I cappuccini in Salento. Testimoni e apostoli di misericordia (secoli XVI-XVII)

The Capuchins came to Salento in 1533, precisely in Rugge. The apostolate of the friars in the Land of Otranto in the sixteenth (XVI) and the seventeenth (XVII) centuries wassupported by the love of God expressed in works of bodily and spiritual mercy. Lovers of the fraternity and of the people, the Capuchins worked in society and comforted with the word of God and with their good example every category of people: nobles and populace; sick and dying; inmates and condemned to death; plague victims and incurables. Alongside the social apostolate, they also dedicated themselves to the cultural one, producing numerous devotional and scientific works. They also committed themselves in the delicate task of preaching and popular missions, as well as in foreign missions. They founded pious works such as hospitals, pawnshops (Montis pietatis), confraternities, religious guilds and charitable groups; eventually they spread the practise of the forty hours. Among the names of Capuchins in Salento emerge those of Pacifico from Sant'Eufemia (1605) and Girolamo from Torre Santa Susanna (1648).