It, there may be some statues lying neglected which I
know nothing about. I was told of no such work, but when I was at
Graglia I did not know that the above-named great men had ever
worked there, and made no inquiries. It is quite possible that all
the work they did here has not perished.
The means at the disposal of the people of Graglia were
insufficient for the end they had in view, but subscriptions came
in freely from other quarters. Among the valuable rights,
liberties, privileges, and immunities that were conferred upon the
institution, was one which in itself was a source of unfailing and
considerable revenue, namely, the right of setting a robber free
once in every year; also, the authorities there were allowed to
sell all kinds of wine and eatables (robe mangiative) without
paying duty upon them. As far as I can understand, the main work
of Velotti's is the chapel of S. Carlo, on the top of a hill some
few hundred feet above the present establishment. I give a sketch
of this chapel here, but was not able to include the smaller
chapels which lead up to it.
A few years later, one Nicolao Garono built a small oratory at
Campra, which is nearer to Biella than Graglia is. He dedicated it
to S. Maria della Neve - to St. Mary of the Snow. This became more
frequented than Graglia itself, and the feast of the Virgin on the
5th August was exceedingly popular. Signor Muratori says of it:-
"This is the popular feast of Graglia, and I can remember how but a
few years since it retained on a small scale all the features of
the sacre campestri of the Middle Ages. For some time past,
however, the stricter customs which have been introduced here no
less than in other Piedmontese villages have robbed this feast (as
how many more popular feasts has it not also robbed?) of that
original and spontaneous character in which a jovial heartiness and
a diffusive interchange of the affections came welling forth from
all abundantly. In spite of all, however, and notwithstanding its
decline, the feast of the Madonna is even now one of those rare
gatherings - the only one, perhaps, in the neighbourhood of Biella -
to which the pious Christian and the curious idler are alike
attracted, and where they will alike find appropriate amusement."
{25}
How Miltonic, not to say Handelian, is this attitude towards the
Pagan tendencies which, it is clear, predominated at the festa of
St. Mary of the Snow. In old days a feast was meant to be a time
of actual merriment - a praising "with mirth, high cheer, and wine."
{26} Milton felt this a little, and Handel much.
