The Procession of the Misteri in Lanciano

Holy Week in Lanciano (Chieti) dates back at least to the seventeenth century. At the time, the Confraternity of Morte e Orazione (Death and Prayer, born in 1608, but that has been active since the previous century with the title of Confraternita della Buona Morte, Confraternity of the Good Death) already organized the sacred representation of the martyrdom of Christ. At the end of the eighteenth century, however, today’s procession of the Misteri took shape, which involves the procession of the instruments of the Passion: the Angel of Anguish, with chalice and lance; the instruments of the capture in the Garden of Olives; the column of the flagellation with bloody scourges; the cock; Malchus’s hand; the column with the crown of thorns; the purple cloth, Pilate’s basin; the Holy Face; the column with chlamys, nuts, cloak and nails; the message of the Cross with the lance, the sponge and scale. The procession takes place on Good Friday in the picturesque setting of the old city: in addition to the Misteri, entrusted to the children, the ceremony also involves the carving of the Dead Christ (eighteenth century) and the statues of the three Marys in mourning: Our Lady of Sorrows, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Cleophas. The bases on which the Misteri are supported along with the other processional statues (which the Sicilians call Vare and the Spanish pasos) are called talami in Lanciano and in Abruzzo. The name is famous as it is the one given to the procession that takes place in Orsogna, also in the province of Chieti, on Easter Tuesday. The sacred procession of Lanciano opens with the insignia of the Archconfraternity and the Pannarola (a triangular black flag, from the summit of which long ropes unfold which are held by children), followed by the objects of the Passion. Two long lines of brothers protect the Way of the Cross from the unknown Simon of Cyrene and precede the coffin of the Dead Christ and the statues of the three Marys. Simon of Cyrene (an especially devout brother, chosen in secret by the Prior of the archconfraternity) personifies the image of the suffering Christ with the Cross. He goes through the city streets barefoot as a sign of penance, hooded and cloaked in black sackcloth. It is a poignant ceremony that is accompanied by the sacred music of the masters Ravazzoni, Masciangelo and Bellini and embellished with some Baroque details (like lanterns illuminating the slow pace of Simon of Cyrene).

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