News and Events ~ August 2009

 

News from the Society:

 

 

Last month we mentioned the new DVD with scenes of Craco going back to 1929.  During early July additional footage surfaced in the US and Italy which was made available to the Society to be included in our new DVD entitled: Craco: Visits through Time.  Once this new material is received it will be added to the existing film.  While developing this new production the Society received overwhelming support from Sally & Jeffrey Becom with their contributions of additional material from For the Colors, A Journey Through Italy and creative input.  Their interest and support in this project is greatly appreciated, and will make the final version a worthwhile project that contributes to the documentation of Craco as it appeared before the frana.

 

 

 

 

The Italian language history of the town, Note Storiche Sul Comune di Craco, has been completely translated into English and composed into a draft manuscript.  Currently, it is progressing through a series of edits to prepare it for publication.  Plans call for this to be made available shortly, as well as the new DVD, and a written history of San Vincenzo and the connection to the Crachesi in Italy and America.

 

 

 

 

 

The town of Craco has been extremely helpful in supporting requests for vital records research from Society members.  They recently informed us of changes in fees for the research services that were approved on July 9th. The new fees and a form to request records from the town can be found on the Society Genealogy webpage.

 

 

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The Madonna and San Rocco

The Madonna di Pierno in San Fele.

In Craco during August, after the feast of the Madonna della Stella is celebrated many Crachesi travel to Pisticci to join in that town’s celebration of San Rocco.  There is a connection between these celebrations that goes back centuries in Italy.
Thomas Frascella, president of the San Felese Society of New Jersey researched the history of the relationship between the celebrations and posted an extensive story on the San Felese Society website.
San Fele is a town in the province of Potenza, about 90 miles north of Craco.  The Madonna di Pierno that is venerated in San Fele during August (shown above) bears a great likeness to Craco’s Madonna della Stella.  The story behind both Madonna's discovery is very similar and their connection is understandable, as Frascella points out that, “During the fourteenth and subsequent centuries San Fele like the rest of the adjacent region was exposed to repeated outbreaks of plague, .... this was a natural consequence of the region’s geographic location along the trade route of the ancient Appian Way.  During this period, Marian devotion as well as devotion to St. Rocco, a figure associated with miraculous recoveries from the plague became quite common in the region.  Essentially, every town and village in the region has a church and/or statue of St. Rocco and a Marian statue which is posed in a maternal rendering similar to the Di Pierno statue but minus its Byzantine aspects.  Statues of Mary in this pose generally are referred to by the title Our Lady of Good Succor or Our Lady of Perpetual Care reflecting the image’s historic connection as protector from disease.”
With immigration to America, Frascella goes on to say, “Many of those who arrived at the port of New York settled, at least for a time, in the lower east side in what was considered the Five Points area.  The area consisted of crowded largely substandard housing and poor sanitation even for the norms of its day.  As a result there were unusual levels of disease.  As an example, during this period the child mortality rate among the Italian population in the Five Points area was about fifty per cent, twice the rate of the rest of the city.  With the above as background it is not surprising that the oldest Italian American religious “street” festival is the St Rocco festival of Little Italy which began in the late 1880’s and continues to be celebrated to this day.”
On August 16 the 120th Feast of San Rocco will be celebrated in Lower Manhattan while the San Felese Society will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Pierno in New Jersey. In Craco, the Madonna della Stella feast will occur on August 9th and serve to welcome many of the Crachesi who will be visiting.