Processional cross (Lazio)

Confraternity of St. Anthony of Padua

The Processional Cross, which is distinguished by the lilies that bloom at the apexes of the arms, dates back to the 19th century and belonged to the ancient Confraternity of S. Antonio. This Confraternity, founded in the last quarter of the 16th century in its own church located next to the Convent of the Friars Minor Conventual, was first suspended, at the time of Napoleonic domination, and then completely suppressed with the advent of the Kingdom of Italy.

The Cross was built in the first half of the nineteenth century to replace the older one which probably dates back to the birth of the Confraternity. The sixteenth-century Christ is now exhibited in the Diocesan Museum of Velletri, while the Cross was donated by Bishop Andrea Maria Erba to the rebuilt Confraternity dedicated to the Saint of Padua. Velletri, a very ancient city of the Volsci, already authoritative at the time of Anco Marzio, so much so that it could be treated on an equal footing with Rome, the historian Dionysius of Alicarnassus defines it ἐπιφανής (epiphanés), "illustrious". It is the seat of the suburbicarian seat of Velletri-Segni, and was the scene of two historic battles: in 1744 and 1849. Velletri was in the Middle Ages one of the few free municipalities in Lazio and central Italy, and one of the very few cities to preserve a own city life.