|
The
old cemetery |
| calitri
tradizioni |
| Many
Calitrians chose for their burial the church of the San Sebastiano
convent. Here, the poorer citizens were interred in a common grave,
while the rich had private tombs. Some Confraternities also had
their tombs in this convent. |
| Most
Calitrians, however, preferred to be buried in the Mother Church,
dedicated to the Assumption and San Canio. The common burial grounds—which
were not well cared for—were located in the church yard. The
church interior was reserved for private chapels and the tombs of
members of various confraternities. |
| Besides
the fees for burial costs, the Calitrians usually willed to the
church of San Canio money for memorial masses. At times these offerings
were made not with currency but in kind, such as farm produces. |
| The
private chapels belonged to the most important families in town.
In the church of Saints Philip and James, the second chapel on the
left side of the nave belonged to the Gesualdos—a noble family
whose demesne was comprised of the counties of Venosa, Conza and
Calitri. The church of Santa Maria alla Ripa, (located near the
old feudal castle), and the San Sebastiano convent (where a woman
of the Gesualdo family lay buried) were also under Gesualdo patronage. |
| Whereas
the more affluent citizens could carefully plan for their own funerals
and establish where to be buried and could leave offerings for memorial
masses, the choices for the poorer citizens were more limited. |
| The
custom of burying the dead in churches began to decline at the start
of the 19th century. During the Napoleonic period (1806 –
1815) it was decreed that also in the Kingdom of Naples cemeteries
had to be located outside built up areas. Thus, during the early
decades of the 19th century, Calitri’s municipal administration
ordered the construction of a cemetery outside the town limits,
and after prolonged debates, picked an area half a mile west of
town. |
| In
the old days this area was called Cicondella; its orientation toward
the south made it an ideal site for vineyards and olive groves.
An epigraph, placed in the chapel of the Purgatory Congregation
(subsequently relocated in the new cemetery) confirms this. Writing
on the epigraph also informs us that work on the new cemetery was
started in 1842 and the inauguration took place in 1850. |
|
