Amalfi, Sigismondo Nastri: “The race of Sant’Andrea”

Amalfi, Sigismondo Nastri: “The race of Sant’Andrea”. Here are the words of the Amalfi journalist Sigismondo Nastri:

Amalfi, the journalist Sigismondo Nastri and the “ritual” of tagliolini with milk on the feast of the Ascension

I know that my position is unpopular and that, by reiterating it, I make enemies. But I’m used to always saying, without reservations, what I think. I am referring to the opposition, expressed several times, to the running of the statue of the apostle through the long staircase of the cathedral, because year after year it has been transformed into a circus spectacle. Or stadium, if you prefer. I have had some reproaches for this, but I repeat it here.

I am against the applause that accompanies it; even more to those in church, under any circumstances. And the use of churches for reasons that are not of worship.

I say more: I believe that the processions are now timeless rites. Especially if, and when, they are seen as a tourist attraction. This is what happens on the Amalfi Coast. And not only on the Amalfi Coast.

I would also like to do a survey: how many people, entering a church, pay attention to the tabernacle with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and how many, on the other hand, stop to touch statues and figures of saints and madonnas. A cult of images has been nurtured which has little to do with faith. It seems to me a new form of paganism.

We are losing the sense of our being Christians, which is all contained in the death and resurrection of Jesus, in the Eucharist, “pledge of immortality, sacrament of communion with Christ”.

Religious authorities should be aware of this.