Sanctuary of the Madonna of Miracles (Corbetta)

The "Perdono of Corbetta"

Saint Charles Borromeo managed to intercede with his uncle Pius IV for the concession of Corbetta's forgiveness papal bull

The tradition report that that the day when the miracle happened in Corbetta, was the first Thursday after Easter and this date remained linked to the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Corbetta.

It was Pope Pius IV who, on the intercession of his nephew, archbishop of Milan, Saint Charles Borromeo, with the bull Unigeniti Filii Dei of 31 August 1562 granted the extraordinary plenary indulgence in jubilee form to all those faithful who, spiritually disposed, were bound to visit the sacred image preserved in Corbetta. This exclusive privilege, of course, did nothing but increase the number of faithful who flocked to the sacred temple, catalysing the population of Milan and Novara.

Charles Borromeo himself will renew his devotion to the Corbettese Madonna, stopping here in prayer during his pilgrimage to Turin on a visit to the Shroud and other pastoral visits that he made to Corbetta.

The church before the miracle

The dome of the lower sanctuary

What today is known as the complex of the archiepiscopal sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Miracles, we know that in ancient times it corresponded to a more modest structure, dedicated to St. Nicholas since the mid-thirteenth century.

The primitive oratory was completely rebuilt around the middle of the fifteenth century in Renaissance style, being completed with an ambitious octagonal drum dome that remains since today. The style of the façade was still of Romanesque inspiration and it was on this same facade that Gregorio Zavattari frescoed a Madonna with Child in 1475, a work of considerable importance, attributable stylistically to those models of madonnas of Tuscan painting that have brought this painter closer to the Sienese school Simone Martini.

The church is known to have been located on the outskirts of the town and more precisely it was located just outside the fortified walls of the city of Corbetta, in an area surrounded by woods, and had a parvis dirt.

The primitive upper sanctuary

After the miraculous event that in 1555 had interested precisely the church of Saint Nicholas, an administrative committee was set up with the purpose of protecting the sanctuary, which in a very short time became a place of worship and pilgrimage.

This first chapter consisted essentially of the nobles of the village and was governed on behalf of the collegiate Corbetta by the canon Ambrogio Spanzotta who in 1556, for fear that the painting of the miracle could be damaged over time (given also the position in which found, exposed to the elements and negligence of the weather), he first proposed to remove the fresco to bring it inside the church, on the main altar. However, since this operation was cumbersome and problematic for the protection of the painting itself, it was concluded that a chapel should be built for a new sanctuary, which would rest directly on the façade of the church.

For the realization of this project it became necessary the erection of a portico in the lower part of the church that served as an atrium to the already existing one, and in the upper part it became obvious the construction of a small chapel that appeared very small (about 6 x 4, 80 meters), whose vault was decorated with frescoes executed by Francesco Pessina. It was possible to access it through a small staircase built inside the lower church of Saint Nicholas (where today the chapel of the Crucifix is located).

Judged unsuitable to contain the ever-increasing number of believers who came to visit the sacred image, in 1574 it was agreed on the need to expand this same chapel on the design of the architect Vincenzo Seregni, who also added a ladder to the north to facilitate the descent of visitors.

Extension works of the church of Saint Nicholas

In 1556, just one year after the miracle, it was decided to expand the already existing structure in order to better accommodate the functions and the ever increasing number of faithful who were presenting themselves to Corbetta. It was thus that the already described chapter, thanks to his own contributions and to the offers received from the faithful, decided to buy the land behind the apse of the church, so as to build a choir, moving the high altar in a more retreated position from the moment that previously this stood under the dome. These works are still remembered today by a plaque epigraph found in the choir of the church itself.

Extensions of the seventeenth century

Other works of expansion and modification of the structure as a whole took place at the beginning of the seventeenth century: outside the walls were covered with marble dust, in addition to the construction of a larger wooden staircase to allow access to the upper part of the sanctuary. Inside, the flooring is made by Cristoforo Alemani who also decides to raise the main altar through marble decorations still visible today and the realization of the inlaid works that represent the coat of arms of Pius IV (which granted the Bolla del Perdono to the Corbettese sanctuary) and that of Saint Charles Borromeo in perpendicular to the dome.

At this time the high altar was made of wood, carved by Giulio Mangone and gilded by a certain "mastro Celidonio Aquino"; today there are only two praying angels of this work that are found at one time on the sides of the main altar where there is still an ancóna representing St. Nicholas and dates back to 1616.

In those same years Fabio Mangone, architect of the Milan's cathedral, was called to direct the works that were to ensure solidity to the dome that threatened to collapse, while also executing drawings for the execution of the balustrade marble that still precedes the access to the main altar, which was built in 1620 by the sculptors Giovanni Domenico Vigna and Giovanni Morelli. Furthermore, Mangone was also responsible for designing the façade of the sanctuary, which however the plague of 1630 and the poor economic conditions of the time set aside, leaving a single testimony to the project presented to the parish and kept in the Archives of the Sanctuary.

It was also in those years that an imposing marble staircase was erected. The latter, built in 1690, from the square in front of the church (where the cemetery was once located), reached the upper chapel from the outside, along the side of the building, also occupying the current square Pio IV. On the upper chapel of this era, it is known that it had light from a large window in the shape of a niche at the center of the façade, right in front of the fresco of the Madonna which was initially protected by a curtain and then by a reliquary crystal (1706).

The eighteenth-century fervor: works at the upper sanctuary (1743-1750)

The eighteenth-century rococo altar of the upper sanctuary with the miraculous image painted by Gregorio Zavattari in 1475.

The eighteenth century was the century that no doubt gave greater fervor to the work done in the sanctuary to Corbetta. In 1733 it was planned the rebuilding of the upper chapel, larger in accordance with a project already drawn up, but took place thanks to a delegation only in 1736 thanks to the influence of local nobles Filippo Archinto, Francesco Maria del Maino and Giuseppe Brentano. It will be the latter that will propose to contact for the works the famous architect Francesco Croce who was already working at his palace (Palazzo Brentano) in Corbetta. It will be Croce who proposes to move the fresco headquarters and to design a new high altar to welcome painting, but fortunately in 1740 the same chapter, not very convinced, decided to call the architect Donnino Riccardi who proposed to leave the fresco in its original position, raising it only slightly to place it in the center of the new upper sanctuary.

The Croce will instead take care of the realization of the two side staircases that still allow the entrance to the upper part of the sanctuary, adding also new marble decorations then executed by the sculptor Carlo Nava, in addition to the elaborate rococo altar realized in black marble and golden bronze from Carlo Antonio Pozzi. The façade was entirely redesigned by Croce and is up to the second order as it was conceived in the eighteenth century, or with a central statue depicting the Madonna with Child made by Angelo Maria Beretta around 1750 and transported from the construction site through the Naviglio Grande up to Robecco sul Naviglio and then from there to Corbetta by means of a cart. Also from Croce, the balustrade of the main altar is rebuilt, which is entirely offered by Carlo Brentano, son of the late count Giuseppe, who will also pay the square of the small square in front of the church.

In 1775 frescoes were begun inside the structure of the sanctuary which was commissioned by the painters Giuseppe Reina (who took care of the illusory architectural structures) and Giovanni Battista Perabò (who realized frescoes on subject). Triumphant, in the center of the dome of the new upper chapel, the fresco depicting the Assumption of the Virgin, together with the Four primary virtues of Mary in the corners, in addition to the Eight main mysteries of the life of the Madonna in the lateral areas of the intercolumni, monochrome paintings. Other niches of fake architecture include four painted statues depicting Isaiah, David, Judith and Ester announcing the coming of the Messiah, as well as numerous Marian symbols.

Perabò also painted the very famous fresco in front of the one depicting the miraculous event, while the mosaic floor was made in 1868 by Davide Macchi.

Works of the nineteenth century

In the nineteenth century the attention moved again to the lower church of San Nicola where the seventeenth-century altar was replaced with a new project dating back to 1820-1822 by Luigi Tantardini and Gioachino Cenchione based on drawings by Luigi Rovida. As for the dome, it had been whitewashed already in the seventeenth century by a cholera epidemic, and was redecorated entirely in 1874 by Mosé Bianchi with the figures of the four evangelists and the eternal father above the altar, torn from their headquarters after the restoration of 1950 brought to light the underlying renaissance frescoes. These paintings are now kept in the sanctuary museum.

In 1824, by the rector Francesco Porroni, there was installed a Prestinari organ, restored between 1874 and 1875 by Giuseppe Prestinari, according to the suggestions of the well-known organist Giuseppe Della Valley. The organ was removed during the restoration of the church in the 1950s. ^[6]