Vexilla Regis – Holy Week Rites

Vexilla Regis, Holy Week in Mola di Bari

Vexilla Regis is the religious and cultural program that gathers the Holy Week rites in Mola di Bari, a coastal town in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Puglia, under a single banner. The program is the result of the coordinated efforts of local parishes and confraternities, the guardians of Easter traditions, blending faith, heritage, and community identity during one of the most deeply felt weeks of the year.

Rites and Processions

In the days leading up to Easter, the historic center of Mola di Bari becomes the stage for a series of events held across churches, confraternities, and the town's streets. The ritual path begins with the Inter-parish Via Crucis with the Mysteries, starting from the SS. Rosario Parish, and continues with the traditional visit to the Repositories (the Sepulchres) set up in the city's churches, a devotional pilgrimage that marks Holy Thursday.

• Procession of the Sacred Wood of the Cross, departing from the San Nicola Parish – Mother Church;
• Procession of the Dead Christ, from the Church of Santa Maria del Passo (Sant'Antonio);
• The Spasimo di Maria, a moment of meditation at the Church of the Purification;
• Procession of Our Lady of Sorrows, patron saint of Mola di Bari, preceded by the evocative Handing Over of the Handkerchief, departing from the Church of the Maddalena.

A Heritage of the Mola Community

The Holy Week processions in Mola di Bari preserve the sober charm of Puglian popular devotion: statues carried on shoulders, confraternities in ritual robes, and the quiet contemplation of the faithful along the streets of the center. Our Lady of Sorrows, the city's patron saint, is the figure around whom the entire week revolves, with her morning procession ideally closing the cycle of rites. Vexilla Regis thus represents not only a moment of faith but also a cornerstone of the cultural identity of the Municipality of Mola di Bari and all of Puglia.

When

The rites take place every year during the week preceding Easter, following the classic sequence of Passion Friday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Dates vary from year to year according to the liturgical calendar.