Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio

Festivals and dates

• Celestinian Forgiveness: opening of the Holy Door: 28-29 August (from vespers on the 28th to vespers on the 29th) (Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio a L'Aquila - Italia.it · Perdonanza, il cardinal Petrocchi: L'Aquila 'capitale del perdono' - Vatican News · Prolungata per un anno la Perdonanza celestiniana - Vatican News)
• Forgiveness Walk and Fire of Morrone: 16-23 August (Celestinian forgiveness celebration - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage · Celestian forgiveness celebration - Unesco Beni Culturali (Ministero della Cultura))
• Summer

A church born of a dream

According to an old hagiographic text, the hermit Pietro Angelerio da Morrone, sleeping outside the walls of L'Aquila, saw a ladder rising from the altar of Collemaggio up to heaven and, at its top, the Virgin asking him to build a church there in her honour. The hill already held an ancient settlement and a small church dedicated to the Assumption. The basilica was consecrated on 15 August 1288 as Santa Maria Assunta di Collemaggio.

On 29 August 1294, while building work was still under way, Pietro was crowned pope as Celestine V before an enormous crowd. His pontificate lasted a few months and ended with his resignation on 13 December 1294; he died on 19 May 1296 in the fortress of Fumone, and in 1327 his remains were moved from Ferentino to Collemaggio.

The basilica has been destroyed and rebuilt several times, because of earthquakes and to hold the growing flow of pilgrims. The earthquake of 6 April 2009 brought down the transept; after a long restoration the church was returned to the people of L'Aquila at the end of 2017, and the work received the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage in 2020.

Sources: Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio a L'Aquila - Italia.it · Collemaggio, il sogno di Celestino e il perdono per tutti - Vatican News

Celestine V and forgiveness

With the Bull of Forgiveness, Celestine V granted the remission of sins to all who, sincerely repentant and confessed, come to Collemaggio from vespers on 28 August to vespers the following day, the feast of the beheading of St John the Baptist, a relic of whom the basilica once kept. The indulgence was free of charge, an extraordinary fact at the time, and many regard it as the first jubilee in Christian history, earlier than that of 1300. In 1967 Paul VI placed this indulgence first on the official list.

Pope Francis, the first pontiff to open the Holy Door of Collemaggio, recalled on 28 August 2022 that Celestine V was not 'the man of no' but 'the man of yes', a witness of humility and mercy, and asked that L'Aquila be a 'capital of forgiveness, peace and reconciliation'. For pilgrims the heart of the visit remains passing through the Holy Door and pausing to pray before the saint's remains.

Sources: Perdonanza, il cardinal Petrocchi: L'Aquila 'capitale del perdono' - Vatican News · Collemaggio, il sogno di Celestino e il perdono per tutti - Vatican News · Prolungata per un anno la Perdonanza celestiniana - Vatican News · Papa Francesco, Visita Pastorale a L'Aquila: Santa Messa (28 agosto 2022)

Façade, Holy Door and mausoleum

The basilica stands just outside the historic centre, in front of a wide lawn. The two-coloured façade, in pink and white stone, has three portals and three rose windows, the central one the most elaborate; at the right corner stands part of the great tower from which Celestine's relics were once displayed and the start of the Perdonanza announced. The floor too is in pink and white stone, with lozenges, crosses, flowers and concentric circles.

The three-aisled interior, with octagonal pillars and pointed arches, blends Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque elements. On the left side opens the Holy Door, topped by a frescoed lunette with the Madonna and Child between Celestine and John the Baptist and by a carved eagle recalling the city's role in the Perdonanza.

To the right of the high altar is the mausoleum of Celestine V, a Renaissance masterpiece by Girolamo da Vicenza (1517), paid for by the wool-workers' guild. Also worth seeing are the cycle of canvases by Carl Borromäus Ruthart on the saint's hermit life and the gilded Baroque organ to the left of the altar.

Sources: Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio a L'Aquila - Italia.it · Collemaggio, il sogno di Celestino e il perdono per tutti - Vatican News · Prolungata per un anno la Perdonanza celestiniana - Vatican News

The Celestinian Forgiveness

The Perdonanza has been handed down without interruption since 1294 in the city and province of L'Aquila. The ritual opens on 16 August at the hermitage of Sant'Onofrio, at the foot of Mount Morrone near Sulmona, with the lighting of the Fire of Morrone and its descent in a torchlight procession. The Forgiveness Walk, more than 80 kilometres long, passes through twenty-three villages, where tripods are lit and the mayors sign a parchment recalling the values of the Bull; on 23 August the last tripod is lit in L'Aquila.

The climax is the Historical Parade of the Bull, with about a thousand citizens in costume, drums, clarions and flag-wavers, led by the Lady of the Bull, the Young Lord and the Lady of the Cross, symbols of hospitality, solidarity and peace. The original parchment, kept in the armoured chapel of the Town Hall tower, is carried from the centre to Collemaggio.

On the evening of 28 August, after the Bull has arrived in procession, the Holy Door is opened: until vespers on the 29th, those who pass through it, having confessed and received communion, can obtain the plenary indulgence.

Sources: Celestinian forgiveness celebration - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage · Celestian forgiveness celebration - Unesco Beni Culturali (Ministero della Cultura) · Perdonanza, il cardinal Petrocchi: L'Aquila 'capitale del perdono' - Vatican News

Visiting the basilica

Collemaggio lies just outside L'Aquila's historic centre, along the route the Parade of the Bull follows every year from the Town Hall square to the basilica. Since the restoration the building has been permanently monitored to preserve its heritage.

Outside the days of the Perdonanza the basilica remains a place of reconciliation: Pope Francis asked that it be a 'temple of forgiveness' not just once a year but every day. Devout visitors can stop to pray before the mausoleum of Celestine V.

Sources: Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio a L'Aquila - Italia.it · Celestian forgiveness celebration - Unesco Beni Culturali (Ministero della Cultura) · Collemaggio, il sogno di Celestino e il perdono per tutti - Vatican News · Papa Francesco, Visita Pastorale a L'Aquila: Santa Messa (28 agosto 2022)

Walks that reach it

The place

L’Aquila

A capital between the Gran Sasso and the Monti della Laga, with the UNESCO-listed Celestinian Forgiveness and reconstruction still under way.

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Photo: Syrio / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.