Post written by Roberto, a United Planet Team member.

Today I would like to share with you all, a story about my native town in Italy. Every year, two weeks before Easter, all locals and villagers from the surrounding valleys, come to San Giovanni Bianco (Bergamo), a small town in the mountains about one hour from Milan, to celebrate the Holy Thorn. This small village is privileged to possess a thorn from the crown of Jesus Christ.

Along with the religious event, there is also a town festival, where pagan rituals take place to announce the coming spring. The night before Easter, the streets are lined with small red lights because each house in the village places special red candles on the front stoop. During the evening, fireworks light up the valley, drawing thousands of people to this lively, traditional celebration. Following the ancient Good Friday tradition, a miracle occurs. The Holy Thorn “bleeds” as stains on the thorn become a vibrant red.

Picture taken by Mr Bee, Flickr

The Holy Thorn was stolen from the church in 1598. Soon the Holy Thorn was returned, but the miracle of the bleeding red stains did not take place again for the following three centuries. Nonetheless, people kept on visiting the village of San Giovanni Bianco, praying for the holy relic and hoping to see the miracle. Suddenly the 27th of March 1932, the holy thorn began once more to “bleed”. The same day, at about 4 p.m., when about sixty people were attending a ceremony, the Holy Thorn was taken out of the bell jar and placed on a table in the sacristy. The commission carefully checked and filled out a document which said that the Holy Thorn did not show any divine intervention or change to its normal state.

During the days and night that follow the event, the community did not stop to pray and adore the Holy Thorn, till Easter, when the parish priest saw a strange red spot resembling blood on the thorn that was clearly visible to the naked eye. Since then, the story of the Holy Thorn miracle has attracted increasing numbers of people from the surrounding villages. When the Holy Thorn bleeds, the church bells ring loudly and the news goes all over the country, where about 15.000 people come to see the miracle every day for two weeks. The community of San Giovanni Bianco provides special buses and train routes. Some pious Catholics also do penance by walking there. Even John XXIII came to celebrate the miracle during the years that followed the event from 1958 till 1963.

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Tags: Bergamo, Easter, Holy Thorn, Italy, Milan, religious event, San Giovanni Bianco, town festival

This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Europe, Festival, Foreign Culture, local culture, Local festival, travel, Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

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