|
(by
Anita Rosso)
St Bartholomew
Chapel
Before Rosignano constituted itself
as a free municipality (around the 1250 a.c.) it existed,
where the Castle of the Colma is currently situated, a Benedictine
Abbey whose church was in praise of Saint Bartholomew. The
Monasterium Sancti Bartolomei de Cellis was the original
name. Further on, the Abbey received the so called benefit
(the Saint Pancrazio's Benefit), which foresaw the building
up a commendams of 120 modius of land. Since the XVI c the
friars started leaving the place, so that during the '700
only ecclesiastics coming from the gentry families could
exploit the lands.
the
Chapel and the Castle of St Bartholomew
From 1713 to 1735 the benefit was a prerogative of the Earl
Guidobono Giuliano from Rome, who was votary to Saint Francis
from Paola, who gave instructions to realise the still existing
painting representing Saint Francis, Saint Bartholomew and
Saint Pancrazio; from researches carried out by some local
scholars, it results that the painting was realised in 1715
and the author is Girolamo Tasistro, who realised it in
Novi.
In 1801, with the coming into force of the French laws,
the benefit was expropriated with the exception of “nominatim
oratorio seu sacello” whose Oratory on that time “was
assigned to Mr. Medico Cantamessa resident in this area
and it will be re-built and almost brought to an end”
(Cappellaro C., 1984, Rosignano Monferrato delle cose sulla
storia, Alessandria, Edizioni dell’Orso): “now”
was 1834. The doctor Giacomo Cantamessa, whose mortal remains
rest in the Saint Bartholomew Chapel, according to his latest
Will, dated September 15th, 1843, made the over mentioned
chapel a secular chaplaincy and therefore a private property,
under the title of Saint Bartholomew: “with the perpetual
obligation to celebrate a mass during all the Sunday rests
and holiday periods an hour later the sunrise. Besides,
during the same periods it is made compulsory a catechism
lesson for the children who concur in the saying of the
prayers in praise of the soul of the Doctor Cantamessa and
his relatives”.
register of
the
land's
owners
in the colma village
beginning
1800
Further to the issuing of the law dated August 5th 1867,
all these benefits concerning the chaplaincy were suppressed
and the barrister Luigi Cantamessa, not only released the
plot of land (situated in the Cornacchia region, made up
by 199 are) established by the founder as a chaplaincy endowment,
but he also suspended the celebration of the mass. On February
20th, 1889, some inhabitants of the Colma in particular:
the priest Don Giovanni Bonelli (Rosignano parish priest),
Mr. Ernesto Cantamessa (Luigi’s brother), Mrs. Caterina
Martinotti (Caprioglio’s widow) and Mr. Gabriele Caprioglio
(Pietro’s son) protested against this decision. In
a subsequent verdict, issued by the Casale Monferrato’s
tribunal, the barrister Luigi Cantamessa was condemned and
obliged to fulfil all the testamentary wills of the Doctor
Giacomo.
cadastral
map of
St. Bartholomew, beginning 1800
CLICK HERE to
download the document "Convenzione".
“In any case, we cannot forget that in order to secure
the Sunday’s mass, despite of the rich benefit deriving
from the endowment assigned to the church, the inhabitants
of the Colma in the past centuries had to support it throughout
rich donations consisting in collecting “crop, wine,
wood” for the parish priest. Yet, in order to buy
the wax the inhabitants made the so called “bread
collect” (Cappellaro C., 1984, Rosignano Monferrato
delle cose sulla storia, Alessandria, Edizioni dell’Orso).
Still today, centuries later, the inhabitants of the Colma
keep on managing independently the chaplaincy and they assure
the activities of the little chapel with offerings. The
determination and the devotion keeps on being the same as
their forefathers.
protodoctor Giacomo Cantamessa's
gravestone
|
