Church of Saints Victor and Corona (Chiesa dei Santi Vittore e Corona)
- Telefono : 0141 74040
Highlights
Church built between 1716 and 1735.
It has acquired the title of parish church in 1750.
The church of Saints Victor and Corona, begun in 1716 and completed in 1735, was erected as a parish church by Monsignor Ignazio Marucchi, bishop of Acqui, by decree of September 7 of the jubilee year 1750.
The history of the new ecclesiastical district is linked to that of the ancient parish. Giuseppe Forchielli, dealing with the subject in general, asserts that "the Pieve is the church of the early Middle Ages and is the matrix baptismal church of all the other minor churches in the district...."
From the gradual process of disintegration of the pieve resulted the division of the territory into two districts, whose parish priests, provost and archpriest, operate independently.
The church was very damaged, however, the archpriest continued to exercise ministry while residing in the castle until, in 1576, archpriest Alessandro of the Marquises of Ceva moved permanently to the provostship of San Giovanni.
In that year went the two parishes merged together. To commemorate the event, a large fresco was had painted with effigies of the patron saints of both parishes St. John the Baptist, St. Victor and St. Corona.
The church building of the parish, however, had not been forgotten even though its condition were very precarious. Just in 1706, on the initiative of archpriest Gerolamo Veggi, a building, less spacious than the previous one, was erected, equipped with furnishings, vestments and suppliments. Statues of Saints Victor and Corona were arranged on either side of the altar, and the relic of the True Cross was kept in a wooden tabernacle.
By 1716, however, foundations had been laid for the new church that was to be built at the little church of the Blessed Virgin of Grace.
The inhabitants of the hamlet Ghiare rose up, wishing that the church of St. Anthony Abbot could be erected as a parish. The bishop authorized the parish priests to have a religious reside there with the authority to administer the Sacraments except that of Baptism, to officiate, with bad weather, funeral rites, and to celebrate marriages, recording, however, all acts in a single parish book.
The construction of the new church went ahead and was completed in 1735, Monsignor Marucchi, the new bishop, was persuaded that the new building was ideal for a new parish seat, but so as not to exacerbate the spirits of the Incisians he used great caution. The town had undergone considerable transformation in those last years, and that church building, moreover, stood far from the Belbo stream and at a point where roads converged from all directions.
On Sept. 7, 1750, during an official apostolic visitation, Bishop Monsignor Marucchi promulgated the decree for the establishment of the parish of SS. Vittore and Corona "in the church of the B.V. delle Grazie located on the other side of the Belbo in a place safe from any flooding so that there would be one church on this side and the other on the other side of the Belbo" and thus spiritual assistance to the faithful would be ensured even in times of flooding of the stream.
On the following September 10 the bishop, greeted by the ringing of bells and accompanied by the city's notables, returned to Acqui.
At the beginning of 1752, however, the discord had not yet subsided, and the bishop urged the parish priests to continue officiating in St. John's and to live "in good accord and holy harmony for the spiritual benefit of the souls who will remain unified by their union."
intimava
Putting an end to the controversy came a measure from the Royal Senate of Turin, which intimated to execute "the decree of Most Rev. Monsignor Marucchi concerning the separation of the two Curias in the prescribed manners, under penalty of the Indignation of Sacred Royal Majesty" and ordered that "this should be done within the upcoming Easter holidays.
The council convened on March 31 declared submission to the intimation of the Royal Senate of Turin, thus putting an end to the centuries-old dispute. On the anniversary of Easter 1752, Archpriest Carlo Antonio Raposio took possession of the parish. The 1886 earthquake deeply damaged its structures and, left in complete abandonment, it collapsed on a winter night in 1918.
Insights
Wikipedia, l'enciclopedia libera.
https://it.wikipedia.org
- Incisa Scapaccino
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incisa_Scapaccino
BeWeb - Beni Ecclesiastici in WEB
https://beweb.chiesacattolica.it/
See also...
• Incisa Scapaccino tourist guide
