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A
fascinating image of the Good Friday procession entering the crumbling
church of the Immaculate Conception |
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From
about the Middle Ages, Calitri saw the advent of numerous confraternities
(lay fraternal orders associated with a church). |
Besides
the still active Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception  ,
there are the chapels of St. Canio (the attire typically worn
by its members was a purple cape, still being used on the feast
of St. Canio), of St. Rocco associated with the small church located
one time in Corso Matteotti (its attire: a red wine-colored cape
and a gray coarse wool hat with a broad brim that was hand held)
and of St. Michele, the most ancient. The Confraternity of Purgatory
and the Fund for the Deceased
were headquartered there. The emblematic color of the vestments
was yellow (once used as a sign of mourning); the “brethren”
wore a white coat, with a yellow cape bearing a metal plate with
an engraved image of St. Michael.
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The
late 1800s marked the establishment of the Confraternity of the
Rosary. Its resources and power enabled it to hold a fair of its
own—the first Sunday in October—held even today. Though
not officially connected with a church, it has an altar of its
own in the church of St. Canio. |
There
was also the St. Anthony chapel, established in 1896, which was
the home for the Daughters of Mary, who packed the building every
Sunday. |
The
girls who belonged to this Congregation, depending on their age,
wore medals of different colors (the older and younger members
were respectively differentiated by the colors red, green, and
blue). When married, the girls ceased being Daughters of Mary
and stopped wearing the medal. |
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