The religious rites of Holy Week are solemnly celebrated in all the parish churches of the island, especially in the Royal Parish Church of Santa Maria di Portosalvo where the new Bishop of Ischia His Exc. Monsignor Carlo Villano celebrated yesterday Wednesday the Holy Chrism Mass, thus beginning the Sacred Rites of the Holy Week of Passion. Holy Wednesday was also experienced yesterday afternoon at 4.00 pm in advance of everyone, with the Don Carlo effect, by the people of Casamicciole who attended the first passion mass in Piazza Majo from where, after the celebration of the ecuaresrtia, a solemn procession with the image of the Blessed Virgin of Sorrows along the various streets of the town until reaching the congregation of Santa Maria della Pietà on the coast in front of the Piazzale dell’Ancora with final blessing. The island of Ischia implements an intense program of Easter ceremonies, distributed throughout the various parish churches of the island’s Diocese, by a clergy strongly mobilized to ensure that faithful islanders and tourists, for the Easter holidays, that degree of spirituality widespread, in an environment that is heated and experiences events with evident religious transport and a desire for tradition. Today, Holy Thursday, offers above all these reasons, starting from the reflection that can be felt from the Chrism Mass of yesterday evening on Holy Wednesday which Bishop Villano celebrated in the Royal Church of Santa Maria di Portosalvo in Porto d’Ischia together with all the priests of the island. In the late afternoon of today Holy Thursday, in all the parish churches of the Diocese the sacred function of the Lord’s Supper (In Coena Domini) will take place with the traditional washing of the feet for the twelve apostles chosen from among the people of the parish and subsequently the Reposition of the ‘Eucharist in the Sacred Urn for evening and nocturnal adoration commonly identified as the “Sepulchre”. The ceremony in each parish church will be presided over by its own parish priest. The traditional visit to the “Sepulchres” for the island faithful is the final act of the first true mystical day of Holy Week which particularly distinguishes itself from what will be experienced tomorrow Good Friday.
THE CHRISTMAS MASS AND THE CONSECRATION OF THE HOLY OILS OFFERED YESTERDAY BY BISHOP VILLANO – The Chrism Mass is the Eucharistic celebration presided over yesterday on Holy Wednesday by Bishop Moms. Carlo Villsno in the Royal Parish Church of Portosalvo. All the presbyters of the Diocese are invited to this mass, which is intended to signify the unity of the local Church gathered around its Bishop, who, after the Bishop’s homily, renew the promises made on the day of their priestly ordination. In fact, yesterday Wednesday, during this special mass, the Bishop, Monsignor Carlo Villano, consecrated the Holy Oils: the chrism, the oil of the catechumens and the oil of the sick. They are the oils that will be used throughout the liturgical year to celebrate the sacraments. Chrism is used in baptism, confirmation and in the ordination of presbyters and bishops; the oil of the catechumens is used in baptism; the oil of the sick is used for the anointing of the sick.
WASHING OF THE FOOT OF THE “APOSTLES”– During the celebration in Coena Domini, today on Holy Thursday, the parish priests will carry out the washing of the feet of the “apostles”. An initiative that always intrigues those present at the function. It is the re-enactment of the gesture and the sacred words of Jesus transmitted to us by the Evangelist John: “When therefore he had washed their feet and took up his clothes, he sat down again and said to them: Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord and you are right, because I am. If therefore I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. In fact, I have given you an example, so that you too can do as I did
THE VISIT TO THE “SEPOLCHRE – Our tradition leads us to believe that the “sepulchres” set up with such care, adorned with spring flowers and vases with yellow threads of wheat, are the place where the body of Jesus is buried. A sort of tomb to pray on. In fact, the term “sepulchre” is still used today in popular language on our island and in some regions of Southern Italy to indicate what should more properly be defined as the “altar” or “chapel” of the Reposition. The altar of the Reposition, to be clear, is that “space” of the church set up at the end of the “missa in coena Domini” of Holy Thursday intended to welcome the consecrated Eucharistic species and to preserve them until the afternoon of Good Friday, when, at the end of the penitential liturgy, will be distributed to the faithful for sacramental communion. After the evening mass on Thursday, as we know, no other Eucharistic celebrations are permitted until Easter night. The “tour of the tombs” around the various nearby churches, however, remains in Ischia one of the events most felt by the faithful, even if the spirit of the “visit” has profoundly changed compared to the past.
Photo by Giovan Giuseppe Lubrano Photojournalist
