Settefrati, a municipality in the Comino Valley, it belongs to the judicial district of Alvito, the judicial circuit and diocese of Sora, and the military district of Frosinone; it falls under the jurisdiction of the Civil and Criminal Court of Cassino, the Court of Assizes of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, and the Court of Appeal of Naples. It forms part of the electoral college of Sora, with 220 registered voters. It is 11 km from Alvito, 26 km from Sora, 42 km from Cassino, 106 km from S. Maria C. Vetere, 112 km from Caserta and 132 km from Naples.
It borders the mountain to the north Colle Nero (at 1,997 metres above sea level), to the east with Mount Meta (2,241 m), to the south with the municipality of Picinisco and to the west with the municipalities of Alvito and San Donato Val di Comino.
The Settefrati area is crossed from north to south by the Melfa, a left-hand tributary of the Liri; it rises from a stream flowing down from Monte Meta, passes Settefrati on its right, and flows past Picinisco and Atina, where it feeds the important and thriving The Visocchi Brothers’ Paper Mill, flows through the lands of Casalattico, Casalvieri and Santopadre, and joins the Liri near S. Giovanni Incarico, after a course of almost 60 kilometres. Of the streams and brooks that flow into the Melfa, the only one worthy of mention is the Mollarino and the Rio Molle, tributaries of the upper course.
Settefrati It lies on the right bank of the Melfa, 784 metres above sea level, and today has a population of around 3,000, mostly prosperous farmers and craftsmen. Censuses carried out in the 20th century show that the number of households in Settefrati has grown significantly: in fact, in 1816 Settefrati had 1,877 inhabitants, in 1861 2,248, in 1871 2,579, but in 1881 2,582 and in 1901 2,342. The causes of the population decline from 1881 to 1901 are to be found in permanent emigration abroad, a phenomenon of the last twenty years.
What are the origins and history of Settefrati?
Its origins are unclear. However, the Christian name ‘Settefrati’ itself, like that of S. Donato, suggests that the name of this village dates from no earlier than the martyrdom of the Seven Brothers, sons of St Felicita, which took place in 161 AD.
The Martyrdom of the Catholic Church, a work dating from the time of Saint Anterus (who died in 236), recounts “on the Xth day of July” that the Seven Brothers, sons of St Felicitas, were martyred in the presence of their mother for having proclaimed the Christian faith, during the reign of Emperor Antoninus.
"The martyrdom in Rome of the seven holy brothers, sons of Saint Felicitas, the martyrs, namely, Januarius, Felicius, Philip, Silvanus, Alexander, Vitalis, and Martialis, during the reign of Emperor Antoninus, under the Prefect of the City Publius: of whom Januarius, after being flogged and emaciated by imprisonment, was killed with lead weights; Felix and Philip were beaten to death with clubs; Silvanus was thrown to his death from a height; Alexander, Vitalis, and Martialis were put to death by capital sentence".
That concludes the Martyrology, followed by the following commentary.
On 23 November, the Church celebrates the feast day of a Roman woman named Felicitas, who was beheaded four months after the martyrdom of her seven sons; who were killed in 161, during the persecution of the followers of Christ, and are commemorated by Christians on 10 July each year. In Settefrati, today is a solemn feast day, as the Seven Brothers are the patron saints of the village, to which they gave their name.
The account of the holy mother’s martyrdom relates that, having been widowed, she vowed chastity to God and devoted her life solely to raising her children in the Christian faith; and that under Antoninus Pius (138–61), having previously been compelled in vain on other occasions to sacrifice to false and deceitful gods, was, for her haughty refusal of such impiety, condemned to martyrdom.
Her ultimate sacrifice was not merely her beheading: even more heart-rending and inhuman was having to witness the torture of her seven children, whom she had encouraged with words full of faith and hope to endure the most savage torments, in order to glorify Jesus Christ.
Having attained the palm of martyrdom after her children, she was buried in Via Salaria Nuova in the Cemetery of Massimo: there, in November 1884, the archaeologist G. B. De Rossi, whilst the foundations were being laid for the building designed by the engineer Nodari, discovered a most exquisite seventh-century fresco depicting St Felicita with her seven children and the initials of their names.
This explains how, in the early centuries of the Christian era, when strong faith inspired marvellous acts of heroism, the inhabitants of a village in Cominium (1) were inspired by the story of love, martyrdom and glory of the Seven Brothers, as told to them by evangelisers from other towns, and thus gave the name ‘Seven Friars’ to their castle, and then the same name (2) to a parish church, and the name of St Mary to the pagan shrine at Canneto.
It should be noted, however, that the name of Christ could not have been unknown to the ancient inhabitants of Settefrati, for in nearby Sora, St Julian had been preaching the new religion since the year 161, and was martyred there near the temple of Serapis. The blood of this young Dalmatian, the first martyr of the Sora region, sowed the seeds of Christianity, so much so that in 272 Sora was granted a bishopric. In the Sora region, the new believers were
(1) Cominium, the destroyed city of the Caraceni Samnites, was situated on the western slopes of the Apennines, between Alvito and S. Donato. In this vicinity, coins from the Imperial period, small idols, architectural reliefs, tombstones bearing the names of Republican magistrates and other artefacts from the Roman era have been discovered. Settefrati must have been a village belonging to Cominium.
(2) In Settefrati there is the parish of the Seven Holy Brothers and a modern church dedicated to them, but it is closed to the public because, having been built only within the main walls, it was never plastered due to a strange dream of an excitable woman, on the basis of which the common folk came to believe that God did not wish to be worshipped in that place.
Furthermore, in memory of St Felicita, there is a small chapel in Settefrati with miraculous water, where people suffering from rickets go to bathe; and in honour of St Felice, the second son of St Felicita, who was beaten to death with a stick, a church was built in the Cominese area, in “actu S. Urbani”, donated to Montecassino along with one hundred moggia of surrounding land by Count Marso Oderisio in 1010; so states the Ostiense.
strengthened in the faith by the ministry of St Restituta, who was martyred in 275. Furthermore, the nearby town of Atina had St Mark Galileo as its bishop in the year 42 AD, at the behest of St Peter himself, and other fervent propagators of the faith in the successive bishops Fulgenzio (95 AD) and Massimo (312), who founded churches in Atina and the surrounding villages.
From Atinese News It is also known that, during the first half of the 4th century, Christian doctrines were openly professed in the Cominese area: this is consistent with the Edict of Constantine, issued in Milan in 313, which granted the Christian Church public freedom of worship, and with that of Valentinian Flavius Placidus, of 435, which encouraged people to embrace the new religion.
It is clear from the above that Settefrati, although its origin is pagus whether earlier or later, it took on this name around the fifth century, bearing in mind that our fellow countrymen were and are reluctant to embrace new ideas. This view is supported by Paulus Orosius, a fifth-century historian and disciple of Saint Augustine (334–430), who, in his History Against the Pagans, states that even when the religion of Christ was dominant and the state religion, the pagans still worshipped the gods of Olympus in the villages.
But a very important document, which explicitly mentions Settefrati The first mention comes from Leone Ostiense (11th century), who, in his *Chronicle* of the churches scattered throughout the Cominese area and belonging to his Abbey of Montecassino, also mentions the church of St Paul «in the region of the Castelli Septemfratrum», donated to the Benedictines of Cassino in 1012.
Now, if Settefrati, at the dawn of the 11th century, had a church that was already considered to be of some importance in the documents of the time, it is reasonable to assume that a cluster of dwellings had been built up around it for some time, if only for rural folk. And since there is also mention of a castle (1) in Settefrati as early as 1012, this tells us that our Settefrati was a village: a fiefdom under the control of a vassal.
Who was this feudal lord, and to whom was he answerable?
It is worth noting that in the sixth century the Duchy of Benevento e Zottone, the first duke, sacked the Cassinese Monastery in 389, (2) destroyed the town of Atina and seized by force the lands belonging to others, many of which in the Cominese Valley and the Sorana Valley belonged to Montecassino.
In 744 Gisulfo, another Duke of Benevento, made amends for the wrongs committed by his ruthless predecessor by donating to the Abbey of Cassino the lands it had previously owned, as well as further lands. The original charter of this donation no longer exists; however, it is confirmed in a papal bull of Pope Zacharias of 745, in the provision of
1) By calling Castellum Settetrati, the author informs us that this was an inhabited site, complete with towers, a fortification and a moat, for this is the sense in which the Ostiense uses the term. Of the medieval towers, one stood where the Town Hall now stands, and another can still be seen, to the left of the mother church, and is well preserved.
(2) “Shortly before the year 590, the city of Atina was captured and destroyed by Zottone. On that occasion, Bishop Felice also met his death there” Thus Ferdinando Hirsch in the Duchy of Benevento.
“Pope Pelagius (556–561) ordained Felice as bishop of Atina, who took up his seat on 19 March 530. He built the Church of St Mary, known as the ”small church’, and was martyred by the Duke of Benevento, whilst the town and the larger church were also destroyed.” Chronica Atinensis
Desiderius in 761 and in a charter issued by Charlemagne in 787.
Thus, between 1011 and 1022, Verardo, son of Punzone and Quinizo, son of Stefano, swore allegiance to Atenolfo, abbot of Montecassino (1011–22), as a vassal of the county of Sora; which at that time also included Settefrati and belonged to the Benedictines of Monte Cassino. This is recorded in the Regesto by Pietro Diacono (fol. CCLV, no. 619), a 12th-century chronicler from Monte Cassino.
However, in the second half of the 11th century, the lands of the Comino Valley came under new ownership. Indeed, in the *Catalogus Baronum* of the Kingdom of Naples, as described during the era of the Norman kings by G. Boni, the chapter states «Domini de Aquino» that «Lan. Dulphus de Aquino, as stated by Atenulphus Casertanus, holds from the Lord King seven brothers, which is a fief comprising three knights and an eighth part of Aquini».
The de Aquino family were descended from a branch of the Lombard dukes of Benevento and, with unparalleled audacity, had managed to rise from the rank of Gastaldi to that of Counts through the conquest of significant territories. During the time when Desiderio was abbot of Montecassino (1053–87), their power also extended to the Comino Valley.
During this period, the various brothers of the the d’Aquino family, including Landolfo, who was also lord of Settefrati and the founder of Alvito Castle, built in the late 11th century, as clearly stated on the plaque which, during the rule of the Cantelmo Dukes (1350–1497), was set into the top of the main gate: «If you seek a craftsman, let Landulphus be your name»: If you're asking about the founder, his name is Landolfo.
Very few and incomplete are the documents that remain from the rule of the Counts of Aquino in the Cominese area, and particularly in Settefrati.
Settefrati shared Alvito’s fortunes, for better or for worse. In 1139, the Timeline, which the Norman king Roger seized from the Kingdom of Naples, the Cominese. When the Swabians came to power, Henry VI returned it to Montecassino in 1194, only for Frederick II to take it back in 1229, who «By driving the papal forces out of the Comino Valley, he brought everything back under his control», says Galeotti. The Emperor first appointed one of his own governors there; then, around 1248, he granted Cominese to Adenolfo di Aquino, and it remained in his family for a long time.
Following Charles of Anjou’s victory over the Swabians at Benevento (1265) and Tagliacozzo (1266), he, as King of Naples, set about persecuting the barons who opposed him. The D’Aquino lords, as they were among the vassals who had not sworn allegiance to him, were stripped of their fiefs. The D’Aquino brothers were: Federico, Iacopo, Tommaso, Adenolfo and Enrico.
To punish Thomas Aquinas for his treason, Charles I of Anjou, by a decree of May 1273, stripped him of the feudal estates he held in the castles of Settefrati, Alvito, S. Donato and Campoli, and granted them to Ugone de Crittillon. The latter, in exchange for the castle of S. Giovanni Incarico, renounced the said estates, which the King granted to Eustasio de Faylle.
Charles II of Anjou (1248–1309) subsequently granted them to Pietro de Cornay and Goffredo de Jamville in 1293, from whom they were inherited by their son Filippo. Giovanni Pipino purchased them from them and gave them as a dowry to his daughter Maria, wife of Adenolfo d’Aquino. King Robert of Anjou validated this gift by royal decree in 1313.
However, not all of the Cominese territory had returned to the D’Aquino brothers. In 1318, Adenolfo bought back from Guarnazzone di Anagni one-twelfth of Alvito Castle and other parts of Settefrati, Sandonato and Campoli.
In 1303, Cristoforo d’Aquino styled himself Count of Ercole, lord of the castles of Alvito, Settefrati, S. Donato and Campoli. But he dared to pursue his aim without the King’s consent and, in agreement with his tenants in Alvito, Settefrati and elsewhere, defied the King by refusing to pay an annual tribute. Threatened with expulsion, he surrendered and divided his lands in the Comino area among his three sons: Adenolfo II, Berardo and Cristoforo. The latter died, leaving only his daughter Margherita, who in 1313 ceded to her uncles Adenolfo II and Berardo the third part of Alvito, Settefrati, Sandonato and Campoli which she possessed by paternal succession.
The plan to reconquer the entire Cominese region was taken up by Adenolfo II. Assisted by his brother and favoured by King Robert of Anjou (1309–43), who, among other things, awarded him the military chain in 1317, granting him the authority to impose on his vassals in Alvito, Settefrati, San Donato and Campoli to cover the costs of acquiring the honorary insignia.
In 1320, the King redeemed almost all the estates previously owned by the D’Aquino family in Alvito, Settefrati, S. Donato and Campoli, in favour of Adenolfo II.
He died in 1321, leaving behind a young son, who in 1337 took over the reins of power from his paternal uncle Berardo, the regent, and received an oath of allegiance from his vassals.
His name was Adenolfo III, and he died amidst the ruins of Alvito Castle in the earthquake of 9 September 1349, which destroyed the Cominese, the Cassinese Monastery and the lands of S. Germano.
Just as Settefrati passed from the rule of the feudal lords D’Aquino (1270–382) to that of the Cantelmos (1384–497), Ioffrè Borgia (1497–506), Pietro Navarro (1507–15), the Cardona family (1513–92) and finally the Gallio family (1595–1806) is recounted in great detail and with extensive documentation by Santoro in Scattered Pages of Alvitana History, to which I refer the reader.
From the book “Settefrati and the Sanctuary of Canneto in Legend and History” (1910) by Achille Lauri