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Celebrations
for S. Martin |
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There are many feasts dedicated to San
Martino di Tour, patron of the town, during the year.The most
ancient one is the 11th of November, San Martino day. This saint
died in Candes the 9th November ,397.
In the VII centutry, the duke Giambattista Caracciolo instituted
an eight-days fair, but now it only lasts one day. |
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Another very important feast of San Martino
takes place in the summer, during the first weekend of July. The
historic origin of this feast dates back to the beginning of the
XVIII cent., when a Cappuccine friar brought a relic of the
saint from Rome to Martina. It was the 4th of July 1712 and
there was a procession with the main representatives of the
clergy, of Univerity and of devotees. They took the relic from
the Assunta Church, that is also a Cappucine convent, in Valle
d’Itria, to San Martino Church. Now the relic is into a shrine
commissioned in the same year by duke Caracciolo to the
napolitan goldsmith Antonio Attingendo.
The shrine is among the treasures of the Basilica, on the right
of the main altar. In 1754 they decided that the 4th of July
would have become a solemn festivity, so it got a municipal
meaning, besides the religious one. After some centuries they
still keep alive the tradition of the authorities of offering
candles to San Martino di Tour and Santa Comasia, that are the
patrons of the town. |
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