This partnership is relatively recent, yet it has already produced significant results in terms of activities and community participation. It began in Venafro, Italy, when the Conventual Franciscans arrived at the city’s Franciscan friary, taking over its administration from the Capuchin Franciscans and assuming responsibility for the adjacent cemetery basilica dedicated to the patron saint, St. Nicander. His remains repose in the crypt beneath the church, which draws numerous faithful from Venafro and beyond each day. Today, Conventual Franciscan friars from Romania care for this important place of worship.
This marks the starting point for describing the positive relationship that has developed between the people of Venafro and the four Conventual Franciscan friars who serve in the city under the leadership of their Guardian and Pastor, Friar Augustin VEREȘ. From the moment they arrived, the faithful expressed their appreciation and gratitude for the friars’ service. The relationship grew even stronger during the recent patronal festivities honoring the Holy Martyrs Nicander, Marcian, and Daria. In A.D. 303, these saints were martyred during the persecutions of the Roman Empire. They met their deaths with faith and steadfastness, helping Christianity spread throughout the important Roman center of Venafro and bringing an end to paganism.
The Conventual Franciscan friars played a leading role in the celebrations honoring the Martyrs of Venafro alongside their Minister General, Friar Carlos TROVARELLI, who was present in the city for the principal religious events held at the basilica and other celebration venues. The patronal festivities assumed great religious and social significance, enhanced by the participation of distinguished representatives of the Church in the Italian region of Molise.
Particularly significant was the presence of the Most Reverend Camillo CIBOTTI, Bishop of Isernia-Venafro, and the Most Reverend Claudio PALUMBO, Bishop of Termoli-Larino and a native of Venafro. Together with the Minister General of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, their presence added further solemnity to the celebrations. Also noteworthy was the participation of Friars Franco GITTO and Gianpiero RITROVATO, Capuchin friars who had previously served as Superiors and Rectors of the Friary and Basilica of St. Nicander [San Nicandro] before being assigned to other friaries in Molise. Their presence demonstrated the enduring bond that continues to unite them with the Venafro community and its holy martyrs.
The 2026 patronal festivities, already historically significant because of their strong public participation and their religious and cultural importance, took on even greater significance during the celebrations held on June 16, 17, and 18.
The program opened earlier with the Month of St. Nicander, a month-long devotional observance marked by dawn services in the basilica. Priests from throughout the Diocese of Isernia-Venafro, together with the Conventual and Capuchin friars, participated in this spiritual preparation for the mid-June feast days.
The central phase of the celebrations began on June 16 with an evening procession during which the statues of the holy martyrs were transferred from the Church of the Most Holy Annunciation (Santissima Annunziata) to the Basilica of the Patron Saint. The day concluded with Solemn Evening Prayer presided over by Bishop CIBOTTI.
On June 17, the feast day of St. Nicander, a Pontifical Mass was celebrated in the basilica. The liturgy included the traditional symbolic presentation of the keys of the city to the holy martyrs so that they may continue to protect Venafro and its inhabitants. Bishop PALUMBO presided over Mass later that evening.
The festivities concluded on June 18 with a solemn and widely attended procession of the holy statues. The procession was accompanied by the traditional hymn to the holy martyrs, a splendid composition dating from 1881, with lyrics by the Venafro poet Raffaele ATELLA and music by Domenico CRISCUOLO, a canon of the Church of Venafro.
The hymn remains one of the most distinctive and meaningful elements of the entire patronal feast. It was performed several times by the faithful of all ages and social backgrounds, accompanied by the town band leading the procession. Thus, by singing the lyrics, “Let us sing a hymn of praise, O people of Venafro, to the brave and magnanimous heroes Nicander, Marcian, and Daria…,” the people of Venafro renewed, with deep conviction, their faith in those who, 1,723 years ago, established Christianity in Venafro with their own blood.
Tonino ATELLA
The friars of Venafro
