Saint / folklore
Guardia Sanframondi flagellant rite
Background
Guardia Sanframondi is a town and comune in the Province of Benevento, in Campania region, in Italy. It is best known for its wine production, the wine festival Vinalia and for its Christian penitential rite held every seven years.
The Riti settennali di penitenza in honour of the Assumption are held at Guardia Sanframondi every seven years, in late August. Their documented history goes back to at least the seventeenth century. The week culminates in a procession of thousands of hooded penitents in white. Among them are the battenti, who strike their bare chests with a cork studded with pins (the spugna) until the blood runs, and the flagellanti, who whip their backs with metal chains.
Participants keep their identities hidden under their hoods, and many take part to fulfil a vow. The Church has long been uneasy about the bloodshed but has never suppressed the rite. It last took place in 2024, and it draws large crowds of onlookers and photographers.
Riti settennali di penitenza in onore dell’Assunta (it) · Guardia Sanframondi
· Wikipedia ↗ · Search Google ↗In Naples ’44
The seven-yearly penitential procession in honour of the Virgin, revived in 1944 — described to Lewis by a colleague: robes soaked with blood, and one banner-carrier nearly lynched after being publicly named a cuckold.
Appears in 1 diary entry.
-
June 27 1944A colleague describes a revived, medieval-style flagellant procession at Guardia Sanframondi; two more feast stories follow — Nola's Feast of the Lily disrupting army telephone lines, and a trip to Amalfi for the thrice-yearly 'manna' relic of St Andrew.
flagellant procession held every seven years in honour of the Virgin
Use ← → to move between pages