At the highest point of Proceno is the Church of Sant'Agnese da Montepulciano, patron saint of the village. It stands where, in 1283, the Monastery of the Sisters of Sacco was founded at the request of the Proceno community. It was led by a very young Agnese, just fifteen years old, who remained in Proceno for 23 years, becoming a central spiritual figure for the village. Inside there is a canvas from 1879 depicting the miraculous Communion of Saint Agnes , the work of Vincenzo Pacelli , nephew of Pope Pius XII. A marble epigraph , dated 1883, commemorates the sixth centenary of the arrival of the Saint in Proceno. The stained glass windows represent Saint Agnes and Saint Vincent Ferrer , patrons of the village.
The original monastery, dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle, has been lost, but it is assumed that some structures on Poggio di Sant'Agnese are remnants of it. After various collapses and reconstructions (1709, 1735, 1872), the current church was completed in 1880, built in a circular shape , with a central skylight and two stained glass windows. The entrance portal, in travertine, comes from the ducal hall of Palazzo Guido Ascanio Sforza .
The Garden of Sant'Agnese and the Miracle of the Holy Water
Next to the church is the ancient Garden of the Monastery , a place of recollection and meditation where, according to tradition, Agnese received the Eucharist directly from an angel for ten Sundays. This garden, overlooking the valley of the Stridolone stream , has a centuries-old olive tree at its center from which four new shoots grow.
In 1968 and 1998 the garden was restored. During the last intervention a polychrome terracotta by the artist Mario Vinci was placed, depicting Saint Agnes in the act of receiving the miraculous communion.
Going down towards Via di Sant'Agnese, you can see a shrine surrounded by three cypress trees , in the locality of Acquasanta: it is here that, according to tradition, Agnese miraculously made a spring flow to quench Sister Margherita's thirst during the journey.
Every April 20th, her feast day, a procession takes place from the center of the village to Poggio di Sant'Agnese.
A place still lived in
Today, the garden and the church are maintained by the faithful of the village. The place, cared for in detail, is open to all as a space of prayer, silence and beauty. The Saint is also remembered by Saint Catherine of Siena , who called her "Our Mother, glorious Agnes" and indicated her as an example of true humility.
Where
Via S. Agnese, 54, 01020 Proceno VT, Italia
