sources and full version: new liturgical movement and pistoiajacobeo.it
Pistoia is intensely tied to its tradition of pilgrimages, proof of which can be found in historical documents, monuments and the city’s works of art. As of the 12th century, the town became the only officially recognised centre of the cult of Saint James in Italy when bishop Atto managed that a relic arrived from Santiago de Compostela in 1145. The relic was a fragment of the skull of the apostle James the Great – Giacomo il Maggiore, or Jacopo as he is also called in Italian – who was proclaimed Patron Saint of Pistoia.
Pilgrims on their way to Rome or to Santiago de Compostela could easily reach Pistoia as the town was well-connected with the Via Francigena, so they could visit the Chapel of Saint James, venerate the relic and pray for God’s grace by the intercession of the apostle.
In the second half of the 12th century, in order to assist pilgrims, an institution called Opera di San Jacopo was set up near the cathedral and next to the Bishop’s Palace. Its task was to look after and supervise the cult of the saint and administrate the Saint James’ Treasure
Hospices for pilgrims, for the poor and for wayfarers were built in town, among which were the Hospital of Saint James (mid 12th century), and the better known Spedale del Ceppo (late 13th century) which specialised in nursing the sick and later became the town’s main hospital. In the second half of the 14th century, the Tau hospice and hospital were founded and were of particular importance for the treatment of shingles.
In the year 1780, Pistoia suffered the terrible misfortune of receiving as its bishop one Scipione de’ Ricci, a creature of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. It was he who called the infamous Synod of Pistoia, whose program for liturgical reform (inter alia) was condemned in 1794 by Pope Pius VI beatae memoriae in the bull Auctorem Fidei. On the fatuous pretext that devotion to St James was distracting people from the Eucharist, since the chapel of the latter always had more candles lit around it, the entire chapel of St James was destroyed. A groove on a column at the back of the church is one of the few remaining signs of its presence.
