1291 A.D.: Mary's Childhood Home, and Reportedly Jesus' Childhood Home Also, appears in Italy, Escaping Muslim Destruction?
Certainly, one of the strangest of all medieval Christian claims is that angels relocated Jesus' boyhood home so that it would not be destroyed. Muslims had prevailed in the latest Crusade era fighting and had taken over the area in Israel and the story is that they felt it wise to destroy the Christian landmarks to eliminate the religion more thoroughly from the area. But, according to some sources that you can read, they first arrived at his reputed birthplace in Bethlehem to destroy it but there was a depiction there of the wise men who had followed the star and came to pay tribute to baby Jesus. In the depiction the figures were dressed in non-Jewish (essentially Arab or Muslim) style clothing. Convinced by the Arab style dress of these depicted figures that the site might not be the Christian site they were searching for they decided to avoid a mistake and leave it alone. So, in that manner Jesus' birthplace escaped destruction. The Annunciation is the name given to the event where Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she would divinely conceive a child who would be Jesus.
But another famous site was the home in Nazareth that both Mary and Jesus had grown up in for at least part of their years, the site of the Annunciation. The Annunciation is the name given to the event where Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she would divinely conceive a child who would be Jesus, and the story goes that it also was in danger of being destroyed. Yet it was preserved by another method entirely: according to Catholic tradition angels relocated it in its entirety, leaving only the foundation behind, transporting it without disassembly to Europe...essentially overnight. A saint Louis the IX visited this structure in 1251 AD shortly before the fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims and he may have been almost the last semi-famous person from Europe to see it standing in its original Nazareth location. Since the early A.D. centuries, the structure was confirmed by church notables as being Mary's childhood home, and it was also said that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus lived in it as a family for some number of years.
Can such a thing be? Well, few of us doubt the might of commissioned angels. Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest of those purely human men born to women, yet He stated that the least in Heaven was greater than John. So, of course they had the power and ability if they had been charged with doing such a thing. But did it occur? Is this a genuine happening? It is claimed to be, and there is some evidence believe it or not! On the night of May 9th and 10th, 1291 A.D., the structure Mary reportedly grew up in (a 13' x 31' stone house, so just over 400 square feet of living space!) and the home where Mary assumedly became pregnant with Jesus and where early church writers said Jesus grew up for a time, disappeared from Nazareth and suddenly appeared in Croatia staying there in Croatia for 3 years before suddenly disappearing from there only to show up in Italy. Italy is approximately 2000 miles away from the structure's original middle east location. It reportedly was miraculously planted in one place in Italy, stayed there for months, then was moved miraculously and overnight to another town in Italy, and then finally was moved again, in a single night, to the place in Italy where it now sits and has for hundreds of years been located, on Dec 10, 1294, by report. A fancy and beautiful enclosing basilica structure has been constructed as an ornate protection around the "angelically transported" structure. The basilica has finely appointed sculpture on its exterior, some of which displays angels transporting the original holy house. So, the artists sculpting the basilica apparently either believed it was angelically transported or their commissioners wanted others to believe it.
The foundation of this house still sits in Nazareth, left behind, and it is the perfect size and outline to be from the house in Italy those who have measured both objects report. The mortar between the stones of the holy house in Italy has a chemical composition which is match for Nazareth, but reportedly does not match soil in any known part of Italy. Back in the 1290's there were people alive in Italy who had seen the structure when it was still in Nazareth sitting on its foundation. They attested that the structure which appeared in Italy and then moved without human effort to multiple locations in Italy was indeed certainly the same stone house they had seen in Nazareth.
There is reportedly writing upon the remains of the structure in Nazareth which very well matches writing on the portion of the Holy House that is in Loreto...writing by pilgrims after the crucifixion of Jesus...that refers to this being the home of Jesus. It is also reported that the cutting marks in the foundation stones in Nazareth match the cutting marks on stone employed in the house sitting in Loreto. There are also documents reporting the shock of Italian residents in these several different Italian locations when they awoke to find a large stone building that had not been there the day before. Church functionaries reported the amazing occurrence in each of the new Italian locations. So, even though it sounds like some fanciful and ridiculous tale there is a lot of evidence that this highly unlikely occurrence was, nevertheless, a genuine event. It is now an important pilgrimage site in Italy.
As a counter argument to angelic transportation, it is said that records have been found in the Vatican mentioning that a shipper named Angelos had the three walled building brought to Italy from the Holy Land as a dowry gift for his daughter's wedding. And so, the last name Angelos might be the source of the belief that "Angels" brought it. But there is a question: If the stones were taken apart and transported to Italy, then why does the mortar reportedly match the middle east and not Italy? And if they transported the walls whole and intact, isn't that a mighty undertaking for the late 13th century? Why are there reports that it appeared overnight at other places in Italy before finally arriving at Loreto instantly on yet a third date?
One can certainly argue whether the structure was transported by angels or men, but the origin of the structure, its authenticity as the Holy House, seems well established. And it is something of a miracle that it was saved at all!
The Location of Loreto in Italy, against the Adriatic Sea. The word Loreto stems from the Latin name Lauretum apparently, which is the Latin name for the quite nice Laurel Tree, as shown below.
The Holy Home Interior now in Loreto. Perhaps it is how Jesus saw it growing up? But it was turned into a church in the 3rd century A.D., about 1,000 years before its move to Italy.
The ornate and much embellished exterior basilica the Catholic Church enclosed the Holy House with after it had appeared in Loreto. This exterior was not on the original structure, is actually around 1300 years younger, but it is beautiful. On a humorous note, Our Lady of Loreto has been dubbed by the Catholics as the Patron Saint of Air Travel.