Monday, February 2, 2009

DELISA TO BE SET FREE

Publication: Brooklyn Eagle; Date: Jul 28, 1896; Section: Front page; Page: 1




D'Elisa's Hearing

Brooklyn Eagle; Date: Jul 24, 1896; Section: None; Page: 12























Threatened By Creditors

Publication: Brooklyn Eagle; Date: Jul 24, 1896; Section: None;
Page: 12





























Saturday, January 31, 2009

Italian Bankers Fail


Gaetano D'Elisa pictured here with his second wife, Carmela. Gaetano was the oldest son of Giovanni Evangelista di Lisa and Rosa Abbatemarco, and was born on May 18, 1852 in Sassano, Salerno Italy.





San Cono Prayers










Luigi DeCicco

Luigi DeCicco and some his original muscial compositions, circa 1930. This piece was entitled "Emelia" written for his daughter. There is music for the snare drum and the trombone.












St. Cono Band in Inwood


St. Cono Band of Inwood, Long Island, New York, led by Professor Luigi DeCicco. Luigi was a composer and contractor of bands in New York and Long Island during the 1920s and 1930s.

St. Cono Festival of Inwood's Italian Colony

as reported in the Rockaway News on September 28, 1912. p7










Pictured is the banner of the San Cono Society, formed in Inwood and Lawrence in 1907. This society was instituted by immigrants who venerated St. Cono dei Teggiani. The San Cono Society was formed in September 13, 1907.

Source:
Long Island Italians by Salvatore J. LaGumina

Friday, January 30, 2009

Teggiano


TEGGIANO (anc. Tegianum, formerly called Diano), a town in Campania, Italy, in. the province of Salerno, 45 m. S.E. of that town. Pop. (1901) 5095. It is situated 2090 ft. above sea-level on an isolated eminence above the upper part of the valley of the Negro (anc. Tanager), to which it gives the name of Val di Diano. It represents the ancient Tegianum a municipal town of Lucania, made into a colony by Nero, of which the ruins can be traced at the foot of the hill, with an ancient Roman bridge. An Oscan sepulchral inscription in Greek letters has been found here (cf. W. Corssen in Ephemeris Epigra flea, n. 153). It possesses a castle, several churches of some interest, and three conventual buildings. In 1497 it was strong enough to resist, under Antonio Sanseverino of Salerno, the siege undertaken by Frederick of Aragon. (T. As.)


Sources: Wikipedia

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Common Surnames in Sassano today

The ten most common surnames in town of Sassano

In the left hand column is displayed the estimated number of individuals having the given surname shown in the right hand column. In Sassano, De Lisa is the ninth most popular surname, with approximately 79 people out of 5,190 inhabitants.




NumberSurname
189.70Trotta
132.79Petrizzo
113.82Calandriello
92.14Ferro
89.43Rubino
86.72De Luca
81.30Femminella
81.30Romanelli
78.59De Lisa
67.75Di Bella

Source: Campania indettaglio (Campania in details) website

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Gerardus De Lisa

15th Century Renaissance Man


Gerardus De Lisa was a Renaissance man and an early 15th century printer. He printed about twenty books in Treviso between 1471 and 1476.



Like all but a few printers, these men mixed printing with other forms of livelihood. Indeed, to judge by the output and expressions used in legal documents to describe their activities, printing was only a minor part of their lives. For example, Gerardus de Lisa moved south from Ghent, and by 1462 was a schoolmaster at Treviso. In 1471 he printed the first edition of a pseudo-Augustine Manuale. But in Treviso, he was working in the shadow of the much more powerful printers and booksellers of Venice, he removed in 1477—8, before moving on briefly to print in Udine and Cividale and then coming back to Treviso.

Here is his boast, written as a colophon, or an inscription placed at the end of the manuscript:
In the Manuale or Liber de salute siue de Aspira tione Animae ad Deum of S Augustine printed at Treviso in 1471 we find Gerard de Lisa boasting with more poetry but less precision Gloria debetur Girardo maxima lixae Quem genuit campis Flandria picta suis Hic Tarvisina nam primus coepit in urbe Artifici raros aere notare libros Quoque magis faueant excelsi numina regis Aurelii sacrum nunc manuale dedit Gerard de Lisa may great glory claim He who from Flanders glowing meadows came For in Treviso



He died, precentor of the cathedral at Aquileia in 1499, having been by turn schoolmaster, bookseller, printer, choirmaster, musician and debt collector.


Sources:


An Essay on Colophons With Specimens and Translations By Alfred William Pollard, Richard Garnett, Caxton Club, De Vinne Press, Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers Collection (Library of Congress)

A FLEMING IN VENETIA: GERARDUS DE LISA, PRINTER, BOOKSELLER, SCHOOLMASTER, AND MUSICIAN, Library, 1929; s4-X: 253 - 273, Victor Scholderer Oxford Journal
F we can imagine Gerardus de Lisa still con-cerning himself with......

San Cono

The following post is from the San Cono American Society Web Site:
SAN CONO CITIZEN AND PROTECTOR OF TEGGIANO AND THE DIOCESE

Dedicated to the Mothers and Fathers of Teggiano because by imitating The Parents of San Cono they can prepare the flowers of Sanctity and of Goodness, for the Church and the Nation.


A BLUE RIBBON IN THE INDELLI HOME

Cono was born in Diano, now Teggiano, an ancient and gracious town in western Lucania in the province of Salerno near the end of 1100, when the church struggled in the fight of the investiture and was involved in the Crusade for the liberation of Christ’s tomb.
History and tradition have handed down to us very little of his parents.
We know, among other things, that his father belonged to the distinguished and wealthy Indelli, Mandelli or De Indella family and that his mother was called Igniva. They were advanced in years, and because of sterility, they were not blessed with the joy of receiving an offspring. Finally, God answered their prayers and granted their wish. One night they both had the same vision. It seemed that his mother shed from her breast a great flame of extraordinary splendor. A local priest was questioned of the vision’s significance and inspired by God, assured that Igniva would have conceived and given birth to a son which was to have been given the name of Cono and that with the sanctity of life would have made known his family and his birthplace. The fortunate parents received the priest’s response with great joy and with anxious and touched spirits awaited the day longingly.
The Indelli home began to take a new appearance. The days were spent in a happier manner. The warm household was to be enriched with a new creature and around the dinner table that was deserted for a little while longer, there was outlined a candid vision of an angel.
Igniva did not expose her intimate joy. On his father’s face, one could read a gentle and unrepressed expression of immense and serene joy.


A few months after the vision, a gracious baby let his first cries be heard and revealed himself like a budding rose. He was welcomed by all with indescribable joy like a treasure coming from the heavens.


It is easy to imagine the happiness of the old couple, and with deep sentiments of gratitude raised their thanks to the lord for the wonderful gift that he made them worthy of. Suddenly they understood each other better and loved each other more. Their reciprocal love had touched on a flower that had budded within their domestic sanctuary to scent their lives.
The entire family was aware of the vision for some time and rejoiced and gave their very best wishes to the child that was to be born.


CONO'S PARENTS AND HIS CHILDHOOD
His parents were of fervid Christian faith and of a moral virtue to be modeled. Their home resembled a sanctuary where one knew, loved and served the Lord. It was a garden adapt for the flourishings and growth of the most beautiful and vigorous fruits. Their hearts, however, were wrapped in a deep and badly concealed veil of sadness and their days were followed in the most desolate monotony mixed with the distressed desire to have a child. A child would prolong and perpetuate their own existence and would radiate light and joy within their domestic walls: He would support them in their old age which unfortunately was without affection and full of loneliness.


The envy they felt for their relatives and friends was justified because through them they relived memories of what could have been. Although the couple was subjected to a difficult test, they both willingly conformed to God’s wish and felt within the Saint a fear of God to whom they directed their faithful and continuous prayers in order for their desires to be granted.
As soon as the child was born, model Christians that they were, they regenerated their son to the life of grace, through holy Baptism. Following the indications they received, they named him Cono, symbol of perfection and like a giant he would pass through his brief existence.
They nourished a special love for Cono and multiplied their care for him so that he would grow to be good. They kept him away from any danger that could have scarred the grace that flowed from his heart and were well aware that the principle and most important task of Christian parents was to teach their child and give him a good education, and to this they were always faithful. Under the provident and cautious guide of his parents, particularly that of Igniva, Cono was developing like the light of heaven and when one would approach him, he brightened and illuminated like the scent and splendor of his beautiful soul. From the beginning, he manifested strong sentiments of compassion as if God were the warm palpitations of his heart and the dominant thought in his mind. His mother took every advantage to speak to him of God. The fertile and blooming valley, the golden dawn, the rose colored sunsets, the religious translations of Diano were all gracious occasions for her to elevate his heart to God. Cono was a vigilant keeper of his candor and he attentively watched his company and his leisure time. He did his most to implant in his soul a sincere and profound devotion to the Blessed Virgin that was the shining star of his existence. Igniva and her husband looked constructively and were touched by their little Cono, who enthused them with his precious virtue. By now, they were secure of an enlightened old age and comforted by the smile and presence of their son. They confidently nourished the most beautiful hopes for his future and they made joyous plans for his life. Their thoughts ran enthusiastically to the day that Cono, heated by the flame of love for his spouse, would have commenced his own family and would have perpetuated a numerous and joyous crown of children in his own household. But, unfortunately, God’s plans for the Indelli household were of another matter.


SPLENDOR OF YOUTH

The celebrated household and the richness of fame in the Indelli family destined Cono for worldly glory. This however, he had been well aware of for a long while and he most energetically resisted the attractions and enticements of female creatures. Pure in both heart and soul, he possessed a horrible guilt, and in order not to stain himself, he frequently used mortification which made his body a docile instrument of his soui, giving him the possiblity of having the upperhand to his spirit.



Convinced that no enemy was worse than the flesh, which inclined itself to evil, he engaged in a battle without truce. From a very young age, each Saturday he had but one frugal meal and every day he would spread ashes and wet the food with tears. To concede the necessary rest for his body, which was structurally very delicate, he slept on a bare floor serving himself to a hard stone for his cheeks. In order not to let his mother notice his acts of mortificaton, in the early morning, before dawn he would unmake his bed to make her believe that he slept in it during the night. He was a lover of purity and flower so precious; so delicate and fragile.
Besides mortification and punishment to his body, he also used every diligence to escape temptation, including avoiding evil company or licentious conversation that might have stained or even dimmed his candor.
He studied how to keep himself completely united with the Lord in order to find and enjoy in him peace of heart and joy of the spirit.
To feed his mercy and keep this soul always immuned to the dangers of the world, he made his prayers his daily bread for his spirits.
Not far from his home was the Church of the Celestial Fathers called the “Annunciations.” This church received Cono daily. He would enter in sweet and intimate dialogue with the divine spouse of his soul transforming himself into a celestial angel.
The goodness that adorned his soul could not help but divulge itself. As the years passed, little by little the outline of his spirit appeared ever more profoundly. This manifested the dawn of his sanctity. Cono was growing full of love, faith and in awe with the saintliness of God. He was living his life happily and was strengthened more and more in Christian virtue, behind the example and words of his mother.
Thinking always to interpret the will of the Lord and stimulated by a fierce divine love, he received the “Order of Acolytes” with the intention of consecrating himself in a world of service to God. This was not however the heavenly plan.
As the years passed, he felt in his heart the divine voice that called him to a more grandeur perfection. The Lord wanted him completely detached and far away from earthly things. God wanted him to crush all ties with earthly creatures, even the most dear ones to him, that he renounce all affections even the most saintly so that he could have a strong tie with The Lord.

IN PEACE OF THE CLOISTER

The divine voice sounded ever more clearly and insistent to the heart and ears of Cono and he did not hesitate to welcome it. Convinced that the world does not perfect God’s love, but instead obstructs it, he decided to isolate himself retiring in the solitude of the Cloisters and to conduct a monastic life. This way, without anyone knowing, he renounced all his wealth and honor and ran from his birth place to present himself to the Benediction Monastery of Saint Mary’s of Cadossa, in Montesano, with the sweet desire of finally realizing his dream. Father Costa, the current Abbott, seeing him so young and frail thought that he would not be able to acclimate himself to the hard pace of monastic life. He refused to see Cono and instead persuaded him to give up his intentions and return to his family.
After repeated insistence, he was taken into the cloistral walls where he found God entirely and in God the peace for a perfect spirit.

His parents, becoming aware of his absence, felt their hearts broken and quickly set out to find their missing son. After diligently asking and searching everywhere, they learned that he took refuge in Saint Mary’s of Cadossa. Without delay, Cono’s parents went to the Monastery and with tears in their eyes asked the Father Abbott for the restitution of their son.
Cono was in his cell praying and studying when he found out of his parents arrival and intentions. In order to escape their tears and request, he left the cell and went to search for a hiding place. Not finding a more suitable and secure place, he hid in a burning oven readying in that moment, for the bread of the monastery. The flames did not touch him but instead sweetly caressed his face to splendor his renewed beauty. The Abbott, touched by the tears and insistence of Igniva and her husband decided to give up their son to them.
Brother Cono was acutely searched for in the chapel; in his cell, in the refectory and everywhere else, He was searched for in every place hidden and obscure, not one angle was left unexplored, but every search was in vain.
While the Abbott was dismissing the poor parents, who could not resign themselves to the fact that they should return to Diano without their son, they accidently turned their heads towards the oven and glanced at Cono unhurt in the midst of the crackling flames. They ordered him, in the virtue of holy obedience to come out of his hiding place. Igniva and her husband stood in front of that scene of marvel, that clearly manifested the will of God and blessed the boy in the name of God. They permitted him to stay at Saint Mary’s of Cadossa to carry out the divine plan.
Cono’s parents completed the supreme holocaust of the heart and knew with sweet generosity the Will of God: to restore to him the gift that they received. They left Saint Mary’s of Cadossa with very different sentiments from those which accompanied them there and they returned to Diano with a satisfied conscience of fulfilling their duty.
Relatives, friends, acquaintances and neighbors competed to find out the results of their findings. Cono’s parents did not know what to say to everyone except for the words their Christian resignation “God has given him to us. God has taken him from us. May his holy will be done.”


CONO THE NOVICE


Welcomed by the pious ones of Saint Mary’s of Cadossa, Cono finished, according to the monastical prescriptions, the novice period and took the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The first vow was that his life was now in the hands of his holy Providence, the second meant that he apply himself to live as an angel and with the vow of obedience, he sacrificed his will to submit himself to the love of God and to his superiors.
Carrying out the benediction motto “Prayer and Work,” Cono’s soul refined itself to the love of God. From the moment that the monastery door squeaked, closed itself to his shoulders and segregated him forever from the world, Cono dedicated himself to prayer and work, finding in them a prodigious hedge of defense for his virtue and a safe road to arrive to the Lord.
Away from the world, he lived a life of perfect intimacy with his celestial Father, and prayer he considered to be true respiration and daily food for his soul. Prayer, in the meaning of his integral significance, besides being an elevation for the spirit and an indescribable comfort for the heart is the effective means to keep himself in continuous and close contact with the Lord.
By means of prayer, in fact, God comes close to meet us, his creatures, and we come close to meet ourselves with him, our creator. A life without prayer is a life full of dejection and loss. It is displaced, incapable of resisting temptation. That is why our religion transforms itself to continued elevation of the soul and in constant meeting with God.
As soon as he would wake up, Cono’s heart and his glance found the smile of Jesus, and at night as his last daily action he would recline his head to Christ’s heart. In his spare time, while others dedicated it to comfort and good times, Cono would retire himself to the feet of Jesus, alive and well in the Tabernacle, rhythming the beats of his heart to the alternating sways and crackle of the flame lit in front of the Tabernacle. In this way he managed to empty his heart of all that was not God. He detached himself from all creatures that could have minimally retarded his itinerary to God. Cono’s life of prayer made him docile and available to Grace and the divine will. With his thoughts, his will and his conduct nothing could be contrary to those and the will and conduct of God.
Faithful to the program of his Orders and to prayer, he also added work which became his daily occupation. Starting with his studies, he perfected himself in grammar and logic, under the able guidance of the religions scholar Father Modestro. He was, among others, the young man most attached to his scholastic duties. To make himself useful to communal life, he would seek for himself the most humble and burdensome tasks. He could often be seen sweating exhaustedly in the kitchen, washing the dishes or sweeping, cleaning the floors, etc.
His superiors, who were aware of his availability trusted him with the sacristy, the sore room and the dispensary and permitted him to spend his free time cultivating the garden of the Monastery. Work did not make his life ugly or materialistic because work served him to become stronger and elevated him to God. It also helped him to keep in constant union with the Lord. Cono did all with attentive diligence. Sanctity meanwhile, radiated from his soul and scattered his exhalation between the cloister walls to the imitation and the admiration of the entire monastic family.


IN LOVE WITH MARY

The life of our Saint was characterized by an immense love for the Blessed Virgin and was of great merit to Igniva who educated her son to a tender devotion and to a submissive confidence and respect for Mary.
His mother, as a matter of fact did not leave an occasion or circumstance to escape to speak of her heavenly Mother; the beauty of flowers, the splendor of the stars, the blue of the heavens, the green of the valley, all easily presented here the opportunity to get her son, even from his most tender years to love Mary.
On Saturdays, when Cono was still small, in homage to the Holy Virgin, he would abstain from his motherly milk, and from eight years old on, he would take very sparingly only one meal. While at Diano, he held especially dear the churches that were titled Mary, from which he preferred that of “The Holy Blessed Virgin Mary.” This church was officiated by the Celestine Fathers and was not very distant from his home. He would often visit the church spontaneously alone or in the company of his mother. He would do so in order to raise the songs of his heart and the yearning of his spirit to this heavenly Mother. Religious and dedicated to Saint Mary of Cadossa, he was wrapped in love and tenderness for the Virgin Saint and would adorn and perfume her image with flowers that he would pick from the green garden of the Monastery.
The blessed virgin received much love and exchanged it with a special fondness. She smiled at him through the tresses of love. She stuck by him in his times of struggle, in time of uncertainty and through storms of the spirit. She lifted him in the hour of temptation and in trying times. He was tenderly in love with Mary and on Saturday, the day she was consecrated, he was invited to enjoy her in contemplation of her beautiful face.
This Virgin who he loved with affection and single devotion received his soul and introduced it to the glory and eternal joy of Paradise.


PRECIOUS SUNSET

He was around eighteen years old, on a Saturday night, the second of June when he was consuming along with the other Brothers his frugal dinner. All of a sudden a vivid light illuminated the Refectory of Saint Mary Cadossa and wrapped our Cono, while a voice from the

sky was heard from a distance “Cono, in this night you will be called by God!”. The young novice, without troubling himself, or rather anticipating the joy of uniting himself to Jesus in an embracing and
undissolvable eternity with this heart full of tenderness received the announcement responding humbly, “May it be done to me according to your word.”
Death, for a worldly man is the manifestation of weakness, but for Cono it was the revelation of virtue. From the time of leaving this earth, he smiled at sister death who opened the doors of eternity and embraced her like a friend and liberation. In this way, the hour he detached himself from the world he completed that perfection that seals and crowns a life that is consumed in the heroic exercise of virtue.
Cono entered his dreary cell after dinner and the last communal evening prayers and immersed himself in prayer until the meeting between his soul and his heavenly spouse was sweet and serene.
It was twelve midnight when the cell began to splendor of an extraordinary brightness and transformed itself into the borders of Paradise. A line of white angels with their wings pointing to the stars surrounded the novice’s bed while the sound of mysticla harps touched by invisible hands hovered above.
On June 3, even before the rise of dawn (in the beginning of the twelvth century), Cono left this land full of thorns and twigs and took off to the skies to recieve the incorruptable throne with the glorious award given for his holy and mortifying life.
Cono’s death shut off in the Monastery of Saint Mary’s of Cadossa a luminous example of virtue, but lit up in the sky of sanctity a star of vivid light.


FRAGRANCE OF SANCTITY

Cono flew to this eternal pasture but his name and memory continued to be praised on the lips and hearts of everyone. The tomb frequently visited by brothers of his religious order was considered a Cathedral where the novice saint, even after death, continued his precious teachings of humility, obedience and candor. The perfume of his sanctity passed the narrow barriers of the Monastery and rapidly spread around Cardossa and beyond.
On September 27, 1261, after a rough squabble broke out between the Padulesi and the Dianesi about who should possess the remains of the mortal Saint, the remnants were placed in trust of the wise people. A cattle cart of Diano and another of Padula brought them miraculously and trium- phantly to Diano.
The cult and devotion to our citizen does not remain only in Diano but surpasses the mountains and seas. It spread and affirmed itself in other towns and religions near and far.
At Laureana Alento, of the Capuccio-Vallo Diocese, Cono was declared Patron and Protector and is honored on June 3 of each year. At Saint Cono of Cessanti, province of Catanzaro near Pizzo Calabro, Saint Cono besides being celebrated on the third of June, is also remembered on the third Sunday of July with solemnity and great concourse of followers coming from the entire vast area.
From the second half of the last century, thanks to the works of the Teggianesi immigrants who spread to foreign lands in search of bread and work, the cult and devotion to Saint Cono have spread past the borders of his nation affirming himself everywhere especially in the far away Americas. In many nations of the New Continent, the Saint's statues are exposed to his faithfuls. They purify themselves even with pompous display during the dates of June 3 and September 27. Many associations were also formed in particular that of Saint Cono in Uruguay, and in Florida an entire neighborhood is named after him.
During the Second World War, the Teggianesi people who immigrated to Venezuela, Canada and Australia brought with them a cult and devotion to this Saint. This cult and devotion have reached the proportions of other places, but the Teggianesi immigrants have generously contributed to the annual celebrations that take place in Teggiano and through their correspondence shines a deep love for the Saint to whom they go to during all circumstances of life to preserve and protect themselves from danger.


THE POWER OF A GIANT

San Cono in 1261 was proclaimed Patron and Protector of Diano in substitute of Saint Biagio, Bishop and Martyr, and never disappointed the trust that the Dianesi people held for their Patron Saint.
The granting of favors from him throughout the centuries are so numerous that it is impossible to summarize even in guessing. We only have to remember the marvelous grants given to his citizens of Diano as visible signs of his protection.
It was a festive day in 1300 and the church bell of Saint Mary Maggiore invited the faithfuls to Mass. All of a sudden the towering bell leaned to one side, squeaked and all of a sudden began to fall. The Dianesi people present in the piazza were caught in the immensity of the danger. Between screams of pain and panic, they pleaded for Saint Cono’s help. It was only for an instant that the visible Saint appeared and was seen holding the towering bell which he slowly set straight and placed in the original position.
In 1497, Antonello Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno and Lord of Diano retreated to a terrible siege by Federico of Aragona who headed 20 thousand soldiers. They camped out at the borders of the cliff in San Miehele, in the zone of “Poggio reale.” The Dianesi people, despite everything, were opposed to the resistance; Federico was forced to retire himself and call the celebrated Captain Consalvo of Cordova in Sicily to
command the troop. The people, finding themselves in bad hands, asked for help and protection from their Patron Saint. Saint Cono appeared at the top of the castle walls and was seen catching the fire balls from the cannons that were being thrown at the city of Diano and throwing them back.
Consalvo di Cordova suspended the siege knowing that the Monk who appeared on the walls of Diano was the Protector of the town. After eight months of heroic resistance in opposing the besieged an act of peace was stipulated.
It was the year of 1616 when a grave disaster afflicted Diano: a terrible plague caused tears and destruction throughout the town. On the streets was the accumulation of numerous corpses in decompositon. This was the representation of a grave and immediate dangerous epidemic. The town’s people appealed to Saint Cono as their last hope for salvation. They went to church and knelt in the urn where the Saint’s relics were located and with tears and prayers they asked to be liberated from so much misfortune. The Saint intervened with his protection and the epidemic ceased. The fathers of the town restored their tired limbs and the children slept in innocent dreams next to their parents dreaming of golden curls and angels of paradise.
All of a sudden a rumble was heard. The citizens witnessed a frightful tremor and the houses shook as if they were under attack by a mysterious force. The silence of the night was roughly interrupted: an earthquake. There were screams of pain and desperate appeals “save us, Saint Cono!”. The houses became abandoned, the inhabitants, scantly dressed ran for the town square in search of an open area. There was an altar there placed on top of Saint Cono’s statue. There they stood
in fervent and devout prayer. All of a sudden the prayers ceased, the parents surrounded by their children, the inhabitants remained unharmed while the neighboring towns were full of ruins and victims. Diano was saved. The Dianesi inhabitants, joined by a common danger, ran to church, fell to their knees in front of the Saint with a vow and promise; to erect in the town square, an obelisk as a testimony for the centuries to come. This was to represent their undying faith to their celestial Patron.
The Dianesi citizens, in 1857 were faithful to their vow. They kept their promise and inaugurated the obelisk in June 1, 1887 which stood out majestically in the blue skies. The obelisk will stand in testimony for centuries to come. They sang hymn of love to their new generation for the acknowledgment of Teggiano and to Saint Cono who was and always will be their protector and shining glory.
This devotion, love and acknowledgment never underwent change and will never perish even if the sublime and majestic obelisk should be ruined from injuries of time or in the event of a fatal disaster.




THE GLORY OF SANCTITY
The sanctity of Saint Cono was solemnly proclaimed on April 27, 1871. Through an extraordinary proceeding ordered by Pope Urban VIII’s Constitution, the secular cult of Saint Cono along with the tactic consent of the Church obtained solemn confirmation and approval from Romano Pontefice Pio IX. In this way the Pope in the constitution of the erection of the Diano diocese gave to Cono the title of Sainthood, and proclaimed our citizen (Cono) with all the rights and perogatives to canonize in the ordinary way.
Whenever the situation presented itself, the Saint’s disciples would unquestionably go to him for help throughout the centuries. Although it could be said that his cult developed since the death of the Saint, the first and most important manifestation was the solemn and wonderous transportation of his moral remains to Cadossa in Diano on September 27, 1261.
Cono’s priestly vestments were worshipped by his cult and were first deposited in the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary run by the Celestine Fathers. They also took part in Saint Cono’s cult. Since the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary neighbors the walls of the city and possessed the Saint’s sacred deposits in an exposed manner, it was also exposed, especially during the night to the dangers of profanity. Because of this, the remains were decided by the University of Diano, to be transferred to the Church of Saint Mary Maggiore where it has always been worshipped by the public cult. The remains are erect on the altar where priests and bishops have celebrated Holy Mass. The relics are watched over by numerous lamps that are kept lit by vows of pilgrims, Dianesi citizens and foreigners who enrich the chapel with gifts, vows, etc.
In 1333, there appeared an empty bell with a halved figure on it. In the figure was the writing “Saint Cono" which later also appeared as a fresco on the walls of the churches and sketched on the walls of civil inhabitants.
Pope Innocenzo IV gave to Cono the tile of Saint in a Papal Bill dated in Avignone directed at the Abbott of the Monastery of Saint Cono in Camerata, province of Salerno. The priests unanimously did not protest, but instead implicitly approved and favored this cult. They not only worshipped the relics publicly but also invoked Cono with the title of Sainthood.
With the consent of the local priests, there are in many neighboring towns all kinds of chapels made in honor of the Servant of God.
Pope Sisto V in a papal brief called Cono blessed and blessed he was also called in an ecclesiastic conference in Consenza written by General Vico of the diocese Fabio Romano, a fellow citizen. In 1600 it was common practice to give to newborns the name Cono.
Saint Mary Maggiorre is adorned by two artistic statues: that of Venuta, of 1714 and the beautiful one of Saint Cono, by the sculpture of Padula Andrea Cariella.
On July 1, 1740, Cono Luchini del Verme, Bishop of Ostumi a fellow citizen consecrated the marble statue of Saint Cono and on that anniversary day granted indulgences for anyone who visited the statue. The feast days in honor of the Saint are honored with special rites and preceded by relative Novenas. On June 3, the Bishops celebrate the Pontifical Mass and take part in the Procession of the Statue. By the request of the Bishop of Teggiano, Monsignor Fanelli, Cono’s public cult has been active for over 600 years. This was solemnly confirmed by Pio X, April 27, 1871. This act declared Cono a Saint.

SAINT CONO TODAY
The life of Saint Cono took place many centuries ago. This would seem not to have any relation with our life and times today, his times being so different from ours and not possessing anything of agitated society in this century. It is false or at least absurd to affirm such. His life does belong to the present and his messages are still urgent today in a way that we can believe that his life, after a lengthy lapse of time could still be imitated by all those desiring to find in him a model and exemplify his conduct.
Saint Cono lived in a family that accomplished much good, one could say that their house was a domestic church where they knew each other, they loved each other and they served the Lord. For this reason, this could be the model example for a modern family. His parents were until late age without offspring, and they felt much sorrow witnessing in the absence of children, a frustration in the purpose of their union. But they knew how to accept with courage this test that was imposed to them, without ever ceasing to pray to the Lord to have their wish granted. In their moments of anguish they did not turn to worldly ways in order to receive comfort and guidance, but instead turned always to their Lord and Pastor who possesses great pity. This was their path of encouragement: to always have hope in the heavens.
When their only son deluded their hopes by taking the path of the Cloisters, they did not oppose the will of God but instead clearly recognized Cono’s decision. They blessed him to God and left him free to follow his vocation.
Saint Cono had a radiant childhood far from temptations and the ills of sin. He was inspired by the greatest ideals of life. This he needed to germinate and accumulate his holiness and was impossible to achieve in the bustle of the world. He centered his true goals and never lost sight of them. He never let himself be tempted by worldly creatures.
Saint Cono is the messenger of many divine messages in particular one regarding his colleagues. It could be summed up in the motto, “Prayer and Work.” This forms the golden rule of his monastic order and in this he found to be the teaching steps towards his spiritual reward. Saint Cono prayed and worked and in this double application found the defense for his spiritual values of life. He did not contest anything that led to the perfection of the soul and the march of the spirit towards the Lord. They live with factors of worldly elevation and progress and for this they have everything to assail and to reject.
In our youth, fellow patriots and contemporaries of the young Saint who we love dearly, and of whom we have much hope, would receive the message “Prayer and Work” in good faith, they would know how to conform to Saint Cono who was a great and beneficial contester. Their lives would radiate in virtue and would indicate like a magnetic needle of a golden compass the right path for the future generations.



Excavations at Pino Cave in Sassano


The Pino Cave was discovered accidentally in 1994 during building work carried out at the bottom of the southern slopes of the Cozzo dell’Uovo in the Vallo di Diano (Sassano), and is currently being excavated by the Superintendency of Antiquities of Salerno in collaboration with the University of Naples "Federico II". The original entrance has practically been completely obliterated by a modem building; it must have consisted of a small vertical shaft opened in the limestone rock that had been fractured by the collapse of the roof of an underlying cave. At the bottom of this shaft a debris cone, some 10 m high and with a base diameter of about 20 m, fills most of the cave, except for the eastern area, which is topographically lower and further from the entrance. Here the cave extends for about 20 m, the roof is lower and the walls converge progressively until it soon becomes too narrow to move in. The Pino Cave was used as a funerary cave during the Early and Middle Bronze Age (Protoapennine B phase), between about the 24th and the 15th century B.C. Short, sporadic occupations in historical times have been dated to around the mid 7th century B.C. on the basis of a dragon fibula and two spindle whorls. Several dozen burials have been found in the central area of the cave, or in other more inaccessible areas. The majority of the skeletons are no longer in anatomical connection; together with grave goods they have systematically been shifted to make room for later depositions. On top of them, in one of the hitherto more completely explored parts of the cave, it has been possible to identify the skeleton of a roe deer laid, probably as a final ritual offering, after the final rearrangement of the burials.Only one burial of one anatomically connected individual, beside whom a kid had been sacrificed, has been found beneath a narrow fissure in the wall at the bottom of the cave. The earlier phases of the utilization of the cave are characterized by a coarse ware with a typical ‘rusticated’ surface and by more refined hemispherical bowls with rich incised decoration that may be linked to the Laterza facies common in Puglia and Calabria, for which however massive documentation now exists also along the middle Tyrrhenian Sea side. The most intense occupation dates to the initial and advanced periods of the Middle Bronze Age, defined in the southern area with the term of Protoapennine (1 7th- l5th century B.C.), while for the time being no elements of the final phase of the period (Apennine) have so far been found. It is actually possible to ascribe to the Protoapennine the majority of the pottery types discovered so far, including carinated bowls and cups with their characteristic horizontal cylinder, notched, ax, trumpet and vertical handles, as well as numerous fragments of sherds decorated with relief cordons with complex motifs. All the sherds display strong relations with the production of the Tufariello Middle Bronze Age village and with the pottery from the Cardini Cave at Praia a Mare.A bronze axe and a bronze pendant were found in two different areas of the excavation. Also belonging to the same phase are fragments of a fine well depurated pottery, in some cases decorated with geometric brown painted motifs, of Aegean Mesohelladic origin, the production of which lasted from the early Mycenaean period (Mycenaean I - II) dated to the 16th – 15th century B.C.
As orginally posted by R Fornino here