Church of Our Lady of Sorrows

The story of the building of the little church of Our Lady of Sorrows is a story of illness and death, but above all of faith and hope.

Towards the end of August 1630, bubonic plague began to spread in Borno. In an attempt to stem the spread of the dreadful infection, the community had a few ‘huts’ built at a reasonable distance from the village to provide decent shelter for the sick. The dead numbered a few dozen and the village was declared free of the disease on 1 January 1633. In memory of the dreaded plague and in the aftermath of a new and aggressive epidemic of Asian cholera (1855), a small church dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows was built on the edge of the lazaretto, perhaps on the site where a small shrine already existed.

In 1956, a radical renovation of the small church was completed. Inside, several frescoes are preserved, depicting the Prophets and a Deposition with Our Lady of Sorrows and Saints Roch and Charles.