The Way of the Angels by Fernando Frezzotti

Frezzotti, Ferrari Angelo-Comneno, CarloMarino, Ilaria Pagàni, H.E.Ambassador of France Mangin

Rome [ENA] A presentation of the volume " La via degli Angeli " ( The Way of the Angels) by historian Fernando Frezzotti was held today at Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome, Embassy of France to the Holy See. Bringing her welcome greetings, the Ambassador of France to the Holy See, Florence Mangin, recalled the close ties that unite France with the Shrine of Loreto. For Alessio Ferrari Angelo-Comnenus of Thessaly, prince and direct

descendant of the Despots of Epirus and Thessaly, president of the Angelic Constantinian Academy of Letters Arts and Sciences - Angelo-Comnenus"the historical reconstruction of the Transferring of the Holy House of the Virgin Mary by Fernando Frezzotti is the definitive confirmation of what could have been called a well-established awareness. The Holy House of Loreto finally regains its true role, the one that, until now, it has always lacked, that is, as a cultural bridge between East and West and that, even more profound and spiritual, of the highest witness of the undivided Church." "To this role," he said further, "my family contributed decisively in the 13th century through the varied events that accompanied the Transferring

La via degli Angeli Book

between Thessaly and Epirus for eleven years, and then finally arrived in Loreto accompanied by Bartholomew, founder of that branch of the family of the ‘Marca Anconitana’from which I come.” "The 'Way of the Angels,'" Frezzotti stressed for his part, "is a historical-geopolitical investigation of the operation that enabled the rescue of the Holy House of the Virgin Mary from Nazareth, but also of its, unplanned, arrival in Loreto. The analysis, if on the one hand it confirmed the authenticity of the relic, thus putting an end to the so-called "Loreto question," on the other hand, by capillary highlighting commissioning, government, execution, custody, relative historical contexts, itineraries and stops, allowed for the identification of

the real protagonists in their respective roles, permitting, with regard to the role played by Pope Celestine V (Dante Alighieri tells the case of the moral failure of Pope Celestine V, in Inferno 3 of Divine Comedy ) but Frezzotti makes a complete reformulation of the historical judgment on his experience and pontificate and he refutes Dante Alighieri’s opinion. The investigation, in its last phase, also concerned the iconographic aspects of the Transferring, with numerous and surprising confirmations of the historical picture that emerged, found even in the cycle of frescoes inside the Holy House."

For Ilaria Pagani, deputy director of 'Studi sull'Oriente Cristiano,' "the journal directed by Gaetano Passarelli was the first scientific point of reference for this research work. In fact, the first results of Frezzotti's studies on the historical vicissitude of the Holy House of Loreto were published starting in 2018 with a supplement dedicated to the topic; subsequently, we hosted other articles by the author in 2020 and 2022 following the development of the studies that led to the publication of the volume we presesent today “.

In the general outline of the four stages of the Transferring , the protagonists are the Templars (a term with which the quality of "French" is perfectly associated), specifically the Grand Masters Guillaume de Beaujeu and Jacques de Molay who are French. To them must be added King Charles I of Anjou, also French, who succeeded the Swabian dynasty in Italy in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, formally invested from July 1263 by Pope Urban IV, also French.

At the behest of Pope Gregory X, the Holy House was materially rescued, taken from Nazareth, in the summer of 1273 (occupied by Muslims in 1263), dismantling its stones, by the Templar Grand Master Guillaume de Beaujeu. Frezzotti's volume narrates in great detail the entire itinerary of the "holy stones" from Nazareth to Loreto, Italy, and it proves to be an indispensable text for learning about a controversial historical period .