Misteri di Santa Cristina
The feast of Santa Cristina, which takes place in Bolsena on July 23rd and 24th, is one of the most important and deeply felt celebrations in Bolsena, as Christina, martyred in the 3rd century AD at the age of 12 by her father's hand, is the patron saint of the town.
Christina was introduced to the Christian religion by a faithful servant at the palace; her father Urbanus, prefect and representative of power in the Roman municipality of Volsinii, tried in every way to make her renounce her faith in God, in vain.
Stripped of her clothes, publicly flogged with rods, her head shaved, her tongue cut out and imprisoned. Nothing could shake her resolve in the slightest. She was thrown alive into a furnace, hurled into prisons and then cast into the center of the Lake with a stone tied to her neck, but Christina floated on the waters like a water lily, with the very instrument of martyrdom at her feet serving as a life preserver. Tied to a stake, she was made a target for a hail of arrows, and only then did Christina pass from earth to heaven “to contemplate the face of that Christ she had loved so much.”
The feast is celebrated on July 24th, but begins the day before. It includes Mass on the morning of the 23rd at the Saint’s Tomb in the Basilica (tomb masterfully adorned with hydrangeas and carnations) and the great religious celebration on the 24th, and is famous above all for the representation of the “Mysteries,” theatrical scenes that come to life in the piazzas of Bolsena and reenact the brief life of the saint of Bolsena.
The representation of the “Mysteries of Santa Cristina” is very ancient and demonstrates the deep attachment that the people of Bolsena have always had with their “Christina.” They are a unique form of theatrical and religious spectacle, predominantly static tableaux that retrace the passion she suffered, stationed at the 5 main piazzas of the town (5 in the evening and 5 in the morning), for a total of 9 martyrdoms that end with the protagonist’s ascension to heaven.
It begins on the evening of July 23rd when the statue of the Martyr, with a Procession that passes through “her streets” and the river of people that populate them, is carried on shoulders from the Basilica dedicated to her to the church of SS.Salvatore, in Castello. A route that stops at the 5 piazzas of the historic center on which the representation stages are set up, ready to open their curtains at the appearance of the Saint’s statue: Piazza Santa Cristina, Piazza Matteotti, Piazza San Rocco, Piazza San Giovanni and Piazza Monaldeschi.
Having arrived in Castello, the Saint will spend the night inside the Church of SS.Salvatore. On the morning of the 24th, the Procession, with the Saint likewise carried on the shoulders of her devotees, will return to the Basilica proceeding through the same piazzas, in reverse. Traditionally, the only representations that come to life in the same piazza are:
- on the night of the 23rd, “The Lake” (Piazza S.Giovanni) and “The Devils” (Piazza Monaldeschi);
- in the morning “The Cutting of the Tongue” (Piazza San Rocco), “The Arrows” (Piazza Matteotti), “The Glory” (Piazza S.Cristina).
