Montaner - Chiesa cattolica - Foto di Paolo Steffan

In the Schism of Montaner between 1967 and 1969, almost all residents of the Italian village of renounced

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and embraced the

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

. This was due to a disagreement with the bishop of

Vittorio Veneto Vittorio Veneto is a city and ''comune'' situated in the Province of Treviso, in the region of Veneto, Italy, in the northeast of Italy, between the Piave and the Livenza rivers, borders with the following municipalities: Alpago ( BL), Bellun ...

, Albino Luciani, the future

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

John Paul I Pope John Paul I ( la, Ioannes Paulus I}; it, Giovanni Paolo I; born Albino Luciani ; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 to his death 33 days later. Hi ...

, over the appointment of the local priest.

Montaner frazione

Montaner or Montanèr is a

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

of the commune of

Sarmede Sarmede is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about north of Venice and about northeast of Treviso. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,087 and an area of .All demographics ...

, in the province of

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...

, in the region of

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

. It is 2.3 km from the municipality of Sarmede, to which it belongs.

Background

On December 13, 1966, Giuseppe Faè, the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

, died. Faè, who had served the community for forty years, had proven popular with the people of Montaner. He aided in obtaining electricity and running water for the village, the construction of a new school, and even aided in the organization of anti-fascist resistance to the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

. After his death, the bishop of

decided to appoint Giovanni Gava as the new priest, which was unpopular among the villagers. They instead supported Antonio Botteon, who, for a long time, had assisted the old priest. On January 21, 1967, the new priest arrived in town; however, the night before his arrival, the townspeople erected a wall blocking the entrance of the church and a mob of townspeople prevented him from carrying out his work.

Schism

Montaner - Chiesa ortodossa - Foto di Paolo Steffan

The people then founded the Eastern Orthodox Church of Montaner. On December 26, 1967, the first

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of ...

was celebrated with the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine rite. The Eastern Orthodox priest, Claudio Vettorazzo, was permanently installed in June 1969 and on September 7, 1969, the Eastern Orthodox church was blessed. Residents of the village recall that the initial time period after the schism resulted in "hatred" and "confusion" within the village. In 1994, Vettorazzo was imprisoned because of legal and financial problems.Sexe et drogue dans la maison de lévêque''
/ref> Today, the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox communities still exist within the village, though divisions remain.

References

External links

The schisme of Montaner in Youtube

Reportage of TV RAI about Montaner
{{in lang, it Schisms from the Catholic Church Eastern Orthodoxy in Italy Veneto 1960s in Italy 1967 in Christianity

Montaner frazione

Background

Schism

See also

References

Further reading

External links