L’AQUILA – The Good Friday processions return to Abruzzo this evening, ancient religious traditions, collective and identity rites, which also attract many tourists from outside the region, enchanted by the magic of the liturgies.
CHIETI
We begin the overview from the city of Chieti, which is preparing to experience its ancient Good Friday procession which, after a few years, finds the entire square of the same name, closed for the flooring renovation works. The Chieti procession, the oldest in Abruzzo, and according to some scholars also among the oldest in Italy, was born in 842 AD and has been organized by the Archconfraternity of the Sacred Mount of the Dead since 1603. The representation is characterized by the Miserere of Saverio Sellecchy and the hooded brothers, an element also present in the procession of Lanciano where on Holy Thursday, during the procession organized by the Archconfraternity of Oration and Death “San Filippo Neri”, the barefoot Cyrenian carries the heavy cross.
LAUNCH
In Lanciano yesterday over 150 brothers emerged hooded from the church of Santa Chiara to walk the streets of the city. Today around 7pm, the brothers will go out again for the solemn procession of the Dead Christ characterized by the presence of the hooded Cyrenean carrying a heavy wooden cross. The figure of the Cyrenean is interpreted every year by a different penitent and his identity is known only to the prior of the Archconfraternity. At the center of the procession, the symbols of the passion and the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows parade, carried by women in black and by children and young people between two rows of faithful and brothers who hold torches and recite prayers. The rattle marks the silent rhythm of the procession only occasionally broken by the sound of the band performing the Miserere. At the end of the procession, the catafalque on which the Dead Christ is placed passes by. According to tradition, the statue was sculpted during a mystical vision by a Poor Clare nun who went mad as soon as the work was finished.
THE EAGLE
In L’Aquila the Good Friday Procession will start at 8pm from San Bernardino and this year will return to pass in front of Palazzo Margherita: all the details The protagonists are the simulacra created by the artist Remo Brindisi and owned by the friars of San Bernardino, who on Monday left, for the last time, the warehouse that had housed them since the earthquake and was located in the premises of the former military district, adjacent to the church. A property, once part of the large monastic complex, and now the subject of restoration to repair earthquake damage. Once the procession of the dead Christ is finished, in fact, the works will no longer return to the place where they have been kept in recent years, but will be transported to a peripheral structure, rented by the Knights of Good Friday, the secular association that has been collaborating since 2000 with the friars for the organization of the Procession. This year, for the first time, the Penitentiary Police Corps will escort the simulacrum of the dead Christ through the streets of the city centre, a rite that has been renewed since 1954, when the aspiring friar Nicola Roccioletti revived the ancient cult which had been dormant for reasons of public order for almost two centuries.
SULMONA
The Good Friday procession in Sulmona is divided into two events. The first procession starts in the afternoon and starts from the church of S. Maria della Tomba, in which the simulacrum of the dead Christ, in the possession of the Confraternity of S. Maria di Loreto, and that of the Madonna who Runs away dressed in black parades. The local band opens the procession and, while crossing the streets of the city reaching Piazza Garibaldi, and then returning to the church, performs the famous funeral march of Vella. It is commonly called “small procession” to distinguish it from the evening one, organized by the Archconfraternity of the SS. Trinity, which represents the second of the two daily events. Also known as the “Procession of the Trinitarians”, it starts from the church of the Trinity, seat of the Archconfraternity, which takes on the features of a funeral, characterized by the suggestive struscio, the step that the brothers take during the journey. These are slow and cadenced steps, imitating a person who proceeds in chains or in a penitential walk; thus the river of purple robes almost seems to sway together with the statues of the dead Christ and of Our Lady of Sorrows. All marked by the sad and poignant notes of the Miserere. At the head of the procession parades “Il Tronco”, a large wooden cross adorned with a red velvet cloth, carried in the arms of one of the brothers who, in turn, is followed by the other brothers who parade holding the characteristic silver “lights” of eighteenth-century era. .
TERAMO
In Teramo the procession of the “Desolata” takes place at dawn, to the sound of the “troccole”, in the evening the procession of the “Dead Christ”, organized by the Confraternity of Santa Maria della Cintola, and which dates back to 1260. The Desolata rite recalls the search for the Mother in anguish over the death sentence of her son Jesus; research that takes place for seven churches in Teramo, which also represent the seven sorrows of Mary of Sorrows. What makes it unique is the unusual time in which it comes to life. The sacred procession is opened by a brother holding a wooden cross bearing the symbols of the Passion, followed by the faithful, mainly women dressed entirely in black or wearing a dark veil on the head, just like they used to do in the past.
PESCARA
In Pescara, the main procession of the Adriatic capital is the one presided over by Archbishop Tommaso Valentinetti. The procession starts from the cathedral of San Cetteo, the patron saint of the city, in the Portanuova area, and will cross viale Gabriele d’Annunzio, piazza Garibaldi, corso Manthoné, piazza Unione and via delle Caserme.
QUILLS
The procession of the Dead Christ which takes place on Good Friday in Penne, in the province of Pescara, is also very ancient, among the most evocative streets of the town. Among its particularities is the funeral blanket on which the Dead Christ is placed: a tire rich in precious embroidery, in gold, silver and silk. A unique piece in the world. In the past, especially in the medieval era, sacred representations, such as the Passion of Christ, were staged in churches and were acted by clerics flanked by self-propelled statues.
SCANNO
Also very evocative is Good Friday in Scanno, in the province of L’Aquila, which includes the Procession of the Hooded and the Procession of the Dead Christ.
The Procession of the Hooded is organized in the morning by the Confraternity of the Madonna delle Grazie. The procession travels along the streets of the ancient village and reaches the tombs. The brothers, with their faces covered by a white hood, continue in pairs and with slow steps, with a musical background of very sad songs such as “The Christian at the foot of the Cross”, to accentuate the atmosphere of mourning for the death of Christ. In the evening, the Procession of the Dead Christ is accompanied by the sad notes of a Miserere.
LORETO APRUTINO
Good Friday is also full of religious events and sacred music in Loreto Aprutino. There are two processions planned, that of the Sorrowful Virgin and that of the Dead Christ. The procession of the Dead Christ will follow the route Via del Baio, Via degli Aquino, Via Vittorio Veneto, Via dei Normanni, Salita Sant’Antonio, Via Martiri Pennesi, Via Diana, Salita Montelauro, Largo Unità d’Italia and Salita San Pietro. The aforementioned streets will be affected by a parking ban from 2pm to 11pm and by a temporary ban on vehicular transit from 7pm to 9pm.
The procession of the Sorrowful Virgin will instead start from the church of the Madonna del Carmine following via Cappuccini, via Vittorio Veneto, via degli Aquino and via del Baio. A temporary ban on vehicular transit will be introduced in the aforementioned municipal streets from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Download in PDF©
