Festa del Santissimo Salvatore a Pazzano

The tradition & historical record

Festa del Santissimo Salvatore a Pazzano (Calabrian: Festa dô Sarvaturi; 'Feast of the Holiest Saviour') is a three-day Catholic festival celebrated in Pazzano, Reggio Calabria, Italy, every first weekend after 5 August. It was originally the Byzantine celebration of the transfiguration of Christ, still observed today by both the Catholic and Orthodox churches on 6 August. It is divided in a civil and religious program. Starting nine days before the feast, Novena (Calabrian: novina) is celebrated, consisting of the adoration of the Saviour's statue and the recitation prayers for nine days. Novena is preceded by a litany. ¹

The current wooden statue used in the celebration was created in 1797 by Serrese sculptor Vincenzo Scrivo, discovered thanks to a restoration made in the 1980s. In 2006, another little restoration was made, and that year the feast began at the border with Stilo at Via Nazionale. Pazzano-Australian emigrants to Sydney (Australia) in Narrawena suburb celebrate Santissimo Salvatore with a similar statue of John the Apostle. ¹

The religious procession relives three periods of Jesus' life. ¹

The first is the transfiguration of Christ upon Mount Tabor, symbolized by the path from the little chapel to the Calvary going through Parrera Street, whose name is of Greek origin, meaning: "steep climb". The second is the cumprunta or cunfrunti ("confrontation") of Sunday morning, when Saint Joseph and Mary meet Jesus coming back from the temple to learn from the masters. The third it is the cumprunta of Sunday afternoon, when Jesus greets his parents and begins his predication, symbolized by a circuitous route through the streets and alleys of the town. ¹

Litany played and sung at Pazzano ¹

Below, a piece of the litany, sung in Latin and played by a band: ¹

Kyrie, eleison Christe, eleison Kyrie, eleison Christe, audi nos Christe, exaudi nos Pater de coelis, Deus, miserere nobis Fili redemptor mundi, Deus, miserere nobis Spiritus Sancte, Deus, miserere nobis Sancta Trinitas, unus Deus, miserere nobis Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis Sancta Dei genitrix, ora pro nobis Sancta Virgo virginum, ora pro nobis Mater Christi, ora pro nobis Mater Divinae Gratiae, ora pro nobis Mater purissima, ora pro nobis Mater castissima, ora pro nobis Mater inviolata, ora pro nobis Mater intemerata, ora pro nobis Mater amabilis, ora pro nobis Mater admirabilis, ora pro nobis ¹

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The documentary Festa, by Giuseppe Fiorenza, tells and describes the feast of 1992. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Festa del Santissimo Salvatore a Pazzano”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Festa del Santissimo Salvatore a Pazzano is Catholic festival, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²