The history of the Sacro Monte dei Morti

It is likely that the confraternity from Chieti was already active in the late sixteenth century, fulfilling canonical devotional and charitable duties, prayer and charity which, at that time, were conducted by congregations. The Confraternity del Suffragio (of the Suffrage) or the Monte dei Morti (Mount of the Dead) assumed the name of Confraternity of the Sacro Monte dei Morti (Sacred Mount of the Dead) at the end of the eighteenth century. In this same period, its members were divided into fratelli vocali (nobles who could vote and elect the Governor) and the rest of the members, fratelli e sorelle di devozione (who joined for the salvation of their souls). On the occasion of the Jubilee of the Holy Year of 1650, the brothers of the Monte dei Morti of Chieti (hooded and dressed in sackcloth) brought in procession “a life-size wooden figuration of Death”, a “new banner in black damask” and the bier of the Dead Christ. In the thirties of the nineteenth century, the procession was enriched with the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows.