On Sunday 19 January, at 12:00 noon, the Bishop of Fiesole, will inaugurate the Jubilee Year 2025 with a solemn celebration in the shrine dedicated to the Mother of God, at Loppiano, which has been designated a Jubilee Church. This will be followed by the play ‘Aeolus, breath of God’.
The diocesan shrine Maria Theotokos is a jubilee church. This was declared by Right Rev Stefano Manetti, bishop of Fiesole, in a letter dated 18 December last, in which he specified that, according to the ‘Norms on the Granting of Indulgences during the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025’, published by the Apostolic Penitentiary, as the Maria Theotokos church in Loppiano is a Marian sanctuary, it is to be considered a jubilee church. That is, a place of pilgrimage where it will be possible to receive a Jubilee indulgence.
In fact, the second chapter of the document, entitled ‘In pious visits to holy places’ reads:
‘The faithful will be able to obtain a Jubilee Indulgence if, individually or as a group, they devoutly visit any Jubilee place and there, for a suitable period of time, they spend time in Eucharistic adoration and meditation, concluding with the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form and invocations to Mary, Mother of God, so that in this Holy Year all ‘may experience the closeness of the most loving mother, who never abandons her children’ (Spes non confundit, 24). On the special occasion of the Jubilee Year, in addition to the above-mentioned distinguished places of pilgrimage, these other holy places may also be visited under the same conditions:
[…] in other places in the world: the two minor Papal Basilicas of Assisi, St Francis and St Mary of the Angels; the Pontifical Basilicas of Our Lady of Loreto, Our Lady of Pompeii, St Anthony of Padua; any minor Basilica, cathedral church, co-cathedral church or Marian shrine’.
The Maria Theotokos church in Loppiano was established as a Marian shrine on 1 November 2004 by the Right Rev Luciano Giovannetti, the then Bishop of Fiesole.
Thus, on Sunday 19 January 2025, during Holy Mass at 12 noon, Bishop Manetti will inaugurate the jubilee year at the Maria Theotokos shrine. For the occasion, liturgical input will be provided by the Gen Rosso international music group.
To continue the festivities, in the afternoon, at 4pm, Theotokos will host the performance of a play dedicated to Eolo Giovannelli, a young man from Lucca who, at the age of 12, became disabled due to an accident at work. His story has been reconstructed through his own letters and the text ‘The Joy of the Cross’ by writer Igino Giordani, co-founder of the Focolare Movement. The play is entitled “Aeolus Breath of God’ and was produced by the Archdiocese of Lucca with the Policardia Teatro and directed by Andrea Elodie Moretti. Admission is free.
