According to a 17th century inscription on the façade of the church, the Abbey of S. Maria of Rosano, was founded in 780
From Bishop Luciano Giovanotti’s letter of April 4, 1948.
“In the evening of April 4 1948, the first Sunday after Easter, during the chanting of vespers, people noticed for the first time that drops as if of blood were falling from the eyes of the statue.
Statue of the Sacred Heart that has bled and wept
In June of that year, another stunning and unexpected miracle occurred – the flow of blood. These events occurred repeatedly between 1948 and 1950 and were corroborated by many eyewitnesses, by the nuns themselves and particu- larly by the abbess, Mother Ildegarde Cabitza of holy memory. In the monastery archives are preserved many sworn testimonies even of priests, preachers and visitors, together with medical analyses of the blood, as well as finger towels and purificators soaked with blood.
One of the most endearing testimonies is that of Monsignor Angelo Scapecchi,
who later became Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Arezzo. From the archives we learn of the investigation of the Visitator, Father Luigi Romoli, O.P., sent by the Holy Office, who personally interrogated all the nuns, imposing the strictest secrecy on the community. Subsequently, on November 14, 1950, the Holy Office ordered the statue to be removed so as to keep it in a secret location. It was brought back to Rosano in 1952. The community of nuns of Rosano lived these events with intimate joy and great devotion but with great reserve; so much so that, as we learn from the chronicles, they were not distracted from their daily duties. On the contrary, they lived their monastic life even more intensely according to the Benedictine motto: Ora et Labora.
The weeping and the flow of blood were considered inexplicable from a natural and human point of view.
My venerable predecessor, Bishop Giovanni Giorgis, saw in these events of Rosano an appeal from the Lord ‘to fidelity, reparation and prayer.’ [...] Beloved brothers and sisters, with great devotion and pride let us look back on the events that took place in our diocese fifty years ago and see them as signs of the Lord’s benevolence and love and an invitation to a serious and profound reflection. With great ardor let us joyfully renew our devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And as we receive this message, let us ask for the gift of an ever deeper conversion to His love, for the grace of an increase of apostolic fervor, as well as for the gift of numerous holy vocations to the priesthood and religious life, so as to make Christ the Heart of the world. Looking at the Heart of Jesus, we will joyfully draw life from the fountain of salvation!