Oropa, Sanctuary of
Here is venerated a medieval wooden statue of the Virgin holding the Child in her arms. A tradition, recorded in the first Biellese chronicle by Orsi (1488) and in the stone inscription of 1593 at the sacellum, holds that the statue was brought from the East by St. Vercelli (v.), exiled there by the Arian emperor Constantius in the mid-4th century, and by the same saint brought to the Oropa mountains both to preserve it from further persecution and to consecrate the pre-Alpine site, then still marked by residual pagan cults. "Apollinis nemus et fanum," indeed, marks those mountains in a tablet of the *Descriptio orbis antiqui* by Koeler, and the recent discovery of a vast pre-Christian necropolis at the northern edge of the city of Biella confirms the existence in the region of a significant center of Romanity. The crosses, still visible, carved by early devotees on erratic boulders near the first deposits of the sacred statue, and the rise nearby of a first and then a second *cella* (later called in documents "ecclesias S. Bartholomei et S. Marie de Valle Orepe" [bull of Innocent III, May 2, 1207: *Acta Regiae Oropae*, I, p. 3], and later priories of St. Bartholomew and of St. Mary of the Oropa Valley) of hermits professing the monastic life of Eusebius, as well as the frequent sojourns there, like a mystical retreat, of the successors of Eusebius on the see of Vercelli, are data that illuminate not only the origins but also the early developments of the shrine.
In fact, by the late 14th century the two aforementioned priories with their commendatory priors had disappeared, and by right with the bull of Pius II (1450), which assigned the church of St. Mary of Oropa to the Chapter of St. Stephen of Biella (now the Cathedral), and then with the Royal Decrees of 1644, 1711, 1735, and 1748, which would associate with that of the Chapter, in recognition of its merits, the oversight of the City of Biella with a permanent administrative congregation made up of four canons and four representatives of the city under the presidency of the bishop, the period of greatest development of the sanctuary began. Around 1600, the small church built next to the original sacellum was demolished, and this was enclosed at the center of a larger church, which still exists today. Most of the old dwellings that had sprung up nearby were demolished, and the construction began—through popular offerings and the generosity of the House of Savoy—of the grand buildings for the lodging of pilgrims, whose complex now presents a double series of structures rising along the mountainside and enclosing four successive courtyards. On the first two are aligned religious shops and restaurants; the third—accessed by the monumental staircase and the royal gate, in the style of Juvarra—is the true sacred courtyard, vast and entirely bordered by severe porticoes framing the Basilica that rises at the center, beautiful in the sober lines of its stone architecture; higher up one ascends to the immense courtyard on whose far side looms the imposing new temple. In the vicinity stand the 18th-century chapels illustrating the mysteries of the Virgin’s life and the monumental cemetery.
The devotion of the subalpine peoples, which reached its highest expression in the four centuries-old coronations of 1620, 1720, 1820, and 1920, has enriched the sanctuary over the centuries with most precious gifts for their historical and artistic value, from the 14th-century frescoes of the Sacellum to the panels, furnishings, vestments, and sacred vessels now preserved in the Museum, Treasury, and Library. – See pl. XXIII.