Oratory of Saint Martha

The Oratory of Santa Marta, is a simple building that dates back to the 16th century. The single-nave rectangular architectural structure is typical of the Maritime Alps area. It is the seat of the Confraternity of the Greens. The Venerable Oratory of Santa Marta stands just in front of the parish church, in Piazza Santa Marta.

Its exterior appearance is typical of seventeenth-century casacce, austere, rectangular, with a small bell tower, colored green, as is the "little door" and that of the belfry. In its interior, the hall is surmounted by a lunetted barrel vault, adorned with stupendous stuccoes that converge in an oval representing the patron saint. It stands as a beautiful example of Ligurian baroque, covered with polychrome stucco.

The main color is white, the pilasters are painted in very soft colors, and gold is totally absent, given the serious economic difficulties of the confraternity in those years. For those who enter the church, through the small door, the first figure that comes across is the elaborate processional chest depicting the patron saint, in sumptuous robes, wearing a green mantle and surrounded by little angels, who, holding an asperges, soothes the tarasca (U leun de Santa Marta).

Many canvases are preserved inside the oratory: of notable beauty and value are those made by Maurizio Carrega on either side of the high altar, which tell the stories of Martha and Lazarus.
Standing out on the high altar is a large painting, now oval, representing the titular saint of the Confraternity between Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine of Alexandria. St. Francis and St. Sebastian are noted in the rear register. Placed near the entrance to the church is the large "Coena Domini," an anonymous work from the early 17th century; by tradition, the faces of the apostles are those of the founders of the church.

A historical reminder is the earlier altarpiece depicting the Virgin Mary between Martha, Magdalene and Dominic, from the Piola workshop, placed beside the organ box. Important is the figure of St. Dominic who unites the family of Mario Laura, benefactor of the oratory, also to the chapel named after the same saint, which he wanted.

Of exquisite workmanship is a small painting of the Saint, embroidered in colored silk and gold. Four stucco statues depicting the Church Fathers (Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose and Gregory) appear between the pilasters, inviting us to approach the 18th-century polychrome marble altar by the San Remo workshop of Mazzetti. On small side altars, the relics of the Holy Martyrs Placidus and Germanion are preserved. Both relics were extracted from the catacombs of San Lorenzo outside the walls in Rome and came to Ceriana between the 18th and 19th centuries. The altar of San Placido is adorned with a stunning 18th-century polychrome marble frame surmounted by an oval depicting the penitent Magdalene, an 18th-century work by Maurizio Carrega.

Hundreds of relics surround the body of St. Germanion, contained in gilded frames used as reliquaries, a Ceriano "Sancta Sanctorum." Inside the large gilded shrine containing the body and an ampulla with the saint's blood is the tomb epitaph with the name and palm of martyrdom, dating from the fourth century, the oldest preserved document in our country.

Liturgical services are accompanied by the ancient sound of the organ built by the Agati firm of Pistoia in 1861, which preserves the manual bellows power supply.
A peculiar note is the participation of girls in the rites of Holy Week. From the age of three until First Communion, they carry the instruments of the Passion: they are the "Angioletti" who, together with the little boys of Our Lady of the Visitation, distinguish the processions of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. The little girls' wooden symbols and white dresses are adorned with pink bows.

The main anniversary is July 29, the day on which the patron saint is celebrated. Solemn Mass at 11 a.m. is followed by the evening celebrations. These include the inscription of new brethren, vespers and procession.
A concert by the brass band concludes the festivities.
Other festivities are celebrated in the Confraternity: the introductory rites of Palm Sunday, St. Mary Magdalene July 22, the closing Holy Mass of the Summer Colony, St. Germanion July 17, St. Placid October 4.