|
In the year 1561 Cristoforo e Domenico Savelli gave to the
Carmelites the small chapel built over the Catacombs. In 1621
the convent was enlarged and in 1633 the Carmelites started
to build a new church. In 1687 the works were ended. The façade
still shows the miraculous Virgin's icon.
According to the legend a drunk carter threw a stone at the
icon and the stone remained infixed in the wall. The interior
with a nave and four side altars preserves the gravestone of
Maria Theresa of Austria died from the plague in Albano in 1867.
On the high altar there is a picture representing the Virgin
with the Bambino. The Virgin's mantle has a star (stella) over
it, thus the name of the Church. In the churchyard or the ‘Churchyard
of the plague' there are the mortal remains of those died from
the plague.
|
