The Loreto Cult
The Santa Casa (Holy House) is the name of the house in Nazareth, Palestine where Mary supposedly received the news she would conceive a son. Crusaders built a church over the house, which was destroyed in 1263 by the army of the Egyptian Sultan Baibars.The house itself miraculously survived. To prevent its destruction, pilgrims dismantled the house in 1291 and the stones were transported to Croatia by the Greek Angeli family. Their name, Angeli (meaning angel) probably led to the legend that angels moved the house to a safe location. The house was later transported to Loreto in Italy, where it was rebuilt in 1294 and is still venerated to this day.During the Counter-Reformation, copies of the Holy House were built all over Europe. Fifty such shrines were built in the Czech Lands alone. Of those the Prague Loreto is the most important.