After two years of interruption, due to the reasons we all know, the confreres walk again the streets of Enna, wearing the ancient procession garments that date back to the time when Sicily was a Spanish colony.
One of the most ancient confraternities is that of Maria SS. Del Rosario. It was founded in 1542 under Spanish rule. Only they who belonged to the noble class were admitted to the confraternity. Their task was to assist those condemned to the stake and bury them. At the time, heretics and homosexuals were burned at the stake in large numbers.
In Enna, death sentences were enforced in the largest square, which is called Municipality Square. Near the scaffold was the small Church of the Lady of Sorrows, where the convict received the confession of sins and Holy Communion before filing towards the stake. Recent excavations in the Church of the Lady of Sorrows brought to light a crypt where those condemned to death spent the last hours of their lives.
These days, the confraternities have lost their original meaning. Do the confreres perform a folkloristic show or truly feel the religious meaning of Holy Week?
Ettore Grillo, author of these books:
– November 2: The Day of the Dead in Sicily
– A Hidden Sicilian History (English version)
– Una Storia Siciliana Nascosta (versione in lingua italiana)
– The Vibrations of Words
– Travels of the Mind
Ettore Grillo's Blog 