Pro Loco Spormaggiore APS

The statue represents Mother Mary with the infant Jesus. The left hand of the baby is stretched in order to reach a golden sphere offered from the left hand of Mother Mary; this invite us to think of Jesus who takes through the Holy Spirit and from the virgin Mother, the human nature for the redemption of the World. Mary and the Baby have their heads crowned.

At the pedestal is applied an addition of wood representing clouds, from which luminous rays spread out to signify the graces for the intercession of mother Mary. Upon the clouds is represented a painting of the moon, reminding the vision of S.t John (Ap 12.1).

The statue seems a gothic manufacture from the XIV or XV century, even if it has lost the original colors of the clothes. About the provenience, the most likely assumption indicates Alto Adige, through the interposition of a bishop Sporo of Bressanone. This hypothesis would justify the remarkable influx of pilgrims in Spor from Alto Adige and Tirol. We suppose the sculptor should be Michele Pacher, or someone belonging to his school, flowering in Bressanone during the XV century. The hypothesis is strengthen by the comparison with the statue in Novacella di Bressanone, surely by Pacher or his school, with details very similar to the statue of Spormaggiore.

Another confirmation comes from the fact that the Bressanone’s Bishops often sent gifts to Spor.

The chapel of the Madonna has been finished in the year 1719, it occupies the corner where the old and the new parts of the church intersect. The construction is 18 meters high, with a squared base, octagonal superstructures, round cupola with octagonal lantern and small windows.

The solemn altar is in sober baroque style. Below are the statues of S.t joseph and the annunciation. You can also note the Spaur's coat of arms.

Certificates

The first known document which expressly speaks about the “Madonna di Spor” is from year 1537.

The General Vicar of Trento noted that in the parochial church there was a chapel where an image of our Lady believed to be miraculous and where many people went to venerate her and obtained graces.

A note in a write collection by the priest Don Zadra Vittore says that in Spormaggiore was, already before the year 1537 this statue visited from pilgrims coming from the most remote corners of the Alto Adige and Tirolo dioceses.
The “atti visitali” of the year 1579 mentions it and also the Mariano Atlas of the year 1672. Hints to devotion towards the madonna di Spor have been found in the books of Priest Torazzi (year 1784) and mariani (Trento and the Holy Council).

Pinamonti in script “La natura descritta al Viaggiatore” (the nature described to the traveler), in year 1829 says : -The Madonna di Spor was once visited from pilgrims coming from far away in times of misfortune, when the lack of every any terrestrial assistance makes feel to every human being their baseness and persuade them to seek assistance in the prodigies of religion.-

fShare

Tweet