| Through
the centuries, Calitrians worshipped several saints, to whom
they turned for help and protection, addressed prayers, dedicated
statues and processions and in whose name they entitled churches
and chapels. |
| Despite
the paucity of records prior to the 16th century, it is nonetheless
possible to get an idea of the most ancient cults and the
reasons why they came into existence. |
| calitri
tradizioni |
| THE
CULT OF MARY |
| The
large number of churches and chapels dedicated to the Holy
Virgin is evidence of the Calitrians’ deep devotion
to Mary, worshipped under several titles: The Immaculate Conception,
Our Lady of Graces, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, the Assumption,
St. Mary of Montserrat, Our Lady of the Snows, Our Lady of
the Rosary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of the Annunciation,
Our Lady of Assistance, St. Mary of Constantinople, Our Lady
of the Crowns. |
| This
devotion is of very ancient origin—as attested by the
Sanctuary of the Madonna of the Forest at the abbey of S.
Maria in Elce, dating back to the iconoclastic period (726-834
A.D.). |
| Some
cults, such as those for Our Lady of the Snows, (in the castle
church), the Assumption and the Annunciation, go back to the
Middle Ages, while others are typical of the modern period:
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, worshipped in the church by the
same name in Naples, whose cult became definitive in the Jubilee
year 1500; Our Lady of Constantinople, also worshipped in
Naples and invoked during the plague epidemics of 1526 and
1575; finally Our Lady of the Rosary, a cult instituted after
the victory of the Christian armies against the Turks at Lepanto
(1571), and later spread abroad mainly by Dominican friars. |
| . |
| THE
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION |
| Already
in the 16th century, there were in Calitri a number of altars
dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. |
| . |
|
Statue
of St. Mary of the Saints in the chapel by the same name |
|
Statue
of the Immaculate Conception in the church by the same
name |
| . |
| In
the second half of the 17th century, when this cult had
spread throughout the Kingdom Of Naples—thanks to
the Franciscans and the Jesuits—churches and chapels
were built and dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin, and were
decorated by the most famous artists of the period. |
| The
Calitrian Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception was
founded in 1710 by a few priests of a Neapolitan congregation,
and a few years later construction was begun on a church
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. |
|
The current church with its three naves, built after the
earthquake of 1910 and rebuilt more or less in the same
style after 1980, is very different from the original little
church (with only one nave and two altars), founded in 1714
on St. Blaise (San Biagio) hill. |
| Only
the central portal of the 18th-century structure survived.
The statue of the lmmaculate Conception worshipped in Calitri
is patterned after an iconographic model widely popular
in the Baroque period. |
|
