Holy Week begins in Canosa on Good Friday with the devotion of the Madonna Addolorata, Our Lady of Sorrows, covered with a long, thin black tulle. For the people of Canosa the cult of the Madonna Addolorata represents a moment of intense drama. Before beginning its processional path, the statue remains still for a few minutes, accompanied by thousands of women dressed in black with faces covered to almost conceal their identity, singing and reciting the Miserere.
After a morning of prayer, on this day we remember, with the service of the Sacred Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Christ who was crucified. On the evening of Good Friday the Procession of Mysteries begins, with ancient wooden statues: the first statue is of Jesus in the Olive Garden, the second statue is the Flagellation of Christ, the third is Jesus Carrying the Cross, the fourth Berenice, the fifth and final statue is Calvary. In the evening hours the ancient statues leave for a long procession with many lights and torches and incense burning in censers swung before the Sacred Relic of the Holy Wood of the Cross. At the end of the procession, under the grand canopy where the monstrance is displayed in a silver reliquary, the devoted worship by kissing the wood of the Cross of Christ.
An ancient procession with many children dressed as little angels with the symbols of the Passion of Christ: the crown of thorns, ropes, shields, reeds, several paintings showing the Stations of the Cross, the chalice and the dice. After the children comes the statue flanked by stakes with flowers and followed by several girls dressed in black with faces covered, screaming a strange version of the Stabat Mater of Jacopone da Todi, the hymn of the desolate, with music by Antonio Lotti. This emotional hymn evokes strong feelings, creating a great desire to cry that is appeased only by contemplating the pain of the Desolate Virgin.
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