Stella Matutina: Marian devotion in Gorizia
In our usual August appointment, we delve into the Marian theme linked to a specific community, that of Gorizia, where the cult of Our Lady was very much felt.
The community of the Jesuit fathers in Gorizia has been closed for several years, but the long work of the apostolate carried out for decades has left a deep mark and survives in the Stella Matutina institute. Precisely in Gorizia, in fact, the Marian cult was declined in various initiatives by the Jesuits, involving children and the population.
The Jesuits edited the periodical ‘Stella Matutina’, which we keep in the archives, and above all they ran the centre of the same name, ensuring a very wide cultural offer. At the centre there was a film forum, which over the years became a point of reference not only for young people but also for film critics; art exhibitions, conferences on literature, current affairs and public debates were organised here.
In addition, the Jesuit fathers were engaged in interreligious and multicultural dialogue involving both the Italian and Slovenian-speaking population, believers and atheists, neighbouring towns, believers of other confessions in a multilingual dialogue that was and is impregnated in the social fabric of Gorizia and the Gorizia area. In the course of time, the institute was associated with the Virgin Mary, both through the name of the magazine written here, “Stella Matutina”, one of the appellations of the Marian figure, and the cult that the novices dedicated to Our Lady, in the month of May and also practised in Gorizia.
The link between the Jesuits and Gorizia goes back a long way. In fact, they had founded a college here in the 17th century and, after the reconstitution of the Society in 1814, they returned to the city, which was also the seat of the novitiate of the Veneto-Milan Province, in the first decades of the 20th century.
The Jesuits’ activities are today the subject of historical research, also thanks to the numerous documentary types that tell us about the Gorizia institute, such as the photographs that document the transformation of the building from novitiate to cultural centre and the numerous activities of the fathers. The photograph shows some printed documents produced in the institute of Stella Matutina.
Maria Macchi
