Jubilee of Swiss brotherhoods: a major first in Ticino
Keystone-SDA
Catholic brotherhoods from all over Switzerland gathered in Lugano for the first time in their centuries-long history.
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Under the patronage of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, they celebrated the ‘Jubilee of the Brotherhoods’ to mark the Holy Year.
Some 40 brotherhoods from German-speaking, French-speaking and Romansh-speaking Switzerland, as well as from Italy and France, took part in this grand premiere, Jubilee spokesman Davide Adamoli told Keystone-ATS on Sunday.
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The event began with a mass celebrated in Saint-Laurent Cathedral by the Bishop of Lugano, Mgr Alain de Raemy. Accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Stabio and the Militia in Aquila costume, the brotherhoods, carrying their banners, then headed in procession towards the city centre and the church of San Rocco.
The Diocese of Lugano is the headquarters of the Union des Confréries (UCDL), which groups together most of the 70 associations active in Switzerland. It was also in Lugano, in 2020, that the ‘Pan-European Forum of Brotherhoods’ was founded The forum currently has 28,000 brotherhoods with a total of some six million members.
Switzerland has around 200 active Catholic brotherhoods. Apart from Ticino, they are generally spread across the cantons of Uri, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schwyz, Lucerne, Solothurn, Aargau, Fribourg and Valais, but there are also some in other cantons. The oldest is the Immaculate Conception in Romont (FR), founded in 1336.
The most recent are those founded by Peruvian immigrants in Zurich, Geneva and Lausanne. They are mainly dedicated to public worship, prayers for the dead and charity in the service of the community.
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Translated from French with DeepL/mga
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