Churches of Busto Arsizio

There are currently twenty-five churches in Busto Arsizio, including parish and auxiliary churches and a baptistery.^[1]

Some of these churches, notably St. Mary of Piazza, St. John the Baptist, and St. Michael the Archangel, were built before the year one thousand. In the communal period the first rectories, later called parishes, were established. They involved the presence of a priest to whom the care of souls was entrusted and who generally resided at a pre-existing church. Busto Arsizio was subject to the parish of Olgiate Olona, but the community, on the basis of its growing economic resources, formed five "curate benefices" between the 13th and 16th centuries: three at the church of St. John the Baptist and two at the church of St. Michael the Archangel, while the church of St. Mary, located in the central square of the village, was configured as a sanctuary, without parish duties.

St. Charles Borromeo in 1583 transferred the ecclesiastical dignities of the parish (i.e., district) to Busto Arsizio,^[2] and the curates of St. John and St. Michael were elevated to the rank of canons, as coadjutors of the provost in the care of souls (Busto Arsizio was therefore formally considered a single parish).

In the seventeenth century a new religious fervor led to the construction of new churches, such as St. Gregory in Camposanto (1632), Madonna in Veroncora (1639) and St. Bernardino (1665), as well as the rebuilding of the churches of St. John the Baptist (1609) and St. Michael the Archangel (1652). The eighteenth century saw the construction of Madonna in Campagna (1702), San Rocco (1706), the old church of Sacconago (1708), the church of St. Anne (1710, later the Civic Temple), and the church of St. Anthony of Padua (1717, in the territory of Borsano).

Busto remained de facto a single parish until 1906, when San Michele was also given that function.^[3] Later, in 1928, Borsano [it] and Sacconago [it] were annexed to the municipality, bringing the number of parishes to four. Over the course of the twentieth century the other parishes were then formed until the present number of thirteen was reached. This was the century in which the most churches were built (as many as eleven, to which can be added that of the Friars Minor, which actually was built beginning in 1898, but finished during that century).

Throughout history, many churches have been demolished to be later rebuilt with greater capacity. Other churches, however, were demolished permanently: these include the church of Santa Croce,^[4] dating back to 1564 and formerly the seat of the confraternity of the Disciplini,^[5] which was deconsecrated in 1948 and demolished in 1972;^[6] the Borsano church of Santa Maria dei Restagni; the Sacconago church of San Donato; that of St. Eurosia in Cascina Brughetto (built in the years 1719-1722, dedicated to the young martyr of Jaca and demolished in 1952);^[7] the chapel of St. Ambrose in Canton Santo,^[8] not far from the church of Santa Maria di Piazza.

In the case of Sacconago, the construction of the new church (1928) did not involve the demolition of the 18th-century church since land belonging to the old cemetery was used for this purpose.

The other churches currently existing in the territory of Busto Arsizio are described below: first, the Shrine of St. Mary, which constitutes the most important church in the city; second, the thirteen that are parish seats; third, the eleven that constitute subsidiary churches; and finally, the baptistery.

The parish churches were all built in the twentieth century, with the exception of the Basilica of St. John, the Provostal Church of St. Michael and Church of the Friars Minor, which was begun in 1898. These are very often places of worship built in areas of expansion of the city, or at other times modern and more spacious churches that take the place of older ones, as in the cases of the new parish churches of Sacconago and Borsano, both dedicated to the holy apostles Peter and Paul. The subsidiary churches, on the other hand, are all older: the only exception is St. Charles Borromeo, one of the three subsidiary churches of the provostry of St. Michael the Archangel. That building represents the last Catholic Christian place of worship built in the city. It was in fact consecrated in September 2000 by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, then archbishop of Milan.