Martyrs of Otranto
Antonio Primaldo and his companion martyrs, also known as the Martyrs of Otranto, were 800 inhabitants of the Salentine city of Otranto who were killed on 14 August 1480 for refusing to convert to Islam after the city fell to an Ottoman force under Gedik Ahmed Pasha. They were beatified in 1771 and canonised on 12 May 2013.[1] They are the patron saints of the city of Otranto the Archdiocese of Otranto.
History
On 28 July 1480 an Ottoman force of 90 galleys, 40 galeottes and other ships (carrying a total of around 150 crew and 18,000 troops) from Valona landed its force beneath the walls of Otranto. The city strongly resisted the Ottoman assaults, but it only contained around 6,000 inhabitants and was unable to resist the bombardment for long. The garrison and all the townsfolk thus abandoned the main city on 29 July, retreating into the citadel whilst the Ottomans began bombarding the neighbouring houses.
When Pasha asked the defenders to surrender, they refused and so the Ottoman artillery resumed the bombardment. On 11 August, after a 15 day siege, Pasha ordered the final assault, which broke through the defences and captured the citadel. In the massacre which followed, all men over 15 years old were killed and all the women and children were enslaved. According to some historical accounts, a total of 12,000 were killed and 5,000 enslaved, including victims from the territories of the Salentine peninsula around the city[2].
Some survivors and the city's clergy took refuge in the cathedral to pray with their elderly archbishop Stefano Pendinelli. Pasha ordered them to convert to Islam, but received a flat refusal and so broke into the cathedral with his men and killed all those inside. This included Pendinelli, who encouraged the survivors to turn to God at the point of death but was skewered and cut to pieces with scimitars before having his head cut off, put on a pike and carried round the city. Pasha then turned the cathedral into a stable and sawed the garrison commander Francesco Largo to pieces whilst still alive.
The townsfolk's leader was now the old tailor Antonio Pezzulla, known as Il Primaldo, who also refused to convert to Islam. On 14 August Pasha tied up the survivors and transported them to the nearby colle della Minerva, where at least 800 were beheaded, with their parents and families forced to assist in and attend the executions. Primaldo was the first to be beheaded - tradition holds that his decapitated body remained standing until the final person was beheaded, despite his executioners' efforts to push him over. The chronicles record that an Ottoman Turk called Bersabei saw how bravely the Otrantines were dying, converted to Christianity and was impaled by his own comrades.
After thirty months Otranto was recaptured by an Aragonese force under Alfonso of Aragon, son of the king of Naples.
Relics
On 13 October 1481 the bodies of the Otrantines were found uncorrupted and were translated to the city's cathedral. From 1485 some of the martyrs' remains were transferred to Naples and placed under the altar of the Our Lady of the Rosary in the church of Santa Caterina a Formiello - that altar commemorated the final Christian victory over the Ottomans at Lepanto in 1571. They were later moved to the reliquary chapel, consecrated by pope Orsini, then to a site under the altar where they are now sited. A recognitio canonica between 2002 and 2003 confirmed their authenticity.
In 1930 monsignor Cornelio Sebastiano Cuccarollo O.F.M. was made archbishop of Otranto and as a sign of affection and recognition to his old diocese gave some of the relics to the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Valleverde in Bovina (where he had been bishop from 1923 to 1930), where they are now in the crypt of the new basilica. Other relics of the martyrs are venerated in several locations in Puglia, in particular in Salento, and in Naples, Venice and Spain.
Cult
A canonical process began in 1539 and ended on 14 December 1771, when pope Clement XIV beatified the 800 killed on the colle della Minerva and authorised their cult - since then they have been the protectors of Otranto.
In view of their possible canonisation, at the request of the archdiocese of Otranto, the process was recently resumed and confirmed in full the previous process. On 6 July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree recognising that Primaldo and his fellow townsfolk were killed "out of hatred for their faith". On 20 December 2012 Benedict gave a private audience to cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate a decree regarding the miracle of the healing of sister Francesca Levote, attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Antonio Primaldo and his Companions Martyrs[3].
The martyrs will be canonized on 12 May 2013 - this was announced in a consistory on 11 February 2013, during which Benedict also announced in Latin his intention to renounce the papacy, taking effect on 28 February.
References
- ^ Article on Il Sole
- ^ Paolo Ricciardi, Gli Eroi della Patria e i Martiri della Fede: Otranto 1480-1481, Vol. 1, Editrice Salentina, 2009
- ^ Promulgation of the decree of the Congregation of Causes of Saints
Bibliography
- Template:It icon Paolo Ricciardi, Gli Eroi della Patria e i Martiri della Fede: Otranto 1480-1481, Vol. 1, Editrice Salentina, 2009
- Template:It icon Grazio Gianfreda, I beati 800 martiri di Otranto, Edizioni del Grifo, 2007