THE “SANCTI CONRADI LEGATE”
OF 9 AUGUST 1617 DRAWN UP
IN THE CURIA IN PIACENZA
by Umberto Battini
historian of S. Corrado
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| image of the year 1917 of Calendasco, the square with the church |
This text was published in the Author's 2024 book "THE DOCUMENTS OF WORSHIP IN SAN CORRADO" and is reserved property
if you copy something cite the source
Among the archive documents, the original copy of the Legato Sancti Conradi is also preserved.
A copy is preserved in an original ink, in the State Archives of Piacenza in the Notarial Fund.
The important document was published in full, both in photographic format, and in the Latin transcription and Italian translation in the book “S. Corrado Confalonieri - I Documenti Inediti Piacentini” published in 2006 by Umberto Battini.
That book also contains a historical critique of the notarial document, of crucial importance for the history of the Holy Hermit.
The Legate written in the Curia is approved and decreed by the Bishop of Piacenza who publicly approves it. The notarial deed states that the Confalonieri family had been feudal lords of Calendasco for centuries.
It is written down in black and white that after an investigation into the public life of Saint Corrado, it has been concluded that the Saint was physically born in the town of Calendasco.
It is written that for all these very reasons, the Saint elected Patron Saint was to be most venerated in that country.
As we have seen from the documentation, in fact the local cult in Calendasco was very strong.
By tradition, San Corrado was said “of Piacenza” because, in distant Noto, the capital city was taken into consideration.
In that distant Middle Ages, who in the Sicilian land of Noto could have known of a small town called Calendasco, a fiefdom of the Santo family who lived among them?
And we must not forget a historical event that is also crucial to the events in Corradi: the murder of Pope Paul III's son in Piacenza, Pier Luigi Farnese, by the conspirator Giovan Luigi Confalonieri, a feudal lord living in Calendasco: it was September 10, 1547.
From that moment the cult towards St. Corrado suffered a strong “stop” to its spread in Piacenza and in particular in the town of the Confalonieri: Calendasco.
After the saint's death in 1351, given his distance from his homeland, it became more convenient to define him according to the case “of Piacenza” or “Piacentino” in a general sense.
In a predictable manner, after the 1617 curia deed that testifies to his birth in the village, as the documents recorded clearly show, Piacenza's cult was concentrated only on Calendasco.
The two monuments: the 13th-century castle, the Confalonieri fiefdom, and the convent hospital for pilgrims, the Saint's first retreat after the fire, encouraged the Noble Patron to bring prestige to the local church, founded in the 8th century.
From 1617, a chapel with an altar for Holy Mass was built in the church, it was completely decorated, and the large painting that still stands there in plain sight to devotees was placed.
This was followed by frescoes of the Life of the Hermit, the request for relics directly from Noto, and then the obtaining from the arm preserved in Piacenza, the Relic of the Left Thumb Finger.
In the church there is also the imperious statue for processions, and then the gift of the other painting from 1700, with the saint kneeling in the cave in front of the Holy Virgin.
Also important is the 1971 fresco in the apse, where the majestic Saint Corrado stands among the saints next to the crucified Christ; a fresco painted by the Piacenza painter Luciano Ricchetti.
by Umberto Battini
historian of S. Corrado
This text was published in the Author's 2024 book "THE DOCUMENTS OF WORSHIP IN SAN CORRADO" and is reserved property
if you copy something cite the source
