Crotone – This year, due to the works in the Cathedral Basilica, it will be there Church of the Immaculate Conceptiona few meters from the Duomo, to welcome the Painting of the Madonna of Capo Colonnathe “mother of the Crotone people“, as Monsignor defined it Joseph Augustine.
This year will be a year of physical but certainly not spiritual hardship. It will be the year in which there will be a new framework,”since the great one, the historical one, does not enter through the doors of the Immaculate Conception“, has explained Don Bernardino Mongelluzzivice president of the Cathedral Chapter.
The appointments of faith of Marian month they were illustrated this morning in the Curia by the Archbishop of Crotone-Santa Severina Monsignor Angelo Raffaele Panzettafrom Monsignor Alessandro Saracorector of the Cathedral Basilica, from Monsignor Pancrazio Liminapresident of the Cathedral Chapter, and by Domenico Ruggiero, president of the Marian Festivals Committee. “The place changes, the setting changes, but not the structure of the festival, with its times and days, nor the faith of the people of Crotone“, those present said loudly.
The Madonna will be welcomed by the people of Crotone in Piazza Duomoon the morning of April 30th at 12.00, after the ringing of the bells and, with a small procession, it will be accompanied to the Church of the Immaculate Conception shining with new light: «We had to redo a new frame based on an idea of mine that the architect Calillo created, but it turned out a really beautiful frame, with the two columns of Capo Colonna and the Madonna in the middle with the broken capitals facing each other. The Madonna of Capo Colonna is the glue of the rupture of the past, the present, and the future”
«The Marian feast is a progressive pedagogy that continues for a month – are the words of the Archbishop Angelo Raffaele Panzetta – I proposed to everyone to look at the Risen Jesus with the eyes of Mary, to rediscover charity, faith and hope». It will therefore be a month to rediscover the fundamental values of Christian life, added the prelate, using the words of one of his predecessors: «Monsignor Agostino had understood that the people of Crotone live the Easter experience with the eyes of Mary, and this will be reproduced again this year with the help of God». In fact, an itinerary of faith was chosen, within the Church of the Immaculate Conception, with quality preachers and confessorsto accompany the people of Crotone in this “Marian Easter”.
There are many moments of faith, including Sunday 12 May 2024 where at 6.00 pm in Piazza Duomo there will be Solemn Pontifical Liturgy presided over by Monsignor Angelo Raffaele Panzetta, Archbishop of Crotone-Santa Severina, with the participation of the Cathedral Chapter and the offering of the votive candle by the Municipal administration. The day before, Saturday 11 May, at 5.30 pm the Madonna of Capo Colonna will be carried in procession towards the hospital citizen.
Furthermore, this year marks the tenth anniversary of the passing of Monsignor Giuseppe Agostino, the bishop who led the Diocese from 1973 to 1998, accompanying the Crotone church in the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. There will be a special moment of remembrance at the council hall of the municipality of Crotone, on May 6th, together with Monsignor Giancarlo Bregantiniordained deacon, priest and bishop by the hands of Augustine: «It will be a special moment – he said Monsignor Pancrazio Liminafor all Don Ezio – in which Archbishop Bregantini, the worker priest, will remember the figure of Agostino. The priest of Santa Chiara, if you remember, had Agostino carry the small picture of the Madonna of Capo Colonna to the factories, in an environment where at the time the Church was only very welcome, but it was a miracle of our Madonna of Capo Colonna».
It will be an intense month, therefore, which will culminate in Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th, with the great pilgrimage towards Capo Colonna: the quadricello of the Madonna di Capo Colonna, in fact, will start from Piazza Duomo at 1.30am to reach, as per tradition, first the Cemetery and then the Sanctuary on the Lacinio promontory. Upon returning via the Coast Guard boat, the Quadricello will return from Capo Colonna to Crotone, arriving at the Lega Navale (red lantern), as the historic pier is undergoing works.
Then the fireworks and the return to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, with the final blessing of the Archbishop.
Danilo Ruberto
