Hermitage of Sant'Angelo, Lettomanoppello

Hermitage of Sant'Angelo
Eremo di Sant'Angelo
View of the hermitage
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Province	Province of Pescara
Region	Abruzzo
Location
Municipality	Lettomanoppello
State	Italy

Eremo di Sant'Angelo (Italian for Hermitage of Sant'Angelo) is an hermitage located in Lettomanoppello, Province of Pescara (Abruzzo, Italy).

History

Remains of the church

There is no definite information about the origin of the hermitage. The only source is the Decrees of the First Holy Visit of the Bishop of Chieti Giosuè Maria Saggese from 1844, which mentions the presence of a ruined church in the district of S. Angelo in Lettomanoppello, where an annual procession was held every May 8th.

A possible dating of the hermitage can be inferred from the statue of Saint Michael the Archangel found inside it, believed to be the work of the same artisans who sculpted the statue of the Angel Gabriel placed beside the window of the apse of the Church of San Tommaso in Caramanico Terme, dating back to the 13th century.

Architecture

The cave is about 22 meters wide and 8 meters deep, divided in two by a rocky wall. Inside the entrance hall is a rectangular enclosure paved with stone slabs, called the bed of Sant'Angelo, which could represent the remains of the ancient church mentioned by Saggese.

High up in the center of the cave, placed on a capital, is the statue of Saint Michael the Archangel, previously likely housed inside the church. The statue currently present in the hermitage is a reproduction of the original, which is kept in the Museo delle Genti d'Abruzzo in Pescara.

Sources

• Micati, Edoardo (2000). "Grotta di San Domenico". Eremi d'Abruzzo. Guida ai luoghi di culto rupestri (in Italian). Pescara: Carsa Edizioni. pp. 118–119. ISBN 88-85854-74-5.

External links

• "Sant'Angelo di Lettomanoppello" (in Italian). Regione Abruzzo. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.