Franciscans in Sicily

PROVINCE OF  STS. JOACHIM AND ANNA, SICILY

San Cologero - Basilica Santiario

In Sicily, in a process very similar to that which took place in the rest of Italy, the Third Order Regular developed from the widespread penitential movement which constituted one of the characteristic and fortunate phenomena of the 1200s and 1300s.

That Pope Innocent IV on June 13, 1246 could already direct his Bull Vota devotorum to the "Ministers and Brothers of the Order of Penance established in Italy and in the Kingdom of Sicily" is an indication that here, although the number is unknown, there were those who lived in solitary places or close to a hospital in order to serve their sick and needy brethren in charity and humility.

Blessed William of Scicli (1309-1404) and St. Corrado Confalonieri of Piacenza (1290-1351) who, recalling the fame of Bl. William, also settled at Noto are only the most notable examples in 1300s of the widespread penitential franciscan movement.

In the 15th century, the fraternities dedicated to hospital service or the eremitical life are historically more clearly outlined. From these many fraternities scattered throughout the island, a few responded to the invitation of Fra Bartolomeo Bonamati (sic) of Perugia, who in virtue of the Bull Pastoralis Officii of Nicholas V of July 20, 1447 (which united and placed under a single Supreme Moderator all the Tertiaries of Italy) was elected Visitator General of the Third Order Regular in the first General Chapter held at Montefalco, Umbria on July 25, 1448.

The Tertiaries of Sicily were incorporated into the Order at the same time as the others were: this is confirmed by Fr. Bordoni who wrote that the Province of Sicily "was always united and subject to the Minister General of Italy."

However, this union remained for many years a pure formality due to the distance and the enormous difficulties of travel, so much so that even in 1530 one of the most important communities, that of Scicli (Ragusa) could complain that up to that time it had never been visitated by its own Major Superiors.

It is in the first part of the 1500s that historians find mention of a "Provincial." Thus Rocco Pirro (Sicilia Sacra) referring to the convent at Agrigento writes that this "was founded in 1523 by the Provincial. P. Girolamo Rizzo from Trapani."

The oldest convent and also the first of which we have information after the unification of the Order is that of S. Maria della Croce in Scicli. In the same period we must note that another convent, also called S. Maria della Croce located in the nearby town of Ispica (ancient Spaccaforna) passed to the Friars Minor who settled there in 1522.

Around the first part of the 1500s the Convent of S. Maria di Gesu in Salemi (Trapani) was certainly founded. Salemi was the home of Fr. Giovanni Antonio Brandi (1555-1608), a religious of holy life, poet, historian and Definitor General. It was also the home of Fr. Santoro Pecorella (15541641) Vicar General in 1614 upon the death of P. Giovanni Battista Provenzano and Founder of the College of S. Paolo alla Regola in Rome for his countrymen from Sicily.

However, it was with the coming to Trapani of Fr. Giacomo da Gubbio that our Sicilian Province, till then little developed, had a radical transformation and a real rebirth. Having come there for a ministry of preaching, he did it with such efficacy that a notable spiritual transformation among all levels of society was evident. Fr. Giacomo directed those deeply influenced by his preaching and desiring to dedicate themselves completely to God in some Religious Institute,to the Third Order Regular. He himself, giving an example, embraced it with great austerity of life, putting aside his Capuchin habit and using that of the Third Order which did not have a convent in Trapani at that time. For his disciples he set up a suitable retreat on the steep cliffs of Mount Ericino.

In 1546, the friars moved to a higher and healthier location upon the heights of Vallechiara or Martogna,- where they erected a large convent with many cells. This was a marvelous site, along the slope only three kms. from the city. Today it is not possible to revisit this primitive convent, now converted into a hayloft and woodpile and falling apart, with some of the images of the saints still visible above the doors of the cells, without feeling a tug of the heartstrings and sense of deep nostalgia.

After 33 years of a penitential life and fruitful apostolate, the Servant of God Fr. Giacomo da Gubbio, was commanded by Pope Pius V, to put aside the TOR habit for the Capuchin one and rejoin his confreres in Rome. This peremptory command must have been a consequence of the Bull Ea est officii of July 3, 1568 by the same pope in which the offices of the general and provincial ministers were suppressed and the Third Order Regular was placed under the Generals and Provincials of the Friars Minor of the Observance.

This grave measure, which lasted for a good 18 years, was the cause of a distressing disintegration with the loss of some excellent members and with an inevitable lessening of regular observance. And if in Sicily we can't complain that things weren't worse that was due to the careful and farseeing work of Fr. Giacomo. He travelled repeatedly to Rome and to Milan to have his foundation placed under the immediate protection first of Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi and afterwards of St. Charles Borromeo.

In 1572, Cardinal Julio Feltre della Rovere succeeded Borromeo as the Cardinal Protector of the Order and it was to him that the Friars forced to flee Trapani sought aid and protection. The Cardinal directed them to return home and to gather at Martogna, the cradle and home of the Sicilian TOR, and to celebrate their Provincial Chapter. This event took place in 1578 without the presidency of any Major Superior of the Friars Minor, and not even of the TOR which was still under the prohibition decreed by Pius V. At the Chapter Fr. Girolamo Rizzo was elected Provincial.

The followers of Fr. Giacomo had received from their venerated master such a desire for perfection and such an impulse of franciscan spirituality to awake a real flourishing of vocations to religious life so that in a few decades the number of convents went from four to thirty, of which three of the most important were at Palermo alone. However, to this golden and splendid period succeeded in the 18th century a long period of stagnation and decline.

It was due to this weakening of past fervor reported to him by the Cardinal Protector that the Minister General, Fr. Guidotti, had come to Sicily to preside at the Chapter convoked at Palermo for the 5th of April, 1690. This painful situation can be traced with fearful crescendo throughout the 18th century, worsened by the unlawful interference of the State in the community life of the Province. These vexations culminated in the Royal Decree of September 3, 1788 which forbade all dependence of Sicilian religious on any external authority, especially on their own Superiors in Rome. It was therefore impossible even to visit the houses of the Order throughout the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

That the Third Order Regular did not disappear during all this was due to the decisive efforts of some friars, among whom is the Servant of God, Fr. Stanislaus Restivo da Corleone. To him and the other generous friars, strongly attached to the Order and faithful to their religious profession is due the fact that the Province of Sicily has been able to give signs of recovery and ever stronger consolidation through this century.

  Ministers General - Province of Sicily.

1601 - Fr. Giovan Battista Provenzano da Trapani
1604 - Fr. Giovan Battista Provenzano
1613 - Fr. Giovan Battista Provenzano
1614 - Fr. Santoro Pecorella da Salemi (V. General)
1713 - Fr. Paolo Lombardini da Trapani
1731 - Fr. Paolo Bellomo da Favara (Agrigento)
1749 - Fr. Giovanni Sinacori da S. Ninfa (Trapani)
1773 - Fr. Antonio Maniscalchi da Burgio
1779 - Fr. Antonio Maniscalchi da Burgio
1814 - Fr. Giuseppe Torreggiani da Calatafimi
1824 - Fr. Domenico Arcuri da Burgio
1837 - Fr. Gabriele Conticelli da Nicosia
1843 - Fr. Gabriele Conticelli da Nicosia
1855 - Fr. Agostino Sanfilippo da Sciacca
1868 - Fr. Francesco Salemi da Corleone
1932 - Fr. Bonaventura Macchiarola da Gambatesa
1936 - Fr. Giovanni Parisi da Pace del Mela
1942 - Fr. Giovanni Parisi da Pace del Mela

The Mission of the Sicilian Province in Brasil.

The location of the mission of the Province was in the City of San Paolo of Brazil, in the convent of Our Lady of Perpetual Help which the Superior, Fr. Rosario Pirrello had his residence.

The house was founded in 1947 on land donated by the Societa Immobiliare "Villa Mascote" and located in the suburbs in the southern part of the city, a neighborhood called "Jardin Prudencia. " On the recommendation of Fr. Rosario, the Order was recognized as a Legal Charitable Association. The act was published in the official gazette of September 25, 1948. On the property Fr. Rosario built a salon (18m.x 12) which served as the church with its sacristy and parish office. Another long building (22m. x 4) served as the residence for the Pastor and future religious. There were 5 small rooms (4mx3.50) plus 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a large room for meetings, a "barracamento" for a sewing and cooking school, and a small garage and storage closet.

The Church was erected as a Parish on September 15, 1951. It was a huge parish in a zone of urban development. It numbered about 30.000 people belonging to the middle class. There were also black families generally poor. In the parish limits could be found some very wealthy families living in a luxury apartments. The difference in the social classes was very evident. On Sundays, Fr. Rosario had as his helpers a group of Sisters and some dedicated laypeople especially for teaching catechism.

Over the years, the Province of Sicily was solicitous to send some friars to help Fr. Rosario. There were some 4 friars in all but for one reason or another none stayed and all returned home.

After a period od sickness, Fr. Rosario Pirrello returned to the House of Our Father on November 15, 1982. The parish was returned to the care of the Archdiocese of San Paolo and this chapter in the Province's history was closed.

Fr. Giuseppe Tutino, TOR
Provincial Secretary
transl:sjc/1991

For further information:
Convento "Ecce Homo"
98040 Calvaruso ME, Italy