STORIA DELLA CHIESA DI S.MARIA DEL CARMINE |
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La Chiesa di S.Maria del Carmine (nota con la denominazione originaria di S.Maria dell'Arco perché situata vicino l'arco di accesso alla città) è stata edificata nell'VIII-IX secolo, in un'area caratterizzata da significative presenze storiche-archeologiche (per es.il cosiddetto Tempio di Apollo). Nel 1579 il Vescovo la concesse ai frati Carmelitani. Per questo nelle varie visite ad limina effettuate nel primo ventennio del '600 la Chiesa è compresa tra quelle appartenenti agli ordini religiosi con l'aggiunta Ordinis Carmelitarum e nelle visite pastorali del secolo successivo viene ancora detta, pur essendo di pertinenza della mensa vescovile, ecclesia S.Maria e de Monte Carmelo. La presenza di un arciprete nel secolo XIII fa pensare ad una chiesa importante con notevoli funzioni nel territorio tanto che la tradizione locale, accolta dall'autore di una cronaca cittadina del XVI secolo, vi riconosce la prima cattedrale.
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| This church (whose original name was Santa Maria dell’Arco, as it was near the entrance arch of the town) was erected during the VIII – IX centuries, in an area characterised by historic-archaeological evidences (i.e the so-called Tempio di Apollo). In 1579 the Bishop gave it to the Carmelit friars, and in the episcopal surveys of the first twenty years of the XVII century the church appears among those belonging to religious orders, with the addition of ‘Ordinis Carmelitarum’. During the pastoral visits of the following century it is still mentioned as ecclesia S. Mariae de Monte Carmelo, though belonging to the episcopate. In the XIII century, the presence of an archipriest denotes the importance of the church for the whole territory; the local tradition, as recorded by the author of a town chronicle of the XVI century, identifies it with the town first cathedral. On the nave sides are two aisles, marked by arcades leaning on four columns. At the end of the nave there is a wide semicircular apse, while the aisles are barrell-vaulted and end with small apses, the right one being part of the convent walls. The marble columns, of Roman age, are fluted and surmounted by capitals of different style and technique. The church has a timber truss roof. On the front side of the altar is a marble pluteus datable to the second half of the IX century. It is a marble slab, inside a plain frame, whose surface is divided by a double grooved plait into at least ten squares. Each square contains zoomorphic figures in motion, some of them looking westward and some looking eastward, along with a man bearing a spear. The small column, presently supporting the lectern, is also datable to the same period. Inside the church are also present: a marble mortar used as a vase container, a Corinthian capital that is the base of a wooden statue of Our Lady of the Carmel and, in particular, the whitish travertine cylinder which is the lower part of the parastas, where the nave arcades end. It is a milestone, once used to mark the XXXIII mile of the via Flaminia, datable between 293 and 305 AD. By the choir, in the right aisle, there is a marble tabernacle, datable between the late XV and the early XVI century, a gift of our bishop, Mons. Divo Zadi, after the last restoration works. The word “GIFT” is the best example of our fraternal spirit: a gift that is renewed every day and through which every day becomes a thanksgiving to God. We can in this way work with Him and bring inside the folds of history the mysterious strength of prayer that touches hearts and leads them to change and renewal, so that everybody may leave more room to God in his own life. |
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