Cammarata -San Giovanni Gemini
Your next destination in Sicily in the Sicani mountains
Parrocchia Santa Maria di Gesù
SAINT MARY OF JESUS…. muddicheddi di memoria (from Cammarata chronicles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by D. De Gregorio)
On 29 October 1949 the bishop Mons. Peruzzo visits the church of Santa Maria where the parish activity begins. It celebrates in S. Maria, thus starting the new parish, entrusted to the Rev. Father Celestino Puglisi, the first parish priest.
Sunday 20 June 1954 around 4 pm, at the Cammarata station, coming by car from Palermo, Msgr. Francesco Fasola, coadjutor bishop of Agrigento. The clergy and the faithful welcomed him in large numbers. Father Celestino Puglisi, after the greeting of the archpriest Madonia, spoke saying, among other things, that in the parish of S. Maria the Madonna of Cacciapensieri had been prayed for him. Later Msgr. Fasola told of having arrived in the diocese with serious concerns; hearing "Madonna di Cacciapensieri" he was cleared up. Coming to Cammarata and S. Giovanni, he never failed to go to pray to the Madonna di Cacciapensieri.
In July 1954, Father Filippo Piscopo da Favara was assigned to the convent of S. Maria.
On 13 June 1955 the new premises of the church of S. Maria were inaugurated.
On May 29, 1956, the church of Santa Maria was erected as a parish.
On 30 September 1956, in the parish of S. Maria, Fr. Domenico Di Marco, present the civil, religious and military authorities. To the Gospel, Fr. Filippo Piscopo exalts the figure of Fr. Domenico missionary, professor, historian and above all a priest.
On January 19, 1957, Father Filippo Piscopo ofm was appointed parish priest of S. Maria.
On January 27, 1957, Mons. Francesco Fasola consecrates the church of S. Maria and the altar of San Giuseppe.
On 6 September 1960 the new tabernacle, the work of Gino Legnaghi of Verona, was placed on the main altar of S. Maria.
On September 16, 1961 work began for the renovation of the convent of Santa Maria.
The Parish of Santa Maria di Gesù is open to the public, it is located in via SM Cacciapensieri 69. Parking nearby.
Masses - Weekday: 18.00
Holidays: 8.30-11.30-19.00
Phone 0922 909087
Feast of Maria SS Cacciapensieri
And the feast of St. Joseph in the Santa Maria district
Mid-August period
The brotherhood
The Confraternity was founded by the bull of Paul IV in 1555 in the small church of San Giuseppe, below that of S. Maria. She was confirmed on 23 July 1746, N. Gugliuzzo was superior; in 1772 V. Gulpi, F. Munti, C. Di Caloiaro were superiors; in 1799 A. Giunta; in 1825 C. La Duca; in 1835 D. Longo. The Brotherhood wears a dark blue suit with visor and a flag of the same color with a red cross on the field. In 1867, due to cholera, the church of San Giuseppe was closed and the statue of the saint was taken to S. Maria. The Brotherhood began to gather on the convent premises. On the feast of S. Giuseppe, the archpriest, and then the parish priest of S. Vito, celebrated in S. Maria and performed acts of jurisdiction over the Confraternity. Monsignor Peruzzo with the decree of 19/04/1939 established that the Confraternity would remain under the disciplinary dependence of the Friars Minor and would have their headquarters in those same premises. The Confraternity is still active for the many confreres still enrolled in the quarters, from the quarter of wheat that was offered; today the share is paid in cash. The Confraternity finds its synthesis in the COMMITTEE which takes care of the celebrations, manages the collection of offers and gives testimony of traditions. In the thirties the feast of St. Joseph, in addition to March 19, also began to celebrate the penultimate Sunday of August, in order to encourage offers; after the pisata and the wheat harvest, one was more open to generosity. At the beginning of the 1960s the committee moved the party to August 24 to avoid, at times, the coincidence with the party in Lercara Friddi on 20 and 21. Another change in 1970: the feast of St. Joseph is brought forward to August 18 in in such a way as to involve those returning to Cammarata and San Giovanni for the summer holidays. Until 1971 the feast of San Giuseppe took place independently from that of Maria SS. Thought-killer; there were two distinct and separate Committees. In 1972 a single Committee was formed in order to optimize resources and times. From that year there will be talk of a feast dedicated to Maria SS. Cacciapensieri and San Giuseppe. In the mid-1970s the land was bought and the headquarters of the Committee was built in via Liguria, Cammarata. On 29 April 1998 the committee became a non-profit association; the Religious Cultural Association Maria SS. Cacciapensieri and San Giuseppe.
An unmissable appointment in the summer
In 1627 Maria SS. Cacciapensieri listened to the pleas of the Cammaratese and Sangiovannese people to eradicate the plague that was causing so many victims. The terrible disease stopped. The Blessed Virgin had performed the miracle and had become the Primary Patroness of Cammarata and San Giovanni Gemini. Let us ask him, today, with living faith, to shelter us from the modern plague, which is also terrible and devastating, the daughter of our phony progress. Let us never tire of praying to her… .I will never tire of repeating it! ”.
Don Nicolò Mastrella
The patriarch San Giovanni
Father Domenico De Gregorio in his book 'Cammarata news on the territory' writes that the church of San Giuseppe must be considered built at least in the second half of the 1500s .... the statue of San Giuseppe, after the cholera of 1867, because in the church they were buried with cholera, she was finally transported and honored in Santa Maria where, even before, she was brought for the feast. The author is unknown of the venerated image of St. Joseph, positioned in the fourth altar to the right of those who enter; with his right hand he holds the Child Jesus, placed on his feet, and with his left he holds a stick from which white lilies sprout to signify the chastity, purity and holiness of the spouse of the Most Holy Virgin.
The feast of the Patriarch St. Joseph, beyond March 19, was solemnly celebrated in the thirties on the penultimate Sunday of August; later it was moved to the 24th of the same month. From the early seventies to today, the Solemnity is celebrated on August 18, continuously with the feast of August 15 dedicated, from time immemorial, to Maria Santissima di Cacciapensieri. What has never changed is the moving participation in the procession of votive candles. Seeing all those faithful who bring, in addition to the offerings to the Saint, the easily legible signs of devotion, gratitude and hope, arrizzanu i carne. With torches in hand, more or less heavy, and barefoot from the Gianguarna in Cammarata and from the common pizzu in San Giovanni, a voyage begins, a sign of faith and of the enormous devotion that is cultivated in our communities for the Patriarch San Giuseppe. . Tired and hot, the participants in the procession, preceded by ancient Banners, hand-embroidered depicting St. Joseph and accompanied by the members of the committee and the musical band, arrive at the feet of the saint satisfied for having fulfilled the prummisions made by grace received. The crowded Eucharistic celebrations in the Sanctuary begin very early, the first mass at 6.30, followed by the celebrations at 10.00 and 11.30, after the arrival of the torches. But the big appointment and with the solemn celebration of 19.30 in the square next to the church; the processional statue of the Madonna di Cacciapensieri and of the Patriarch San Giuseppe are welcomed by a multitude of faithful, the priests of Cammarata and San Giovanni concelebrate the holy mass, animated by the great instrumental polyphonic choir. At the end of the celebration begins the procession of the venerated images of the Madonna and St. Joseph through the streets of the neighborhood with the sound of drums and the musical band interspersed with the recitation of the rosary. Around midnight the simulacra return to the church receiving a last farewell from the celebrating faithful who, after having witnessed the fireworks, return home happy for having once again honored the Father of Providence and Guardian of the Holy Family of Nazareth in the best possible way.