Candlemas and Saint Blaise in Buttigliera Alta

On the day of Candlemas, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple which falls exactly 40 days after Christmas, the event is celebrated, between sacred and popular tradition, at the Preceptory of Sant'Antonio di Ranverso with a traveling narration that leads to the frescoed chapel in the church dedicated to San Biagio.

We start from the outside, along the ancient Via Francigena, to observe nature and learn about the ritual that includes the blessing of candles and the many proverbs on the passage from the winter darkness to the spring season.

We then continue inside the church to reach the cycle of frescoes dedicated to San Biagio painted by Giacomo Jaquerio, the greatest representative of late Gothic painting in Piedmont, whose 650th anniversary of birth occurs this year. The frescoes are located in the right nave of the church: on the side wall remain three episodes of the life of San Biagio of the five original ones. Saint Blaise is the protector of the throat who closes the time dedicated to Christmas: traditionally it is celebrated on February 3, the day after Candlemas, with the blessing, through candles, of the throats of the faithful to keep away all evil. The two frescoed scenes at the top, delimited by arches, represent on the left the Saint unharmed among wild animals, on the right the miracle of the child freed from the fishbone that was suffocating him; in the lower register the only remaining scene depicts Saint Blaise saving himself in the stormy sea while the wicked boatmen drown. On one of the two vaults of the chapel the symbols of the four evangelists are represented and inside a medallion a portrait is painted that would represent the painter himself.

INFO
Precettoria di Sant’Antonio di Ranverso
Sant’Antonio di Ranverso, Buttigliera Alta
Sunday, February 2 at 03:00 pm 
Candlemas and Saint Blaise
Required reservation: 0116200603 - ranverso@biglietteria.ordinemauriziano.it.

Related place

list map

Preceptory of Sant'Antonio di Ranverso

Town of Buttigliera Alta