Under imperial Rome Ascoli is reborn more radiant than ever and the numerous monuments that have come to our day are evidence of this; few are aware that in Ascoli you can visit the inside of a real Roman bridge, the Augusto sul Tronto bridge. In 301, designated by Pope Marcellinus, the first residential Bishop, Emidio, arrives in the city, who will be made a saint because in a short time he manages to breathe new life into the Christian community of Picena and conquer an undisputed spiritual authority until his martyr beheading Christian.
Today, as in that time, the telluric movements were always present, but these, during the presence of Sant’Emidio, have never intensely touched the city of Ascoli. This explains why Sant’Emidio became, besides being a saint, also a protector from earthquakes. In Ascoli the presence of the Longobards was also strong, there are numerous finds from this era. The 789 marks the end of the Longobard domination and the beginning of the influence on the city of the Franks, Ascoli becomes a county under the protection of the Pope and rises to the rank of chief town under the influence of Charlemagne.
Over the years many towers have been erected to testify the fortunes of their families and their wealth; today Ascoli is also called the city of 100 towers.
In the first crusade Ascoli participates with a contingent of 14 captains and 1400 men: their deeds were great if even the Tasso, in the Gerusalemme Liberata, writes of the heroic death of their warlord Argillano.
Ascoli undergoes alternate vicissitudes between Guelphs and Ghibellines, but fully lives the cultural, humanistic and renaissance renewal of the time. Historical and still visible are the urbanistic and artistic works realized.
In 2016 Ascoli Piceno, thanks to the will of your Bishop S.E. Mons. Giovanni D’Ercole, and the availability of Don Angelo Ciancotti, parish priest of the cathedral, has seen the constant presence in the Cathedral of Sant’Emidio of the Catholic Templars.
In this year of Jubilee, the Catholic Templars participated in all the religious manifestations of the City, they were involved in the ordination as Bishop of S.E. Mons. Stefano Russo, today Bishop of the Diocese of Fabriano, Matelica and Sassoferrato, giving a contribution of seriousness, dedication, service and respect recognized by many faithful and by the organizers themselves.
The Catholic Templars, following what is written in the Statute, being at the service of the Church and of her Pastors, has always given her free availability whenever it was requested.
The presence of the Templars for two Saturdays and two Sundays a month in the Cathedral of Sant’Emidio, guarding over the masterpieces and underlining the sacredness of the place, was kindly seen by the many tourists and faithful who, coming in from the Holy Door, found pleasure “Spiritual” to be “people of God”, which is becoming more unknown.
S.E. Mons. Giovanni D’Ercole in the second part of the year, had expressed his desire to grant us Templars, as a free use, one of the most beautiful churches in the area, the Templar Church of S. Croce; unfortunately on August 30, 2016 a catastrophic event occurred, the land of Ascoli and not only, it trembled strongly, and we saw a large part of the powerful works of the centuries that preceded us go down.
Now we mourn the dead and regret the beauty of the churches now lost, even the story that we have left out, ignored or minimized. The Catholic Templars, inspired by the values of Christian chivalry and the tradition of the Ancient Order, have chosen a path of public commitment and direct action to keep the honor of the ancient Knights high, to transmit a journey of chivalrous knowledge, today distorted by men and from time, and recover to the Church and to our interior Temple, faith in Jesus Christ for all those who have strayed or been dazzled by other lights.
Also 2017 sees the Templars always ready to respond to the request of the Church and its men, since in Ascoli, as on all the national territory, is the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, it will be another year in which the Catholic Templars d Italy will honor their oaths.
Non Nobis Domine, Non Nobis, Sed Nomini Tuo Da Gloriam
Fra’ Carlo Omero