The veneration of San Michele, patron saint of Vasto, has deep historical roots, dating back to the Lombard rule, when a place of worship dedicated to Sant’Arcangelo stood near the present-day church—possibly of even older, Byzantine origin.
The cult of the commander of the angelic hosts never truly faded; otherwise, the people of Vasto would not have turned to him for protection against the plague in the mid-17th century. Devotion to the Archangel was already well established at that time, particularly within the powerful Collegiate Church of Santa Maria, home to the Confraternity of the Gonfalone, founded in the early 15th century under the influence of the Penitent movement.
This confraternity, which still exists today—though now absorbed into the more orthodox Confraternity of the Sacred Thorn—was responsible for accompanying the statue of San Michele to the new church in 1675, where it has remained ever since under their care.
Another testament to San Michele’s significance in the 17th century is found in the baptismal record of Cesare d’Avalos d’Aquino, future Marquis of Vasto, dated 1667 and still preserved in Santa Maria.
Though remembered today as Cesare Michelangelo d’Avalos, his baptismal name was the more explicit Cesare Michele Angelo.
A lifelong devotee of the Archangel, Cesare Michelangelo d’Avalos financed the restoration of the Santuario di Liscia and actively promoted the cult of San Michele in Vasto as a counterbalance to papal orthodoxy. Notably, he had been excommunicated and sentenced to death by the Pope for siding with the Habsburgs against Louis XIV, the great protector of the Papacy. This resurgence of San Michele’s veneration took place during a period of shifting allegiances, which ultimately ended in 1734 with the return of the Spanish to the Kingdom of Naples and the subsequent restoration of Roman Church authority over religious and social life.
By the mid-18th century, the introduction of San Teodoro of Amasea as Vasto’s new patron saint—replacing Maria Assunta—suggests that the Church sought an alternative to the Archangel. Indeed, San Teodoro’s iconography closely mirrors that of San Michele, depicting him slaying a dragon with a spear, much like Michele defeating the devil with his sword.
However, San Teodoro never truly captured the devotion of the people. Instead, San Michele found new followers among the early Carbonari, a secret revolutionary society. In fact, on July 21, 1820, his statue was carried in procession to the cathedral, where it was ceremoniously adorned with the Grand Master’s sash of the Carbonari.
Finally, in 1827, in response to the fervent will of the people, the Church officially proclaimed San Michele as the new patron saint of Vasto.
