SHORT LIFE OF ST. CONRAD
THE NOBLE FEUDAL LORD OF CALENDASCO
THE NOBLE FEUDAL LORD OF CALENDASCO
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Calendasco Castle, owned by the Confalonieri family and now owned by the Municipality
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BY UMBERTO BATTINI
HISTORIAN OF S. CORRADO AND POPULARIZER
HISTORIAN OF S. CORRADO AND POPULARIZER
This is a short life of the Holy Hermit Corrado Confalonieri, told succinctly.
He was born in 1290 in the castle of Calendasco, near the city of Piacenza, a place on the Po River.
His was a feudal family, living in the village castle, of the Guelph party and "soldiers" of the Bishop of Piacenza.
To hunt game, Corrado set fire to a forest in those places. The Lord of Piacenza, in that Middle Ages, was Galeazzo Visconti, a Milanese and Ghibelline.
He was born in 1290 in the castle of Calendasco, near the city of Piacenza, a place on the Po River.
His was a feudal family, living in the village castle, of the Guelph party and "soldiers" of the Bishop of Piacenza.
To hunt game, Corrado set fire to a forest in those places. The Lord of Piacenza, in that Middle Ages, was Galeazzo Visconti, a Milanese and Ghibelline.
A poor farmer is blamed for the fire. Corrado doesn't let that innocent man be brought to death. He admits guilt before Galeazzo Visconti and is ordered to pay damages.
The Confalonieri family of Calendasco gives Corrado his share of the inheritance, with this money he pays the debt.
He becomes very poor, and with his wife they make a decision: she becomes nun Clarissa in Piacenza, he a tertiary penitent.
He becomes very poor, and with his wife they make a decision: she becomes nun Clarissa in Piacenza, he a tertiary penitent.
Saint Corrado retires among the Franciscan tertiaries to the small hermitage and hospital for pilgrims that was right in Calendasco.
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16th-century painting in the church in Calendasco
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He was welcomed in 1315, the year of the events, by Brother Aristide.
Around 1323 he left as a pilgrim for Assisi, Rome and then went to the Holy Land. On his return he stopped on the island of Malta, where however he was miserably hunted.
It disembarks at Messina, Sicily and heads towards the south-eastern part. He arrives in Noto, where he is welcomed into the pilgrims' hospital known as "di San Martino".
After a certain period he moved to the Valle dei Tre Pizzoni in Noto, where he lived inside a cave living as a hermit.
He will perform miracles while alive: he heals a very serious hernious child, then makes "Angels' Bread" appear, angelic bread inside the cave he gives to visitors.
This miracle also takes place before the Bishop of Syracuse, who was then also bishop of the City of Noto.
This miracle also takes place before the Bishop of Syracuse, who was then also bishop of the City of Noto.
He died in the cave on February 19, 1351.
By popular fury he is made a Saint.
Over time, the church will also confirm this.
For centuries his body has been preserved in a silver Ark, which is kept inside the Cathedral of Noto, Sicily.
By popular fury he is made a Saint.
Over time, the church will also confirm this.
For centuries his body has been preserved in a silver Ark, which is kept inside the Cathedral of Noto, Sicily.
Calendasco has had him as the patron saint of the village for over four hundred years.
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| Ark contains the body of St. Corrado, preserved in Noto in Sicily |
He was born physically in the village of Calendasco in 1290, and spiritually in 1315, retiring to the hospital of the Franciscan tertiaries.
In Noto he lived from 1343 to 1351 in Santità. In the city of Noto he is honored and venerated with 4 solemn processions during the year.
Saint Corrado Confalonieri, a Franciscan penitent hermit, layman and nobleman, who followed in Christ's footsteps on earth, in hiding and humility of life.
by Umberto Battini
historian of San Corrado and popularizer
historian of San Corrado and popularizer