The Holy Staircase was established in Campli on January 21, 1772 thanks to a Papal Privilege of Clement XIV. The merit goes surely to the great diplomatic work of the then Prior of the Archconfraternity of the Sacred Stigmata of San Francesco, the lawyer Giampalma Palma, father of the historian Niccola. The sacred building consists of 28 wooden steps to climb strictly on your knees, for the remission of sins. Those who carry out the rite, receive the Plenary Indulgence with the same value of the homonymous staircase of Rome. The sanctuary "camplese", in addition to the religious value, contains in itself a high artistic and cultural sense: on the Scale of ascent, as in that of descent, the penitent retraces "metaphorically" the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, through the reading of the images depicted by the six large paintings placed on the sides. At the top of the staircase there is a grate that leads to the Sancta Sanctorum, the true heart of the Sanctuary. Inside there are some splinters of the Cross of Christ as well as numerous relics kept in artistic reliquaries of the Neapolitan school. The descent staircase has brighter and more vivid colors to evoke the Resurrection of Christ and to symbolically indicate the purification of the faithful after the Indulgence obtained. The entire pictorial cycle was entrusted to the mastery of the artist from Teramo, Vincenzo Baldati, who completed the work in 1781. The Sanctuary "Camplese" is particular in its kind: it is entirely focused on the Passion of Christ. For this reason, on January 14, 2000, the Pontiff St. John Paul II granted a new Papal Bull, promulgating the Indulgence to all Fridays of Lent, in addition to the Indulgences already established in 1700.
Plenary Indulgence Third Sunday of Easter
From First Vespers (Saturday) to Vespers of Monday, Solemnity of Pentecost
From First Vespers (Saturday) to Vespers of Tuesday Third Sunday of September
From First Vespers (Saturday) to Vespers of Monday, last Sunday of October
From First Vespers (Saturday) to Monday’s Vespers every Friday of Lent
All other days partial indulgence
