Grotta di Lourdes del Beato Claudio

Useful Information

Location:	Via Pieve, 170, 36072 Chiampo VI, Tel: +39-333-274-4781. (45.5378309, 11.2862985)
Open:	All year daily 8-18. [2024]
Fee:	free, donations welcome. [2024]
Classification:	Lourdes Grotto Cave Replica
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Grotta di Lourdes del Beato Claudio, Via Pieve, 170, 36072 Chiampo VI, Tel: +39-333-274-4781, Tel: +39-0. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1858	the Madonna appears to the young woman Bernadette in the Grotte de Massabielle near Lourdes in France.
1867	some Franciscan monks who had been expelled from Vincenza find shelter at the church of La Pieva.
07-DEC-1933	Riccardo Granzotto puts on the Franciscan habit on the island of San Francesco del Deserto in Venice.
08-DEC-1933	friar Claudio begins work on the replica.
29-SEP-1935	Grotto inaugurated.

Description

The Grotta di Lourdes del Beato Claudio (Lourdes Grotto of Beato Claudio) is an original sized replica of the famous Grotte de Massabielle in Lourdes in France. This is quite exceptional, despite the fact that there are thousands of "Lourdes Grottos" all over the world as a result of the Veneration of Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, but they are generally just shrines or actual caves. An important site for this cult is the city Lourdes in southern France, where a young girl met Mary numerous times and had nice chats with her in a small cave. The Grotte de Massabielle is a natural cave in limestone, but it was never copied, only the idea of a place where Saint Mary was venerated, was copied. So all the Lourdes Grottos have a sculpture of Mary, but they never even resemble the Grotte de Massabielle, except for this one.

In 1866 the monasteries at Vincenza were abolished, and the Franciscan brothers fled the city. Some came to the Valchiampo, where they lived at the old church La Pieve from the year 1867. La Pieve had been the centre of Marian devotion for generations, and the Franciscans took over this devotion. The number of Franciscan brothers increased continually, and finally they had a sort of monastery here. They opened a seminar in 1876, which existed until 1996, and built a new church in 1962.

It seems the friars here belonged to the Order of Friars Minor, one of the three Franciscan First Orders within the Catholic Church. They are also known as minorites or greyfriars because of their habit. They are a sort of fundamentalists, in following the rules of Francis of Assisi. The fact that they also venerated the Mother of God seems to be a local specialty. In 1931, they had the idea to create a Lourdes Grotto, a special space of prayer and devotion dedicated to Mary. At some point they had the idea to recreate the original cave, and the main force behind the idea was Riccardo Granzotto. He was an artist and put on the Franciscan habit on the island of San Francesco del Deserto in Venice on 07-DEC-1933 and became a monk. On the following day he returned to Chiampo as friar Claudio and began work on the replica. He travelled to Lourdes, where he made drawings, took notes on measurements, but above all spent a long time in prayer and contemplation. Then they reconstructed the original cave in reinforced concrete in the middle of a field. But this was only the basic form, a sort of arch was built to make it a completely realistic copy. In a second step, they sculpted the cliff face exactly as it was in Lourdes. And even details were copied, like the altar, the statue of Bernadette in prayer and finally the statue of the Immaculate in Carrara marble. This sculpure was sculpted by friar Claudio, who soon became known as Beato Claudio (Blessed Claudio). Beatification is the first step on the way to become a Saint, and he was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 20-NOV-1994. This explains the name Grotta di Lourdes del Beato Claudio (Lourdes grotto of Blessed Claudio).

Today this site is a popular pilgrimage destination. It is probably the main site of devotion to the Madonna in Italy. In 2001 a new church was built nearby, and the site has a huge car park for 500 cars. We guess it's essential to avoid weekends.

Another place you should definitely visit when you are already here, is the Museo dei fossili di Chiampo (Chiampo Fossil Museum). It was opened in 1972 and has a spectacular collection of local fossils. Padre Aurelio Menin was quite passionate about many things and his extensive collections are on display in the museum. It has 11 sections and actually not all of them are about fossils. The sections are musical instruments, mineralogy, zoology, applied geology, conchology, paleontology, paleoethnology, ethnology and figurative arts. The photographic herbarium of the Chiampo Valley is a photographic collection of 50 medicinal plants indigenous to the Chiampo valley. The gypsoteque of Beato Claudio is a collection of original plaster casts of the sculptures of Beato Claudio.