History
History of the Parish
San Vincenzo’s, San Sebastiano’s, San Michele’s, Madonna della Neve’s, Santa Caterina’s, the chapel of the cemetery and the local chapels (Mary Help of Christians, Holy Family, Don Bosco) are places of worship in Mirabello, some of which are often used , others only occasionally. Documents have been found in the Parish Archives that mention the church of S.Desiderio; it was not possible to identify its location, even if the presence of the second cemetery of Mirabello in the past in S.Desiderio street seems to justify the hypothesis that the church was on this road. Neither of the first parish church existing in Mirabello do we know much. We know that it is mentioned in 1192 and that it is listed in the Parish Church of Mediliano from 1299. The first parish church of which we have information is S. Sebastiano’s, built in 1450. The present parish church, S.Vincenzo’s, was built about a century later. Meanwhile , in 1474, the parish of Mirabello had passed from the diocese of Vercelli to the new diocese of Casale.
San Vincenzo’s Parish Church
Built in 1562 and consecrated in 1620, it has a façade which is higher in correspondence with the central nave and ends with a triangular cornice on which an iron cross rises. Four pairs of columns flank the entrance doors, while four small columns on the facade above the central door form three niches with frescoes representing San Vincenzo and, on his sides, images of vine-growing countryside and two figures kneeling in prayer .
Inside, the central nave is 15 meters high, the two side aisles are 9 meters high. The pillars are square and have capitals in Doric style in the side aisles and in Corinthian style in the central nave. The pillars are decorated by a medallion containing a cross.
Beginning the tour from the left aisle, the first chapel is the one containing the marble baptismal font, above which there is a fresco representing John the Baptist in the act of baptizing Jesus. On the right stands a large statue of an angel which comes from the family tomb of the writer Rosetta Loy. Continuing on the side aisle there are two chapels, one dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin and the other to Mary Help of Christians and to Don Bosco. The chapel that flanks the main altar is dedicated to San Vincenzo, whose painted wooden statue is placed in a niche above the altar.
The presbytery is rectangular with a surface of about 26 square meters. The floor, in Venetian mosaic, was made during the important restoration of 1863. The walls of the presbytery are decorated with two large frescoes portraying on the left San Vincenzo in front of the judge and on the right the Saint in prison.
The high altar, the work of Pellegatta, was consecrated in 1764 by the bishop of Casale Giuseppe Luigi Avogadro.
A plaque placed in a niche in the presbytery shows the following inscription:
DOM / DIVO VINCENZIO MARTIRI DICATUM / TEMPLUM HOC / SCIPIO PASCHALIUS IX CAL SEPTEMBRIS / ANNO SALUTIS MDCXX ARAM VERO MAXIMAM /III IDUS IUNIAS MDCCLXIV / IOSEPH ALOYSIUS AVOGADRUS / EPISCOPI CASALENSES /CONSECRARUNT.
Behind the high altar, above the walnut paneling of the choir, there is a large niche with an imposing statue of Saint Vincent sculpted in Varallo in the second half of the 19th century.
On the sides of the niche there are two frescoes portraying two angels, the work of the painter Brunati. From the choir you can enter the two sacristies, placed one on the left and the other, smaller, on the right.
Proceeding towards the left aisle, there is the chapel of the Madonna del Rosario of Pompeii. Some steps lead to the balustrade, the work of Pellegatta. The 1760 marble altar is surmounted by a painting representing the Blessed Virgin placed in a decorated marble frame with small painted paintings representing the Mysteries.
The altar is a twin of the one in the left aisle. Continuing along the right aisle, we find the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, once dedicated to Jesus Crucified , in which there is a plaque commemorating Pietro Mazza, who died at a young age, and a statue of Saint Anthony of Padua.
The church saw a general restoration from 1860 to 1863, approved by Edoardo Arborio Mella and executed by the master builder and kilnman Bartolomeo Negro.The mosaic floor of the presbytery, the atrium, the inner door, the choir, the organ and the frame for the ancon date back to this restoration. From the same period are the frescoes by Eugenio Brunati and the chandeliers, commissioned by Mella himself, who sent a prototype from Turin.
The organ, the work of the Lingiardi brothers, was installed in 1865