Figure 1.--This photo was taken in the northern Italian village of San Michele de' Mucchietti. This is a little village about 50 km west of Bologna. This procession is quite different from others: it is a penitential procession that takes place on August 15th in the early morning. In that day the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. In the morning the procession leaves the parish church for a chapel in the country, bringing an image of the Virgin Mary. Many people participate and everybody is barefoot: people, altar servers (boys and girls), and priests. Today altar girls are very common in Italy. That was not the case 30 years ago. The Italian term for red striped robe is "tarcisiana". Is a vestment worn by altar boys and altar girls. Altar boys wear also cassocks and surplices, but in Italy usually altar girls wear only "tarcisiana". The white robes are albs, as those worn by priests. Older altar servers, that can't wear tarcisiana (to small), wear albs. Arriving at the chapel in the country, the Mass is celebrated in open air.

The procession is a historic tradition of the Catholic Church. The most important one is the procession in the solemnity of "Corpus Christi" (Latin for Body of Christ), or "Corpus Domini" (Latin for Body of the Lord). This feast is a special celebration of sacrament of Eucharist. The feast was introduced in the Latin Liturgy by the Pope Urban the 4th in 1263, with the bull "Transiturus". The feast takes place traditionally on Thursday, 11 days after Pentecost. Today in many places it is celebrated on Sunday, fourteen days after Pentecost. This is the only procession that takes place everywhere in the Catholic Church. However there are many other processions according with local traditions. There are processions for the Good Friday and for feasts of the Virgin Mary or Patron saints. In Italy there are many processions, especially in the South. Today there are fewer in the North. This reflects the relative importance of the Catholic Church and other historic traditioins in the more modern, secular north.

Tradition

The religious procession is a historic tradition of the Catholic Church. We see it it not only in Italy, but throughout southern Europe and Latin America. Presumably it has pre-Christian clasical Roman roots. Presumably this tradition is the fruit of the melding of the new Christian faith and pre-Christian religiosity. There are pagan roots to many Christian traditions which can be viewed as the christianization' of pagan traditions. Major Christian celebrations are built on pagan traditions. Christmas is the best example. We do not know much about religious processiins in ancient Rome. Perhaps readers will know more. The situation also can be quite different from place to place. For example, the pagan roots are very manifest in the Sicilian processions where the children are offered to the saint as sign of protection.

Corpus Christi

The most important religious procession in Italy is the procession in the solemnity of "Corpus Christi". This is of course a major Catholic religious celebration. Corpus Christi is Latin for "Body of Christ" or Corpus Domini, Latin for "Body of the Lord". This celebration or feast day is a special celebration of sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The feast was introduced in the Latin Liturgy by the Pope Urban IV (1263) with the Papal bull "Transiturus". The feast takes place traditionally on Thursday, 11 days after Pentecost. Today in many places it is celebrated on Sunday, 14 days after Pentecost. This is the only procession that takes place everywhere in the Catholic Church. There are many interesting local customs abd variations in the celebrations and processions involved in different towns and villages throughout Italy.

Other Processions

There are many other processions which take place throughout Italy, most based on local traditions. There are processions for the Good Friday and for feasts of the Virgin Mary or Patron saints. In Italy there are many processions, especially in the South. Today there are fewer in the North. This reflects the relative importance of the Catholic Church and other historic traditioins in the more modern, secular north.

San Michele de' Mucchietti

This is an example of a local processiin and tradition. The photograph here was taken in the northern Italian village of San Michele de' Mucchietti (figure 1). This is a little village about 50 km west of Bologna. This procession is quite different from others: it is a penitential procession that takes place on August 15th in the early morning. In that day the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. In the morning the procession leaves the parish church for a chapel in the country, bringing an image of the Virgin Mary. Many people participate and everybody is barefoot: people, altar servers (boys and girls), and priests. Today altar girls are very common in Italy. That was not the case 30 years ago. The Italian term for red striped robe is "tarcisiana". Is a vestment worn by altar boys and altar girls. Altar boys wear also cassocks and surplices, but in Italy usually altar girls wear only "tarcisiana". The white robes are albs, as those worn by priests. Older altar servers, that can't wear tarcisiana (to small), wear albs. Arriving at the chapel in the country, the Mass is celebrated in open air. The origin of this procession was in 1855. In that year there was an epidemic of cholera. In the village of San Michele de' Mucchietti died many people. The parishioners asked the parish priest, Antonio Pensieri, for a penitential procession. The parish archive guards this attestation of Antonio Pensieri: "According to the petition of my parishioners, on Sunday 5th August (1855) I announced that on August 15th we should have had a penitential procession, in bare feet and with alight candles. On day 15th, at 6 a.m., everybody was ready, everybody barefoot, with candles."

Enna

This photograph was taken in Enna (Sicily) during the procession of the Patron saints. This procession is made in another way, common in the South. In this case the confraternity takes part in the procession and the people is at the streets sides. Here the members of the confraternity are bringing the statues of the Patron saints: the children St Michael, the young people St Joseph and the men the Virgin Mary. All are wearing the uniform of the confraternity.

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Created: 8:59 PM 6/13/2009
Last updated: 11:23 PM 6/16/2009