Chiesa ed oratorio di San Nicola

Once an oratory for children, in its 60s and 80s, its golden age, with a pitch that has seen generations of young people.

The "Congregation of Spirit of the Young Carottesi called of the Luigini", was born following a series of spiritual exercises held at the headquarters of the SS. Announced by the Reverend Gaspare De Luise of the Pii Operai, pastor and director of the congregation of the Doctors and Nobles at the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Naples, to some citizens of Carottesi, back in 1875. Gaspare De Luise celebrated, on October 31 of that year, the Eucharistic ceremony that gave birth to the "Congregation of the Spirit of the young Carottesi, based in the small chapel of San Nicola, in the place known as Carotto". The Reverend pledged to associate it immediately with the Congregation of Doctors and Nobles, of which he was the General Superior. The commitment of De Luise for the newly formed congregation of the Luigini did not end there: in addition to the association with the association of Doctors and Knights, he asked that the indulgences and privileges that belong to the intercession of Pope Benedict XIV and Pius VI be granted to the Congregation First Primary in Rome. Among the first 33 confreres there was the young Eduardo Mastellone, who then became a priest and guide of the small Chapel entrusted to Saints Luigi Gonzaga and Nicola (erected in 1334), which transformed between 1926 and 1928 in the Oratory according to the style and the dictation of Don Giovanni Bosco. They were incredible years: generations of citizens of Piano di Sorrento lived the years of their youth among the small halls and the pitch, under the careful and responsible guidance of great priests: Don Alfredo Ammendola, fine man of letters, and Don Antonino Guarracino who founded after the war the Pueri Cantores Group. The Time of the Stars and the Light, the Months of May, the GR.EST. they are history that many remember fondly. Since 1981 the congregation has been reborn, but perhaps its spirit had never died, returning to participate with its own colors in the parish and diocesan rites. A piece of history that even if it seems very far away is basically important: without the Congregation the Oratory would never have arisen, without the function given by the Oratory to the young people of our parish, our "clothes" would be only mere folklore. May it be all this for us new administrators, aware that behind us there is a past made of glorious characters, giants of faith, of which we remain, perhaps among the only witnesses. And this can only make us proud. The Oratory and the Congregation fell perfectly into the parish reality, to traditional events (the Eucharistic celebrations on the day of St. Nicholas, St. Louis, St. Cecilia, St. John Bosco and St. Dominic Savio, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity , the month of May) alongside the theatrical, musical and sports activities, the nativity scene in the style of the Neapolitan eighteenth century made by the boys, the commitment to Lent and in the Holy Week with the "Kiss of the Cross" on Holy Tuesday, Mass in Coena Domini on Holy Thursday and welcoming the image of Our Lady of Sorrows at the dawn of Good Friday.