommunication. In any case, the work was probably commissioned to the architect Bartolino of Novara, who was already working in the city of Virgil on the building of the Castle of Saint George. The temple cost 30000 gold shields and building went on until 1406. On the 15th August of that year the temple was consecrated in the presence of Francesco Gonzaga, the bishop of Mantova, the bishop of Cremona and the Patriarch of Grado. The following year, when the founder of the religious building was succeeded by his son, Gian Francesco Gonzaga, the complex was entrusted to the minor brothers who had taken over from those of the convent.
 The new vestry. |
Extensions to the complex were continuously being made: in 1412 the convent and the guest rooms were constructed, and throughout the entire 15th century work was carried out on building a school, a library, fountains, gardens, a refectory, a dormitory and an oratory. However, the real economic impulse to the area came in 1521 under Federico Gonzaga, then marquis of Mantova, who decided to transfer the fair of Porto to the village of the Grazie for the Feast of the Assumption. A portico with 52 arcades was built around the square to receive the pilgrims and merchants. The Sanctuary became the main centre of economic and religious activity within the diocese and it was here that the most important families of the city of Mantova chose to have their remains buried.A new and larger vestry decorated with an ornate altar was donated by the Capilupi family and constructed in 1642. Ten years later a new wing was added to the portico in the middle of the square, and roads were constructed to reach Mantova, Brescia and Cremona more easily. Building on the church ended in the XVIII century and the last project was initiated in 1700 when the Duchess, Anna Isabella of Guastalla, ordered the construction of 15 chapels in honour of the mystery of the rosary alongside the road leading to Mantova, but the work was never completed. Sadly, the moment of decline had arrived and the complex rapidly fell into disrepair. Following the suppression of the work under Giuseppe II the convent was closed in 1782 and transformed into the hospital of Mantova. During the Napoleonic wars the troops under Bonaparte ripped out the votive offerings and statues, destroyed the works of art and much of the library. In 1812 much of the building was demolished. Of the 4 cloisters and numerous smaller buildings that constituted the complex, there now remains only the east wing and the first cloister, known as the Door, with a beautiful marble well inside and the palindrome inscription reading, Tibi sitis-sitis ibit, which can be loosely translated as "if you are thirsty then here you can drink freely". At the beginning of this century the Passionists took over from the Franciscan monks who had left the temple to the clergy of the diocese. Ours is a period of restoration, of discovery of antique armour, of renovation of the apse and the joists. Only rigorous scientific knowledge and a strong moral conscience can help us consign this singular place of worship, which is in the heart of all of those in our community, to the future.
Paolo Bertelli
