Loreto

Town in the Marche region of central Italy, 25 km/15 mi south of Ancona; population (1990) 10,700. The town is a place of pilgrimage because the Virgin Mary's house, the ‘Santa Casa’ was allegedly carried there by angels from Nazareth; hence Our Lady of Loreto is the patron saint of aviators.

A church, begun in the 15th century, has been built around the shrine; it contains the work of Bramante, Sansovino, Signorelli, Guiliano Sangallo, and Antonio Sangallo the Younger.

The name ‘Loreto nuns’ is given in Ireland to sisters of the Institute of Mary, a community devoted to the education of girls, founded by Mary Ward in Dublin in 1609.