So far we have spoken to the bottom of the Franciscan witchcraft and how the poor man was able to turn in favor of the ancient cults of the earth to accelerate the conversion pages. But we are sure that the boy wizard in the local history of Assisi was only a meteor without eminent predecessors? We lose sight
the clock, forget history and dive in the ancestral traditions of folklore Umbria. And do not even need to travel far from Assisi, just twenty miles and we are already on the set of another intrigue. Just a dozen miles, and we are already in Montefalco.
happened here in the eighteenth century something very serious in the eyes of the clergy, as serious enough to lead the Friars of the Porziuncola who controlled the convents in the area, to issue a decree which is taking strict measures against a phenomenon whose origin was already lost in the mists of time. The nocturnal processions to the caves of San Fortunato.
What is it exactly? We read carefully the text of the Decretum as we have been handed down in the Chronicle of the Province of St. Francis Seraphic.
"From our religious S. Fortunato di Montefalco eras, it seems, introduced the use, or better say the abuse, the 1st day of June, the feast of St. Fortunato, to go in procession to the Grotto of women coll'intervento also exists within the forest, the seclusion of the monastery, which is demanded sanctified by the holy protectors and Severo Fortunato di Montefalco, where at this juncture will be celebrated as the S. Mass on an altar erected therein. Since we received this news with the fathers of defining and considering this to be indecent, because that place is not sanctuary, not only is not necessary, nor useful, nor even honest nor decent to defeat the monastery church to celebrate the harvest there in the hole, and much less lawful introduce women SINCE Epper not allow or tolerate, and yet to overcome the danger of some inconvenience, that could happen in course of time, by decree of 10 May [1725, nda] have since resolved to prohibit under this seriously prohibit the p. guardian pro tempore, and all the priests of that monastery to celebrate, or to allow in the future to be celebrated in that cave, in the arbitrary punishment, under penalty of violated women el'introdurvi enclosure; also ordered to p. attendant to remove from the altar stone churchyard. "
For a moment we are dismayed.
Only one thing we are sure: the processions of men and women alluded to the document, were illegally promoted by the monks of the monastery of San Fortunato in spite of the caves were not a sanctuary. Moreover, the fact that a women's procession winds every first of June through the wood below the monastery, contravening the cloistered convent, makes us understand how the lights were invisible to the Curia. But because it took place? And who was this San Fortunato in which they were consecrated?
Giving a quick glance at the documents and going back in time we realize that in addition to the famous Decretum friars there vacuum. With the exception of a testimony given in 1318 by a monk, some of Damien Francis, who was called as a witness at the canonization process of Sister Clare of Montefalco, for the record today saint.
Francis, heard as a witness number 45, said that in his youth his sister urged him to go to do penance and to pray in some secluded coves near the village ...
"Adhuc diebus Dominicis et quod eum festivis instruebat yret to groctas seu Testudines solitarias, et ad loca cum duobus aliis predicatis deserted and ab, ab orationes faciendum (...) "
" Also on Sundays and other holidays, she advised him to go to some lonely cave in the wilderness with two companions set out from her, to make prayer (...) "
that the cave had just alluded to the famous caves in the Decretum , according to legend, consecrated by the holy Fortunato and Severus, there are serious doubts, even among the most renowned scholars.
But still we have not come at the head of anything, especially, did not answer the original question, namely, what on earth had nothing to do with San Fortunato these caves? He had indeed consecrated him, there had been some miracle worthy of so great a name or had simply live?
Apparently not. The rumor contained in the Decretum, which combines the caves the cult of the patron saint of Montefalco, it seems nothing more than a legend, at least judging by the only extended hagiography remained in our possession, Fortunati Vita Sancti confessoris. The manuscript emerges from a shelf of the Archives of the Cathedral of Spoleto - cities which depended on the time of its Montefalco Fortunato -. What we read in the lectionary of the cathedral? Of course, the usual repertoire of hagiographic stories, uplifting and tasty as ever, like the story of an angel disguised as a beggar or that of the white dove of the holy who uses pumpkin like a weathervane. But there's more, two details in particular.
The post continues to this address, with many images and references ...
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