The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Oak (Rovere) occupies the remains of an ancient oak grove sacred to Diana. The church was dedicated to the Annunciation on July 27, 1505, replacing an earlier church. Its wooden statue of the Madonna and Child, said to have been found in an oak tree, has been dated to the 1300s. The old devotion received new life after the miracles of April 1671. On the night of April 3, after working all day in the fields, Giacinto Perato di Rollo, 50, told his wife that something was wrong with his left arm, which was numb and paralyzed. After doctors failed to cure it, on April 18, with his arm in a sling, he took his young donkey to pasture. In his words, “a few hours before noon, a few feet ahead of me, I saw a woman dressed in deep blue, shining like the sun… She told me to entrust myself to the Madonna, who would help me.” The next day, he went with his wife and a friend to mass at the Sanctuary. At the consecration, he fell unconscious. When he awoke 45 minutes later, his arm was well. On May 10, the Madonna reappeared to him and asked for a chapel to be built at the apparition site, which was soon done. The statue of Our Lady of the Oak was crowned Sept. 8, 1921. A festival and fair are held annually on Candlemas, February 2.
(Picture and information from “Nostra Signora della Rovere,” Maria di Nazareth, www.mariadinazareth.it.)