MY FAMILY - Origin -

My family is coming from Castelgrande, (Potenza, Basilicata, Italy), a small village 970 metres high, on the mountains of the Appennino Lucano.

For wiewing some pictures and some news about Castelgrande click here

I've found the Family Coat of Arms.

In the Mother Church of Castelgrande, my family had an Altair (the 1.st on the right). On a stone there was written

HIC TUBAE SONITUM EXPECTANT OSSA

FAMILIAE DE SANCTIS

HUMATA AB ANNO 1492

USO. AD. RESTAUR. ECCLESIAE AN. 1871

(Inscription on the tombal stone of the DE SANCTIS family, placed in the S. Mary of Visitation Chapel, near the Baptismal Fountain of the Mother Church of Castelgrande, destroyed by the earthquake of November 23, 1980)

In this place the mortal remains of the DE SANCTIS family buried since 1492 are waiting for the sound of the tubes. Chapel repaired in the year 1871.

The right to be buried into the Church remained untill the Napoleonic Laws (at the beginning of 1800) prohibited it.

My family had the Right of Patronage over Some Chapels

Bull of the Bishop of Muro Lucano Tomeo Confetto (1612)

(from the Bull) ".... Pellegrino, Pietro, Paolo and Cristoforo de Sanctis had the concession of a patronage over the S. Antonio from Padova Chapel in 1539. The de Sanctis family with a Bull dated November 2, 1555 issued by the Bishop of Muro Lucano (PZ) Mons. Petrucci had the concession of a patronage over S. Bernardino Chapel too. The S. Antonio and S. Bernardino Chapels were situated in Castelgrande in the place called the Borgo, under the Cross, and were annexed in 1701. The de Sanctis family (Guglielmo, Agostino e Marino) obtained the Santa Maria of the Graces (or of the Visitation) Laical Chapel , that was situated in the Mother Church, after the Baptismal Fountain ..."

 

 

Here there are the names of the known Chapelains

Don Giovanni Lucio de Sanctis 1666 - 1673

Don Giovanni Battista de Sanctis 1673 - 1701

Don Carmine de Sanctis 1701 - 1712

Don Leonardo de Sanctis 1712 - 1760

Don Vito de Sanctis 1761 - 1800

Chierico Pietro de Sanctis 1801 - 1819 .......... ...........( Passage of the possession of the Chapel)

Don Vito Scatigno 1819 - 1831 (whose mother was a de Sanctis)

Then, after the unification of Italy, in 1860, all the Church properties passed to the State

(from the Bull) "... In 1611 Angelo, Scipione, Marcello's and Ottavio's heir, Giovanni Berardino, Giovanni Battista, Giulio and Giandonato's heirs, Agostino, Marino, M. Antonio's heirs, Guglielmo and Pellegrino de Santo's heirs, ...having they since many years ago a Right of Patronage over the Visitation Chapel into the Mother Church in Castelgrande ... and since the Bull is not registered, having been lost the foundation act, they supplicate the confirmation of the Chapel". The Bull of Confirmation was signed by the Bishop of Muro Lucano Msr. Tomeo Confetto, A.D. 1612.