SLOVAKIA Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows in Šaštín

One of the centres of the cult of Our Lady of Sorrows, who is now a patron saint of Slovakia, is the Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows in Šaštín, which dates from the year 1736. It is situated in west Slovakia. Thousands of pilgrims visit it each year, not only from Slovakia but also from abroad.

After a canonical investigation, the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Šaštín has been found to be miraculous and this was confirmed in 1732 by a decree of Pope Clement XII. In 1733, the statue came into the possession of the Pauline Order, which decided to build a pilgrimage church and monastery in the village. The church built in a Baroque style was ceremonially consecrated  in the presence of the Empress Maria Theresa and her husband the Holy Roman Emperor Francis of Lorraine. The statue of Our Lady of Sorrows  placed on the high altar is made of red marble.

On 18 October 1732, Archbishop Imrich Esterházy of Esztergom issued a decree authorising the public veneration of the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows. The miraculous statue was a votive offering of Countess Angela Bakičová and Count Imrich Cobor for the answering of Angela’s prayer of supplication. She had prayed for the return of her husband and the healing of her family after her husband Imrich had thrown her and her servant out of their coach in 1564 during an argument.

The church is 62 m long, 26 m high and 23 m wide and has six side altars with paintings by Johann Lucas Kracker. The main nave is 13 m wide and this part was painted and decorated by a painter of Lorraine origin coming from imperial court - Ján Jozef Chamant. The frescos here are his only work preserved to our days. The main altar, the original organ cabinets, the confession booths and the pews in the basilica are all the masterpiece of one the most famous Viennese architects working at that time in the kingdom of Hungary - Franz Anton Hillebrand. The south side of the church is linked to the monastery by an arcade corridor. The monastery building has three wings, which make a square with the basilica as the fourth side.

Pope Paul VI granted the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows the title of basilica minor in 1964. It was the first church in Slovakia to receive this honour.