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Occhieppo Inferiore (Biella)- Sanctuary of St. Clement
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Show to visit in the Biella area: |
 The Sanctuary of San Clemente is located just outside the town of Occhieppo Inferiore.
STORY
The current Sanctuary of San Clemente was built in the early Middle Ages, before 1000, as the church of a inhabited area that has now disappeared. It depended on the Pieve of Santo Stefano in Biella. This inhabited area was already abandoned in the thirteenth century with the then Church of San Clemente becoming associated with the parish church of Sant'Antonino in Occhieppo Inferiore.
Still at the end of the fifteenth century, the Church of San Clemente was considered a parish church, although united with that of Sant'Antonino.
Between the end of the fifteenth and the first part of the sixteenth century the choir of the medieval church of the time, a small rectangular building, was entirely decorated with devotional frescoes depicting the Virgin Mary and the most venerated saints in the area. More and more miraculous graces were attributed to these sacred images, in particular to the one today in the chapel at the head end of the right aisle, which led to a progressive increase in the number of faithful who visited the church, so much so that the church was transformed into a small sanctuary. At the end of the sixteenth century it was thus decided to build a new church, transforming the end part of the old one into the presbytery of the new one. The facade bears the date 1598.
In 1683 the construction of the bell tower began (which was further raised in 1725).
In 1767 the sacristy was built.
Unfortunately, while carrying out the works relating to these two additions, two of the frescoes in the choir were "cut" to make room for the doors.
In the eighteenth century the vault of the presbytery was demolished to bring it to its present level.
In 1900, the organ was installed on the counter-facade, coming from the Basilica of San Sebastiano in Biella and recently it was restored.
The farmhouse annexed to the Church is an integral part of it having been built as the residence of the Chaplain and, later, of the Hermits (of whom only a few names are known) who were the guardians of the Church. In the last century the farmhouse and the adjoining land were rented by a peasant family.
STRUCTURE
Externally the church is almost entirely in exposed brick and river pebbles, with a basilical structure and a not very high bell tower located at the back of the building. The percentage of brick and river pebbles is variable, with river pebbles being more prevalent in the side walls and in the lower two-thirds of the bell tower. The walls of the central nave are mainly in brick, as is the façade, while the upper part of the bell tower, evidently corresponding to the part added in 1725, is totally in brick.
The structure of the building is still predominantly Renaissance. The façade is punctuated vertically by pilasters and horizontally by cornices and is enriched, under the junction of the roof, by dentil decorations, which also extend into the side walls. The top part of the central section is the only part plastered.
The entrance door in the center has a brick portal. Unfortunately the fresco in the lunette is no longer legible. The one in the niche immediately above the portal is instead much better preserved. In it a Nursing Virgin is represented.
In the facade there are three oculi. The central one at the top has been modified, while the lateral ones, on the other hand, are the same as those present in the side walls marked by very pronounced pilasters corresponding to the junctions between the internal spans.
The interior is very sober and includes three naves. The central nave has a lunetted barrel vault with rectangular windows in the lunettes on the right side, but not in those on the left side. The junction of the vault is underlined by a thick cornice which also runs along the entire presbytery and the choir and is interrupted only at the counter-façade. The spans of the side aisles have cross vaults instead.
The side aisles are separated from the central one by stone columns on which round arches rest. Exceptions are the two columns closest to the presbitery, which are embedded within thick cruciform-section pillars.
There are no side chapels and all the decorations are concentrated in the presbytery, in the choir and in the two side spans closest to the presbytery.
The left side span ends, towards the presbytery, with a chapel dedicated to St. Joseph. In it there is practically only the space for the fake marble altar in Baroque style. The vault of the span is decorated with ecclesiastical symbols.
The right one ends instead with the Chapel of the so-called Madonna di Mondoni (Fig. 4). The walls of the chapel are frescoed to simulate frames, stuccos and vestments. Also in this case there is a faux marble altar in Baroque style. Above it there is a sumptuous altarpiece in carved and gilded wood which frames a Nursing Virgin, known as the "Madonna di Mondoni". It is not an altarpiece, but a fresco, probably from the fifteenth century, evidently already part of the previous church, and it is the oldest fresco in the sanctuary. The style is in fact still fully Gothic, with great attention placed on the exquisitely decorative details, such as the carvings of the throne, the crown, the mantle. According to Lebole it could have been painted by the same artist who painted the Madonna enthroned with sleeping Child in the Cathedral of Biella. It should be noted that the fresco in the niche of the facade reproduces this older one in a very faithful way.
Also the vault of the span and the intrados of the arch towards the central nave are frescoed with decorative motifs. Note on the wall the ex votos for the graces attributed to the Virgin Mary.
At the center of the presbytery is the high altar, also in Baroque style and made of imitation marble. Above it hangs from the ceiling a small carved wooden canopy.
The relatively large size of the altar actually interferes a bit with the vision of the frescoes on the walls of the choir. These are votive frescoes, created by various painters and workshops of the Biella and Novara areas in the period between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
On the right wall there are, on the right, an unusual St. Sebastian (unfortunately mutilated by the opening of the door) in sixteenth-century clothes and two arrows in his hand and, on the left, a St. Silvester Pope, a saint invoked in those times by the cowherds and probably the commissioners of the fresco were precisely the cowherds of Occhieppo, as the presence of two small oxen at the saint's feet also leads us to believe.
On the back wall (larger picture) are depicted, from left to right, a Madonna with Child enthroned and twice St. Clement in pontifical robes. In the Virgin with Child, note the touch of realism represented by the drape behind her depicted as hanging from the frame of the fresco. The St. Clement in the center is attributed to Gaspare da Ponderano and is thought to be the oldest fresco of those in the choir. It was probably painted still in the fifteenth century.
On the left wall the frescoes are distributed on two levels. In the lower one, from left to right, there are St. Sebastian and St. Clement, unfortunately both mutilated by the opening of the other door, Madonna enthroned with Child (very well preserved), also in this case with the drape that simulates being hooked to the frame, St. Fabian with client, Madonna enthroned with Child (note the inscription "In nomine comunitatis ", indicating that the fresco was commissioned by the entire community). In the lunette there is then a third Madonna enthroned with Child, flanked by two saints, unfortunately without the upper part. The one on the left could be again St. Clement.
Finally, the precious organ in the choir loft on the counter-façade deserves a special mention. It comes from the Basilica of San Sebastiano, from which it was transferred to its current location in 1900. It was built by the brothers Giuseppe and Pietro Clemente Ramasco Fagnani in 1786 and has the particularity of being a "ottavino" organ and is the brother of the Peisey-Nancroix organ in Savoy, built by the same organists in 1773.
The organ was restored between 1994 and 1998.
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value
Via Vecchia per Ivrea, 13897 Occhieppo Inferiore BI |
Sanctuary of St. Clement: Further pictures in the section Photography |