| The devotion to Our Lady of Sanarica, Our Lady of Grace, was born from an episode dating back to ninth century AD. C. occurred at Sanarica, in the province of Lecce, where in a bare country chapel, an image of the miraculous Mother of God distributed trust, hope and thanks to all the afflicted who came and appealed to Her. The story goes that in the fourteenth century, a large vessel of Taranto was surprised by a stormy sea and a violent storm off port Badisco. During the incident, between fear and dismay, the desperate pleading looked heavenward and hopeful, so it was that the Virgin appeared to give them comfort and courage, and calmed them up on shore. Before fading to the churches themselves: "Come see me in Sanarica". The castaways, before retiring to their homes, went to Sanarica to thank the Virgin Mother of Grace, promising to return each year. In the long pilgrimages of Taranto, became more frequent and involve more and more faithful, in the sixteenth century led to the emergence of a veritable colony of Taranto in Sanarica. The cult would spread at the San Pietro Vernotico where was a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sanarica. In the 40 years of the twentieth century, a very devout family has donated to the town center area, where the church was built, to receive a statue of the Madonna delle Grazie. For years now in San Pietro Vernotico, Our Lady of Sanarica is celebrated on the second Sunday of October, a party who assumes a particular character because, with a twinning Marian and civil Sanarica and St. Peter's come together |