Parrocchia Maria Ss. Della Neve

Beautiful parish

Pastor too master of everything

RELIGIOUS BUILDING WORTH A VISIT

beautiful church, beautiful crypt restored thanks to the Mario Cassata sac

 The current Mother Church, dedicated to Maria SS. della Neve, has replaced the old parish dedicated to the Madonna del Rosario now Social Center located in via Pucci. The works were carried out in the period 1702 - 1721, the priest Leonardo Meli da Ciminna being parish priest. The plan of the Duomo follows that of the Palermo church dedicated to San Matteo, with a Latin cross with three naves. Among the most important sacred furnishings are five canvases: SS. Trinity, Madonna with Monstrance, Pentecost, Immaculate Conception and Baptism of Jesus, as well as the many wooden statues depicting madonnas and saints. The current facade, recently restored, was built on a project by the engineer Lazzarini, being parish priest Monsignor Giuseppe Marino. In recent years, some chapels of the side aisles and the apse where the monumental pipe organ of the Cimino brothers of Agrigento inaugurated on 10 December 2006 have been restored. The visit from the baptistery begins: the baptismal font was restored in 1923; Lo Cascio's painting represents the "Baptism of Jesus". In the following chapel, the picture of the Holy Trinity attributable to Giuseppe Salerno called the "Zoppo di Gangi" is to be appreciated. The marble altar dates back to 1760. The third chapel is enriched by a wooden statue, covered with gold, of the SS. Virgin of the Carmelites who was also the patron saint of the Lolfarians sulfur miners. The chapel of Santa Lucia follows. with a statue donated by Gioacchino Orlando and the chapel of the Immaculate Conception which was built in the second half of the nineteenth century. The high altar was erected in 1765. the choir seats were built by the Cottone brothers by order of the archpriest Giuseppe Marino, in early 1910. On 10 December 2006, being archpriest Don Mario Cassata, a monumental was inaugurated pipe organ placed behind this altar. Next to the Presbytery another chapel is dedicated to the "Madonna della Neve". The Matrix is ​​named after the "Madonna della Neve". The marble altar dates back to 1750/65. On the walls of the chapel there are two busts hollowed out in the nineteenth century: the sac. Giuseppe Fiorentino, the notary Gioacchino Caltabellotta. Follow the chapel of the Holy Spirit and the chapel of the Madonna del Rosario. In the chapel of the "Madonna del Cardellino", which follows, is the bust of Ireneo Pucci, a sulfur businessman from Lercara. Then, again, the altar of San Biagio and the tomb of the notary Luigi Ferrara, the altar of San Francesco di Paola, whose statue was carved in a wooden stem, coming from an unproductive pear tree, by a builder of coffins (so it is said). In front of the chapel of the "Madonna del Cardellino" there is the access to the crypt which, restored in recent years, preserves a beautiful collection of nativity scenes, which can be visited particularly during the Christmas period.

Most important church of Lercara Friddi. Pretty nice, but not equipped with particular works of art. Accessible to the disabled thanks to an external lift located on the side of the staircase.

l Finding of the Sacred Image of Maria SS. of the Snow An ancient and constant tradition tells that in the fourteenth century, at the time when the nascent town began to populate, some Torresi fishermen saw a crate floating on the waves of the sea near the rock of Rovigliano ... it was a distant 5th August ... they picked it up and with surprise they found the image of Mary ... The image was in terracotta, of the Greek type, in a bust: the Madonna was holding the Child Jesus with her left arm. After a heated quarrel with the fishermen of Stabia, the image was transported to the church of the Ss. Annunziata. Since there was no sign or writing indicating the name, it was called "MARIA SS. AD NIVES" in memory of the snow that fell on Rome on August 5, 352, on the Esquiline hill. According to Ilardi, in the fourteenth century, religious orders migrated from the East to our coasts, saving the sacred images from the fury of the iconoclasts. So it was that one of them had to fall from some boat and be found near the rock of Rovigliano by the Torresi fishermen: it is here that history is intertwined with legend. In 1448 Orsini ceded the territory to Count Nicola D'Alagno who had the current church of "AVE GRATIA PLENA" built. This was entrusted with an adjoining convent to the Celestine fathers for the Care of Souls. And the Holy Image, which had remained hidden for a long time due to pirate raids, was transferred to the new church. No trace remains of the primitive church of the Annunziata as well as the shelter for travelers and the tower built on the beach.

A must see is the restored crypt and the collection of nativity scenes.