The parchment

11 July 1652: an important date for the history of Sant’Efisio and Cagliari. It is that of the first formal written documentation of the perpetual vow assumed by Councilors and citizens of the General Council of the Municipality of Cagliari before the spread of the plague in Sardinia.
They invoke the intercession of Sant’Efisio to save the city from the infection: “…All unanimous and unified have established and sworn by solemn vow that the City will observed a feast, every year perpetually, donating fifty pounds of wax and participating it and the music to enhance the celebration”….
It is a vow made by the laic power which flanks the Church: as a matter of fact “…they approve to send an embassy to the Archbishop… so that he can establish that, from now on, a feast will be celebrated… every year the day of the feast, with music… to make it more solemn.”
This first commitment will be later complemented with subsequent decisions which will oblige the municipal coffers in favour of the Church of Sant’Efisio.
Very strong remains the call of the feast and music: these features make the event a unique opportunity which pieces together the Sardinian cultural heritage in all its components.
The documents of these important testimonies are still conserved in the Archives of the Municipality of Cagliari, the Archiepiscopal Curia and the Arciconfraternita di Sant’Efisio Martire in memory of an uninterrupted appointment.
“Ad attrus annus” (see you next years) declares the president of the Arciconfraterita on the night of May, 4th for over 362 years in the little Church in Stampace. The uninterrupted faith to Sant’Efisio by Cagliari and the entire Sardinia is, in this way, strengthened.

Barbara Terenzi

Translation by Giusy Pitzeri

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