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History of the founding of the Basilica |
In the spring of 1706 Turin was preparing to defend itself from siege
by the French army which had already taken Nice and the lands of the
Savoy. Louis XIV, highly ambitious, aimed to transform Piedmont into a
French province. On 12 May of the same year the strong army reached the
city of Turin and for four months the city was besieged and bombarded.
On
28 August Vittorio Amedeo II and Prince Eugenio of Carignano, commander
of the allied Austrian army, met on the hill of Superga to examine the
battlefield better from that height.
Witnesses reported that the two
leaders climbed the hill a second time on 2 September of the same year,
and together they entered the little church on the hill, which served
as a parish for the few churchgoers living on the hill. On that
occasion Holy Communion was celebrated and the Ave Maris Stella was
solemnly sung. When they reached the line mostra Te esse Matrem (show
us that you’re a mother) Vittorio Amedeo II prostrated himself at the
feet of the Virgin Mary and vowed that if he won he would build a
magnificent temple dedicated to her on the hill. The two princes went
down from the hill and carried out their battle plan. On 7 September
the French army was defeated. When the people found out about the
duke’s vow, they put the victory down to the intervention of Mary.
However, for several years the city, badly hit by the harsh war, did
not have the funds to realise the pledge. Only in 1717 did Vittorio
Amedeo II, king of Sicily and then of Sardinia, fulfil his vow and lay
the first stone of the glorious temple, built in honour of the Virgin
Mary, saviour of Turin.
After 14 years, on 1 November 1731 the
Basilica was opened to the public in a solemn ceremony attended by King
Carlo Emanuele III, son and heir of Vittorio Amedeo II, the architect
Filippo Juvarra, who designed the Basilica, fellow victors, and
numerous city dignitaries.
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