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Confraternity
of Purgatory and fund for the Deceased |
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Interior
of the new church of St. Michael, built in 1908
and later demolished
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| In
1333, the lay Confraternity of Purgatory and the Fund
for the Deceased were founded as associates of the
St. Michael’s chapel. |
| The
Confraternity’s main purpose was the veneration
and offering of prayers for the holy souls in Purgatory,
for their kinfolk and the order’s benefactors. |
| Annual
masses for the repose of the souls of the dearly departed
were their main goal along with the performance of
works of charity and the care of the needy. |
| The
organization always worked in concert with the church
of St. Canio. |
| It
also engaged extensively in granting credit to farmers,
tenant farmers and artisans, even though its only
assets were derived from membership dues, alms and
offerings given during mass. |
| To
remind the faithful of their obligation to support
with prayers and alms the souls in Purgatory, the
Confraternity also sponsored three annual processions
(the last day of the Carnival season, the fourth Sunday
of Lent, and the first of November). |
| On
those occasions, the clergy, wearing sacred vestments,
would proceed in procession from the ancient church
of St. Michael in the Torre neighborhood. |
| Leading
the procession was a brother holding up high a large
crucifix. He wore a white habit with a cowl and a
black cape with the image of a human skull in relief. |
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Also
wearing white frocks and black capes were other brethren who,
carrying small wooden boxes shaped like skulls, went about gathering
money offerings from the faithful. |
This
small somber cortege filed through the village streets intoning
psalms of the Office for the Dead. The slow, drawn-out rhythm
and deep tones moved the bystanders to tears. At times the brethren
repeated the words from Job, "Miserèmini mei, miserèmini
mei, saltem vos, amici mei, quia manus Domini tètigit me"
(My friends, take pity on me, the hand of God has struck me down). |
“Amici
mei” became the designation by which the populace referred
to these processions, whose purpose was the quest for alms. They
were discontinued after the demolition of the church of St. Michael
(in the Torre district) in the late 1800s. |
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