Article Archconfraternity of  GORBIO   / LABARUM 2014

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Patronal feast of Saint Barthélémy in Gorbio

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This summer event, which takes place every year  during the 3rd or 4th Sunday of August, celebrates its patron saint, one of the twelve apostles who spread the good news of Christ in Arabia, Mesopotamia_cc781905-5cde -3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_and as far as India.  He was martyred by being flayed alive (according to tradition).

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A blessing of the animals  at the level of the tercentenary abalone in the village square,   precedes the religious service in the Saint Barthélémy church. St Francis of Assisi  thus reminds us of the beauty and respect for the  creation.

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The offering of the Golden Apple which takes place during the Offertory of the Mass is the highlight of the religious tradition of this patronal feast. The inhabitants and in particular the young people  proudly carry a golden apple at the end of a sword  and bow before the monstrance presented by the celebrant_cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_; the last character hands the golden apple to the priest,   raises the sword in the air before throwing it sideways to a companion and bowing. This tradition goes back to medieval times when the noble knights brought their offerings to the ecclesiastical authority. This ceremony has retained a religious character symbolizing the struggle between good and evil.

After the service, a votive procession  with  the statuary representation of the saint, continues in   the alleys of the village, with its tête  the Great Cross of the Brotherhood of Penitents.

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This popular festival which begins the day before with aubades, then Sunday with a popular fervor,  the feast of a feast and the evening ball,   shows the social implications of this heritage. A   current trend   would be to make a dichotomy between religion and any secular activity. As part of any patronal celebration, this often insidious ideology would result in losing the origin and meaning of this event, creating popular disunity and forgetting   the heritage of our old.

Paul GILLET Prieur