The shrine of Mary Most Holy of the Three Crowns is the main Marian center in the city of Sarno. The present church has its roots in a seventeenth-century chapel and houses the famous “quadriello,” the painting of Our Lady of the Three Crowns painted in the eighteenth century.
Origins and history of the shrine
The shrine stands in the upper part of Sarno where, in an area once called Capo d’Orto, the brethren of the Pio Monte dei Morti had a chapel dedicated to the dead built in 1640. A few decades later, in 1691, the chapel was replaced by a larger church named Santa Maria del Suffragio, financed by the same congregation. Here, in 1749, St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori preached one of his best-known missions, helping to reinforce the centrality of the place in the city’s religious life.
The miraculous cloth and the story of Michele Volpicelli
During the 18th century the shrine gradually assumed an even stronger role due to the spread of the cult of Our Lady of the Three Crowns. Central to this tradition is the canvas painted in 1776 by Neapolitan painter Paolo De Majo, depicting the Virgin holding up the Soul of Purgatory with three small crowns symbolizing her purity of heart, mind and body.
According to tradition, the painter, enraptured by mystical ecstasies before the canvas he considered his masterpiece, was unable to complete the elements requested by his godson Michele Volpicelli: the three crowns, the star and the lily. During one of these ecstasies, Volpicelli snatched the incomplete canvas and took it to his home in Sarno, where he applied precious gold ornaments depicting the missing symbols, as well as bracelets, ring and earrings. From these additions came the appellation of quadriello.
Volpicelli, who later became mayor, turned his home into a small chapel open to the faithful, and the cloth quickly became an object of veneration. A series of events believed to be miraculous consolidated the cult, so much so that in 1779 Mary Most Holy of the Three Crowns was proclaimed the main patron saint of Sarno, with the feast day set for August 15.
Visiting the shrine of the Three Crowns
The church we see today has a sober and harmonious façade, the result of 19th-century renovations that redesigned the elevation while maintaining a balance between simplicity and decorum. Two long pilasters frame the stone portal, surmounted by a medallion with the image of the Madonna, while the upper entablature, enlivened by light volutes, introduces a building that preserves the essential taste of popular sanctuaries in the Vesuvian area.
Inside, the single nave welcomes visitors with a bright and collected atmosphere. The walls host side altars with polychrome marble and paintings of the 18th-century school that recall the long history of Marian worship in Sarno. The eye is naturally guided to the chancel, where the quadriello of the Madonna of the Three Crowns is kept in an artistic throne that enhances its devotional character.
The vault, adorned with stucco and more recent frescoes dedicated to figures and episodes from local tradition, contributes to a harmonious whole in which different epochs dialogue naturally. Next to the chancel is the pipe organ, which accompanies the most solemn celebrations and adds another element of continuity with the sanctuary’s history.
