Single-nave building with a bell gable.
Description: Statue of the Madonna and Child, made of granite marble, with somewhat rough forms, attributed to Romanesque or Byzantine art; the Madonna holds the standing Child with her right hand, while in her left she grips an unspecified object (scepter, weapon, fruit, or bread). Epiphany: Madonna and Child. Image: Statue
Original location in the sanctuary: To the right of the statue of St. Anthony.
Notes on the collection: The collection was lost after World War I; a large painting commemorating the vow made during the 1859 plague, depicting the townspeople in procession, is remembered, along with other votive tablets for wars, shipwrecks, road dangers, and workplace accidents. Silver hearts inscribed “Per Grazia Ricevuta” (For Grace Received).
Type of ex-votos: Tablets or plaques with inscriptions
Current preservation: For security reasons, the current location is omitted.
The date is derived from a decree by Patriarch Ludovico della Torre (March 31, 1364), granting 40 days of penance remission to those who joined the Confraternity of the new church. It is known that the church was built closer to the city to protect it from floods and inundations, and a reconstruction is preserved in an engraving by V. Turati.
Zoff 1991, pp. 187–8. According to legend, the sanctuary was erected by Patriarch Marcellianus (late 5th century). See also other relevant events and chronological data.
The Marcelliana is already mentioned as a *plebem* (parish) in a decree (1120). According to legend, the sanctuary was built by Patriarch Marcellianus (late 5th century). Pastoral care was entrusted to vicars appointed by the Chapter of Aquileia, who relocated to the subsidiary church of Sant’Ambrogio (1315). Around 1360–64, Patriarch della Torre supported its reconstruction; it became a sanctuary during the 1386 plague (vow by the inhabitants of Desena to process there every Saturday). With the dissolution of the parish, the patriarch divided jurisdiction between Sant’Ambrogio in Monfalcone (1560) and San Lorenzo in Ronchi (1579). In the 19th century, the growth of Monfalcone led to the demolition (1840) and reconstruction (1844) of the old church. Until 1914, it was overseen by the parish priest of Sant’Ambrogio; with the expansion of the working-class district of Panzano, it was entrusted to a religious order: the Spanish Fathers until 1925 and, from 1928, the Franciscan Fathers.
An indulgence was granted by the Archbishop of Gorizia, Francesco Borgia, in 1929 for prayers, triduum, or novena. It is known that to encourage the construction of the 14th-century church, Patriarch Ludovico della Torre, by decree in 1364, granted 40 days’ indulgence from prescribed penances to members of the Confraternity of the Madonna Marcelliana. A similar decree was issued by Patriarch Marquardo in 1377. The apostolic visitor and vicar general Luca Bisanzio, Bishop of Kotor, granted another 40 days in 1568. A similar indulgence was granted by Eusebio Caimo, Bishop of Novigrad in Istria and vicar general of Patriarch Antonio Grimani, in 1624. Further indulgences were stipulated in the revised 1928 statutes of the Confraternity by Fr. Pegoraro.
After the suppression of the abbey in 1453, it was incorporated into the Chapter of Aquileia until 1560–79. Later, it fell under the Parish of Sant’Ambrogio in Monfalcone; finally, in 1971, it became an autonomous parish entrusted to the Franciscan Fathers of the Venetian Province.
According to the earliest surviving document, a 1120 decree, it was a parish church donated by Patriarch Ulrich I to the Benedictine Abbey of San Giovanni al Timavo, which was under the jurisdiction of the Abbey of San Martino di Beligna near Aquileia.
Currently, spiritual care is still entrusted to the Franciscan Fathers.
From 1120 to 1450, a vicar (parish priest) was appointed by the abbot of San Martino di Beligna. In 1315, the subsidiary church of Sant’Ambrogio was built; though the Marcelliana retained its title, the parish priest moved within the city walls and gradually transferred all functions to the new church. Between 1450 and around 1560, pastoral care was the responsibility of the vicar of the Chapter of Aquileia. From then on, the vicar of Sant’Ambrogio assumed the title of parish priest of Santa Maria Marcelliana, while the town appointed a chaplain for the sanctuary.
The Municipality of Monfalcone held patronage over the chaplain of Sant’Ambrogio and, with the relocation of the parish priest within the city walls, claimed patronage over the parish as well. A conflict arose between the Municipality and the Chapter of Aquileia, resolved by a ducal decree in 1526 granting Monfalcone the right of patronage over the Marcelliana, which it retained until 1966.
Via della Marcelliana, 34074 Monfalcone GO, Italy
