Immagine di prova

Church of SS. Rosary

Address: Piazza IV Novembre, 64023 Mosciano Sant'Angelo

In November 1985, the explosion of a gas fire severely damaged the apse, the floor, the windows and the drum of the dome. Thanks to the great zeal of Don Giuseppe Picchini, ​​the church was renovated and restored in a short time and given back to the people of Mosciano S.Angelo with the splendor of the past. The local artist Barlafante Dante, who in his youth had been a student of Patella and had helped the teacher to paint the church of the Rosary, repainted, with admirable dexterity, all restored triptych above the apse and the other paintings, which had been damaged by the explosion.

The congregation of SS.Rosario, the oldest of our country, dates back to the early seventeenth century. It had an altar by the Mother Church, but it didn’t have its own church. Around 1850, for a place of honor in the procession, there was a dispute between the brothers of the Addolorata and those of the Rosary, which were accused by "opponents" of not possessing  their own church. After twenty-six years, in 1852, the brothers of the Rosary obtained, with a law by Ferdinand II, the chance to build the long-awaited church. The architect Joseph Lupi from Teramo created a project similar to the Pantheon in Rome. In 1853 the first stone was inaugurated by Father Bernardino of Friars Minor, in the presence of the Bishop Milelli. On the first Sunday in 1876, with memorable celebrations, the beautiful church of SS. Rosario was inaugurated.

The church, circular in form and entirely made of bricks, stands in the place of what was called "Largo of the Cross." During the excavation, a beautiful silver cross was found: it was finely chiseled and attributed to Benvenuto Cellini. The congregation of SS. Rosario, in order to meet the expenses, sold this cross for 400 ducats to an antique dealer who happened to be in the town of Mosciano. Later, the cross would go to enrich the museum in Petrograd (2).

In 1908, with a project of engineer De Panicis from Mosciano S.Angelo, the dome was rebuilt and in 1958, thanks to Don Nicola Di Matteo, was built the entablature on the portal of the main entrance, where was also put a statue of Our Lady of SS.Rosario. In 1958 the painter Francesco Patella painted the apse with a triptych above: in the center we can see the Virgin of the Rosary with the Child Jesus on her lap and a crown of angels, St. Catherine of Siena and the nuns of her order on the right, the figure of St. Dominic and his disciples on the left. At the center of the triptych below there is the Lamb of God, on the right Pope Pius XII and on the left the Archangel Gabriel.

In the four niches of the  circular walls the painter Patella painted the four Evangelists, while in the lunettes, formed by the columns that adorn the altar, he painted two large frescoes of angels announcing the spread of the rosary.

Compared to the original plan, which included the arcade before the three doors, the church was not completed.

The historical and artistic information are taken from the following books, for which we thank the authors:

  • Tonino Di Matteo: Mosciano Sant'Angelo Immagini e ricordi
  • Eco srl: Isola del Gran Sasso d'Italia 1991
  • Giulio Di Francesco: I Francescani a Mosciano Sant'Angelo, Comunità dei S.S. Sette Fratelli, Mosciano 1993
  • Duillio Shu-Wladimiro Lilla: La Torre Acquaviva di Mosciano Sant'Angelo
  • Giuseppe Battistini: Il Monastero Convento Santi Sette Fratelli di Mosciano Sant'Angelo, Colledara 1997

(1) - PIETRO TOSCANI, Brevi cenni intorno alla fondazione della chiesa del SS. Rosario, Mosciano S.A., 1906.

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