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Along the via di Campoli towards Mercatale, near the crossroads of the Quattro Strade, there is a lovely tabernacle pillar with a polychrome terra-cotta on the inside.
Up until the 1970s, pregnant women came here to get water from a small well under the Tabernacle. It was said that women who drank that water produced abundant milk for the newborn.
The image inside of the tabernacle is Sant’Agata, martyred in the middle of the 1300s. Tradition says that after suffering much torture, her breasts where torn off and she was imprisoned.
On midnight of the third day, the apostle Peter accompanied by a child with a lantern appeared and restored her amputation. That is why the area where the Tabernacle is found is called Santa’Agata.
This antique tradition is no longer followed and only the elderly remember it.
The problem is that nobody cares for the tabernacle. The grate fell after being detached from the stone.
The conditions of the wooden frame which encloses the glass is also in a precarious state.
The votives that were attached around the image (bonnets, hats, socks and even silver objects) have been removed as well.
The last person to take care of this tabernacle was Anna, (“Annetta” for the inhabitants of the Quattro Strade), who lived in a nearby house.
The tabernacle is now in serious danger, so we are launching an appeal for someone to save the relic.
Antonio Taddei
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