IN THE GROTTO OF THE NETINA VALLEY
WITH THE ANCIENT CITY IN THE BACKGROUND
Saint Corrado Confalonieri Franciscan penitent hermit
WITH THE ANCIENT CITY IN THE BACKGROUND
Saint Corrado Confalonieri Franciscan penitent hermit
di Umberto Battini
historian of S. Corrado and popularizer
historian of S. Corrado and popularizer
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| immagine creata con AI |
After about eight years, around 1323, he left the hermitage hospital of Calendasco, a pilgrim, a lay teritiary friar, on his way to Rome and then from Brindisi he embarked for the Holy Land. After a long period he returned via Malta and from there then landed in Messina, it was 1343.
He finally sets off towards eastern Sicily and, having reached the city of Noto, stops to be welcomed in the hospital of San Martino and lives for a certain time in the Celle near the castle: but this time he has to live in the depths of the walls, he is no longer the son of the noble Confalonieri, master of the castle of Calendasco.
But after a certain time he decided to live in a very spartan cave in the rocky valley of the three Pizzoni, far from ancient Noto, and until his death on 19 February 1351 he lived as a penitent hermit and in full-blown sanctity.
He performs many miracles already in life: mainly heals children and, an astonishing fact, makes small, hot, fragrant loaves appear from “nothing” that he gives to visitors.
Last but not least, the bishop of Syracuse is a certain witness, even historically, who, stunned, can taste that angelic and “mysterious” bread.
Upon his death, Corrado, the Saint of Warm Bread, the gentle and courageous hermit, who came from far away from a land on the outskirts of Piacenza, from a small village on the banks of the Po River called Calendasco, was acclaimed a saint by popular acclaim. However, the bishop of Piacenza only deduced this historical fact through research in 1617.
From the comfortable life of a revered and acclaimed castellan to the rugged and simple life of a hermit, a need for everything, far from his native homeland and his loved ones, matured in faith and trust in the Christian religion: from the castle to the cave, from the penitent and forgotten life to the memory that belongs to the Glory of Heaven.
And after centuries, his memory is still alive in Noto, the adopted city where the Holy Body rests, while in Calendasco his centuries-old patronage can also be discerned from those red brick walls of the great castle, which caress the parish church on its side, very ancient and rich in its effigies, of venerated illustrious relics.
Upon his death, Corrado, the Saint of Warm Bread, the gentle and courageous hermit, who came from far away from a land on the outskirts of Piacenza, from a small village on the banks of the Po River called Calendasco, was acclaimed a saint by popular acclaim. However, the bishop of Piacenza only deduced this historical fact through research in 1617.
From the comfortable life of a revered and acclaimed castellan to the rugged and simple life of a hermit, a need for everything, far from his native homeland and his loved ones, matured in faith and trust in the Christian religion: from the castle to the cave, from the penitent and forgotten life to the memory that belongs to the Glory of Heaven.
And after centuries, his memory is still alive in Noto, the adopted city where the Holy Body rests, while in Calendasco his centuries-old patronage can also be discerned from those red brick walls of the great castle, which caress the parish church on its side, very ancient and rich in its effigies, of venerated illustrious relics.
Umberto Battini
historian of S. Corrado and popularizer