San Martino (Grottaglie)

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Albania Tarantina in 1560

San Martino is a former Greek - Albanian settlement in the ancient fiefdom of Grottaglie between the destroyed "Casali" Civitella and Mennano (today Santuario della Madonna della Camera) in the southern Italian province of Apulia and belonged to the Albania Tarantina (Tarentine Albania). World icon

history

The first notes on San Martino can be found in the Angevin registers of the 14th century. Although small and insignificant, it belonged as a fief to wealthy princes. In 1341 one part belonged to Caterina del Balzo and the other to Giovanna de Tremblaio, who died without an heir. On behalf of Joan I of Anjou , Queen of Naples (1343-1382), the fief went to the "Mensa Arcivescovile" (all of the goods available for the diocese) of Taranto .

No documents exist until the beginning of the 16th century. Apparently the Casale was abandoned by the few inhabitants because of the constant harassment of Ottoman pirates and French adventurers who scattered here and there after the wars of succession between the French Anjou and the Spanish Aragonese .

1507 received the stratiot captain Lazzaro Mattes (or Lazaro Mathes) for his services to the crown of Ferdinand III. , King of Naples , the "Casali" Roccaforzata , San Martino and Belvedere (extinct) with the privilege of allowing his Albanian compatriots to settle them.

1519 was the concession of Johanna III. , Queen of Naples (1516–1555) confirmed. After the death of Lazzaro Mattes, he was followed by his son Giovannangelo, who married Porphida Muzaka (also: Porfida Musciacchio). The indebted Giovannangelo was forced by Giulio Cesare Brancaccio (1515–1586), his creditor, by decree of the royal chamber to sell the two Casali that were bought by Gabriele Scorna. He was followed in 1559 by his son Scipione, who in addition to San Martino and Roccaforzata also owned the Casali San Chirico and Cosentino in Basilicata , which were inhabited by Albanians . When Scipione withdrew to San Chirico, he sold San Martino and Roccaforzata to Geronimo Forza. After Geronimo's death, he was followed by his son Callisto and then Ferrante.

After disputes over inheritance, the two Casali went to the captain Nicolò Renes on November 20, 1612. After his death in 1617 he was followed by his nephew Busicchio Renesi from Zadar in northern Dalmatia , who in 1656 gave the two Casali as a dowry to his daughter Giustina for her marriage to Doctor Carlo Marino of Taranto.

In the second half of the 17th century, the Casali belonged to the aristocratic Ungaro family, which in 1698 were sold to Domenico Chiurlia, Marchese von Lizzano . The Casali remained in the family's possession until 1804 when the feudal system was declared extinct.

religion

Papas Kola Cuccia from Contessa Entellina in Sicily

The Greco-Albanians brought their language, customs and traditions as well as their religion according to the Greek-Byzantine rite to their new homeland.

When San Martino received his first pastoral visit from the Archbishop of Taranto, Lelio Brancaccio , in 1578 , Papas Demetrio Savino administered the sacraments and celebrated the divine liturgy in the Byzantine rite. The parish church of San Martino consisted of an arcade and the walls were painted with frescoes depicting the lives and miracles of Greek saints. After Byzantine architecture , the church was after the cardinal direction east-west with the altar in the east and the entrance oriented to the west. In the Byzantine tradition, the apse is always towards the east, where the sun rises, symbolizing the kingdom of light that represents the Lord God.

Although Pope Paul III. gave the Albanians in Italy full recognition within Catholicism with the bull of 1536 , the Archbishop of Taranto, Lelio Brancaccio , encouraged the Greek-Byzantine communities to convert to the Latin rite during his visit to Albania Tarantina in 1578 . As in the other Casali of Albania Tarantina, the Arbëresh of San Martino did not listen to the archbishop's invitation to convert to the Latin rite.

For the connection with the Byzantine rite and the Eastern customs, the inhabitants of San Martino were at the mercy of the religious Latin authorities, the Archdiocese of Lecce . When Papas Demetrio Savino died and no successor was available, they had to switch to the Latin rite. In 1781 the priest Pietro Gabrielie was the curate of the community, who understood little or no Arbëresh .

Many of the families preferred to move away. A census carried out by Pastor Michele Scarciglia in December 1832 shows that a total of 44 people lived in San Martino: 18 male and 17 female adults, 3 young men and 6 girls. In addition to the aforementioned residents of San Martino, there were other families living in the countryside who, in times of need , hurried to the dads in the neighboring towns of Fragagnano , Carosino , San Giorgio and Monteparano . In order to remedy this and to be able to take care of the parish, Pastor Scarciglia applied to the Minister of Culture in 1833 for an assistant pastor.

The only patron saint celebrated in San Martino at that time was that of the patron saint Madonna della Camera in the rural chapel in Casale Mennano, where on the Thursday after Easter and on a Sunday in August the congregations of Santissimo Rosario and San Nicola of Roccaforzata, Santa Maria del Carmine by Faggiano and Santissimo Rosario by Monteparano gathered to take part in the procession .

After the pastor's death in 1857, the church remained vacant . The few remaining residents left their hearth, so that the parish was officially abolished in 1859 by a papal bull and Roccaforzata was attached. The Casale San Martino, of which only the name remains today, disappeared.

literature

  • F. Antonio Primaldo Coco: Casali Albanesi nel Tarentino . Grottaferrata 1921 (Italian, dimarcomezzojuso.it [PDF; accessed on March 13, 2017]).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Casali (singular casale) is the Italian name for a house or a group of houses in the country.
  2. ↑ Secular clergyman in the Orthodox Church

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Casali Albanesi nel Tarentino, p. 58
  2. ↑ Storia di Roccaforzata. In: Guzzardi.it. Retrieved September 11, 2017 (Italian).
  3. ^ Robert Elsie : 515 John Musachi: Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty. In: Albanianhistory.net. Retrieved September 11, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b c Casali Albanesi nel Tarentino, p. 59
  5. ↑ a b Nicola Maiellaro: Albania: Conoscere, Comunicare, condividere . Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani (ANCI) Apulia, 2004, p. 183 (Italian, cnr.it [PDF]).
  6. ↑ Vincenzo Bruno, Antonio Trupo: La chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, Civita . Rubinetto print, Catanzaro 2011, p. 7 (Italian).
  7. ^ Giuseppe Maria Viscardi: Tra Europa e "Indie di quaggiù". Chiesa, religosità e cultura popolare nel Mezzogiorno . Storia e Letteratura, Rome 2005, ISBN 88-8498-155-7 , p. 377 (Italian, online version in Google Book Search).
  8. ↑ a b c Casali Albanesi nel Tarentino, p. 60
  9. ↑ Casali Albanesi nel Tarentino, p. 61