The Battenti of Guardia Sanframondi: Faith in Their Hands

In Guardia Sanframondi, in the heart of Sannio, faith is made flesh and manifests through a universal and poignant language: that of the hands. Every seven years, an entire community gathers for the Seven-Year Rites of Penitence, a centuries-old heritage that goes beyond mere tradition. This reportage doesn't focus on dates or events, but on the profound meaning of every single gesture. It's a journey that explores how devotion, penance, and community bonds take shape in a touch, a grasp, an act of offering.

Hands, Blood, and Silence: Faith Made into Gesture

The hands are the true thread of this story, the means by which the Battenti communicate their profound state of mind, remaining veiled and unknown to the crowd. The figure of the Battente is not just that of a penitent, but of a faithful individual who has chosen to offer their body as an instrument of atonement. The Rites are a spiritual journey, a solemn vow made to the Madonna Assunta to ask for a grace. Every strike, every act of penitence, is an expression of prayer, a way to unite one's own pain with that of Christ. It's not an act of self-harm, but an offering made with the soul and the body, in a mystical union that transcends pure physicality. Pain in this context is purification, a means to reach a higher and more profound spiritual dimension.

The Silent Story of Sacrifice

In the photographs, you will see hands that carry the weight of penance, gripping the instruments of sacrifice: the crown of thorns, rosaries, crucifixes. These are hands that are stained with blood, grasping the sponge of pins to inflict the wound, while others offer wine to disinfect, in a ritual that is at once pain and healing..

You will see reflective and penitent hands, moving with precise intent, sometimes alone in the space among the hooded crowd, other times beating their chests in unison in an act of collective sacrifice. You will see the strength in the hands that support the statue of the Virgin, and the humility in those that join together in silent prayer. Each gesture tells a story of deep devotion, an intimate and unbreakable pact between the faithful and their protecting Virgin.

These are calloused hands, the hands of simple people, the hands of sons and fathers, who pass this rite down from generation to generation. It is they, with their gestures, who tell the story of a faith that lives and is renewed, that attracts pilgrims and draws emigrants back home, uniting the entire community in a single, powerful collective prayer.

In an era of frenzy and distraction, these hands remind us that faith is a tangible act, a story that is passed down, a gesture of love that can be transmitted from one hand to another, from generation to generation. This is the true legacy of the Seven-Year Rites of Guardia Sanframondi.

Giampiero D’Antonio

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Habemus Papam, Leo XIV

The white smoke rises above Rome, a roar of joy erupts from St. Peter's Square, the epicenter of an uncontainable emotion. Not mere faithful, but a human wave from every corner of the globe, united in a collective embrace, witnessing and experiencing a historical event. In their eyes, wonder merges with devotion, as their voices join in a chorus of prayers and hopes, invoking that precious gift that the whole world yearns for: Peace.

The choice of the name "Leone" resonates as a powerful echo of the past, evoking figures of Popes who guided the Church with strength and wisdom in tumultuous times. A weighty and glorious spiritual heritage that now rests on the shoulders of Peter's successor, called to take up the mantle in an era of epochal challenges, where the need for harmony and brotherhood becomes ever more urgent.

The incredible rapidity of the election, which took place on the second day of the conclave, amplifies the sense of the extraordinary moment. Almost a divine sign, an intervention that instills courage and confidence in a world marked by divisions and uncertainties. As the new Pontiff appears on the balcony, blessing the festive crowd, the palpable sensation of a new beginning fills the air, of a journey of hope that opens up for all humanity, a journey illuminated by the promise of Peace.

Religion and tradition: St Dominic Festival

The festival of the serpents takes place in Cocullo, a little village in the hearth of Abruzzo, on 1 May. The festival is held in honour of Saint Dominic abbot who is particularly revered in Cocullo, but also to Villalago , why is the patron saint of both villages in Abruzzo, Italy.. Every year in May is celebrated in Cocullo an ancient rite, today transformed into a festival sacred - profane . It all starts with the hunt for snakes at the end of March outside the village. According to local tradition, the saint taking off the tooth and donating it to the people of Cocullo, it did result in a faith that came to supplant the pagan worship of the goddess Angizia , protector of the poisons, including that of snakes. In fact Cocullo preserves two relics of the saint: a molar and an iron of his mule The festival begins with the crowd begins to pull teeth with the bell of the chapel of St. Dominic, in the church of the same name. According to tradition, this ceremony would serve to protect your teeth from diseases that may afflict them. At noon, the procession of the statue of the saint, invaded by snakes captured days before, starts from the church of St Dominic and continues through the narrow streets of the historic center. At the sides of the statue of the saint, two girls dressed in traditional clothes, carry on their heads a basket containing five loaves called chamberlains in the sacred memory of a miracle which St. Dominic. These breads are donated, to ancient law, to the holders of the Sacred Image and of the banner. At the end of the festival, the reptiles are returned to their natural habitat. Cocullo, Abruzzo, Italy 1 May