Damnatio memoriae,
Saint Conrad even suffered two
Even just pronouncing it, in Latin, you can understand that this short sentence does not promise anything good
Even just pronouncing it, in Latin, you can understand that this short sentence does not promise anything good
BY UMBERTO BATTINI
HISTORIAN OF S. CORRADO AND POPULARIZER
HISTORIAN OF S. CORRADO AND POPULARIZER
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| detail of the 16th century painting in Calendasco, with S. Corrado and the burning and capture of the innocent |
Even just pronouncing it, in Latin, you can understand that this short sentence does not promise anything good: damnatio memoriae, damnation of memory, that is, the erasure of every trace that concerns a person, as if he had never existed.
The Treccani dictionary explains well where this fact comes from and what it concerns. The Piacenza nobleman Corrado dei Confalonieri, who has been venerated as a saint for centuries, has had two, an unbeaten record among local saints here in Piacenza.
He obtained his first perpetual damnation, which would later have historical implications on his own public life and then, as a convert as a penitent among the Franciscans, around the year 1315. We are in the middle of the Middle Ages when the Piacenza area had become a Milanese dominion and subjected to the harsh government of Galeazzo Visconti, a fearsome Ghibelline and sworn enemy of the Guelphs and papal troops.
However, the one who gave him damnatio was his own family: the Confalonieri, Guelphs and soldiers of the local bishop, who were at the head of the troops as captains and bearers of the confalone of the church with notable privileges and exemptions. A very prolific family, divided between the city of Piacenza and the two valleys, that of Val Chero and the other of Val Tidone.
He obtained his first perpetual damnation, which would later have historical implications on his own public life and then, as a convert as a penitent among the Franciscans, around the year 1315. We are in the middle of the Middle Ages when the Piacenza area had become a Milanese dominion and subjected to the harsh government of Galeazzo Visconti, a fearsome Ghibelline and sworn enemy of the Guelphs and papal troops.
However, the one who gave him damnatio was his own family: the Confalonieri, Guelphs and soldiers of the local bishop, who were at the head of the troops as captains and bearers of the confalone of the church with notable privileges and exemptions. A very prolific family, divided between the city of Piacenza and the two valleys, that of Val Chero and the other of Val Tidone.
Among the medieval documentation, the fiefdom of Calendasco and its manor stands out, which the Confalonieri inhabited for about three centuries and which gave the eldest the title of captain of the castle, as the documents clearly show.
It was not uncommon for a disgraced nobleman to be struck down by his family; historical books are full of them, and San Corrado also suffered this humiliating affront: due to the fire he caused during a hunting trip near the fiefdom of Calendasco, where he was born in 1290.
It was not uncommon for a disgraced nobleman to be struck down by his family; historical books are full of them, and San Corrado also suffered this humiliating affront: due to the fire he caused during a hunting trip near the fiefdom of Calendasco, where he was born in 1290.
To flush out game among the brambles and bushland, he sets small fires, which, however, given the hot season, quickly char wheat fields, woods, and a few small farmhouses, including stables with animals. A huge economic damage, it's 1315.
The henchmen sent by Visconti capture a farmer and take him to the city to be sentenced to the gallows, so Corrado, overcome by remorse, runs to Piacenza and makes public amends: the fact that he is a nobleman saves his life, but he must compensate for all the damage.
It's up to his family to raise the sum and liquidate Corrado, who can then live up to this fine, but finds himself poor in everything, denigrated, abandoned, and erased from the memory of the Confalonieri.
The henchmen sent by Visconti capture a farmer and take him to the city to be sentenced to the gallows, so Corrado, overcome by remorse, runs to Piacenza and makes public amends: the fact that he is a nobleman saves his life, but he must compensate for all the damage.
It's up to his family to raise the sum and liquidate Corrado, who can then live up to this fine, but finds himself poor in everything, denigrated, abandoned, and erased from the memory of the Confalonieri.
He became a Franciscan tertiary penitent in the small hospice, not far from the village, where after about ten years he left for Sicily, arriving in Noto, where he lived as a hermit in holiness while his wife became a nun among the Poor Clares of Piacenza.
The second damnatio, even more ferocious, was procured in memory of Conrad when he was now a saint for the Church, but his cult still had to be spread outside Sicily. The erasure of his memory among the saints of Piacenza lasted until the early 1600s and was desired by the Farnese family and also by Pope Paul III Farnese.
The second damnatio, even more ferocious, was procured in memory of Conrad when he was now a saint for the Church, but his cult still had to be spread outside Sicily. The erasure of his memory among the saints of Piacenza lasted until the early 1600s and was desired by the Farnese family and also by Pope Paul III Farnese.
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| view of the Confalonieri castle of Calendasco, San Corrado was born here in 1290 |
This is how this axe backfired on the cult of Saint Corrado: in 1547 the four conspirators of Piacenza, namely the nobles Pallavicino, Landi, Anguissola and Confalonieri, killed Duke Pierluigi Farnese, son of Pope Paul III, in Piacenza.
From the documents of the Farnese confiscation that later fell on these families, we know that Giovanluigi Confalonieri, a conspirator, had left the castle of Calendasco due to bloodshed, where he lived as a feudal lord and bishop's soldier.
From that September 10, 1547, the date of the killing, it took the Farnese family almost forty years to achieve revenge against the Confalonieri of Calendasco who, finally for them, left with his family in 1590 and went into exile in Milan. Where, however, Giovanluigi is welcomed with great honors, but that's another story.
Obviously, the Farnese family did not allow the cult of San Corrado, the pride of the Confalonieri family, to be spread in the Piacenza area: we would have to wait for the letters written by Noto in 1610 by the Noto Jurors to obtain more precise information about the saint. A letter to the Duke Farnese (who washes his hands), one to the Jurors of Piacenza (who will conduct a small but thorough and fruitful investigation), and one to the Bishop who will make known the birth of the saint of Calendasco.
With the transfer of the branch of the Confalonieri of Calendasco and Val Tidone to Milan, the remaining Confalonieri of the other branch of descent, who maintained excellent relations with the Farnese family, never put their minds to this matter.
Thanks, however, to the eldest Confalonieri, Luigi, it was possible to make inroads into Farnese damnatio and in 1613 a chapel to the Saint was built with frescoes in the cathedral of Piacenza, as a devotional cult.
While in Calendasco and mind you, only there, the Patronage will be granted and from 1617 a dedicated chapel will be erected with the Legate Sancti Conradi.
The act drawn up in the episcopal curia in the city is approved and signed by Bishop Msgr. Claudio Rangoni, who also has the notary write that “after careful investigation into the lay life of San Corrado, we have reached the conclusion that in the same place of Calendasco the saint drew his earthly origins and that for years now the inhabitants had always paid him a special cult there”.
In short, we can deduce that in Calendasco, a Confalonieri fiefdom for about three hundred years, a few years before these events of the 17th century, we knew of the achieved sanctity of Corrado, born in the castle in 1290, who reappeared worthily from the mists of the two damnations of memory and who echo in the seventeenth-century painting of the church and in the Confalonieri coat of arms, which still remains painted hundreds of times on the coffered ceiling of the upper hall of the manor.
Saint Corrado lived as a hermit in a cave in the Valle dei Tre Pizzoni in Noto and died there on February 19, 1351. His greatest miracle is the appearance “out of nowhere in the rock cave” of small warm loaves that he gave to astonished visitors.
In short, we can deduce that in Calendasco, a Confalonieri fiefdom for about three hundred years, a few years before these events of the 17th century, we knew of the achieved sanctity of Corrado, born in the castle in 1290, who reappeared worthily from the mists of the two damnations of memory and who echo in the seventeenth-century painting of the church and in the Confalonieri coat of arms, which still remains painted hundreds of times on the coffered ceiling of the upper hall of the manor.
Saint Corrado lived as a hermit in a cave in the Valle dei Tre Pizzoni in Noto and died there on February 19, 1351. His greatest miracle is the appearance “out of nowhere in the rock cave” of small warm loaves that he gave to astonished visitors.
His memory is obviously alive in Calendasco where he has been patron for over four centuries and where two illustrious relics donated by the bishops of Noto in 1907 and 1927 are venerated.
BY UMBERTO BATTINI
HISTORIAN OF S. CORRADO AND POPULARIZER
HISTORIAN OF S. CORRADO AND POPULARIZER
This historical text also appeared in the newspaper ILPIACENZA.IT on February 19, 2022
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