Feast of San Benedetto il Moro

In San Fratello from 10 to 17 September, the feast of San Benedetto il Moro is celebrated, coinciding with the late summer period in which all off-site Sanfratellans return to celebrate the patron saint. The heavy wooden vara runs through the streets of the town between songs, prayers and the sound of the musical band, involving the many devotees from all over the Nebrodi, and from the community of the Convent of Santa Maria di Gesù, where the body of the saint is kept. The week is full of events, celebrations and holidays which represent one of the most important periods of the year for the community. Religious functions, songs, lights, stalls, musical performances, pyrotechnic games, each year frame the feast of the fellow citizen and Protector. The center of San Fratello is filled with devotees, visitors and tourists.

The celebrations begin on the 10th with the pereqrinatio of the relic of the femur of St. Benedict for the main districts of the country, visiting the elderly, the sick and the most needy. In the three days preceding the feast of the 17th, the preparation triduum takes place, animated each year by a different friar of the order of friars minor. On the 16th after the celebration of Mass, vespers are recited. The culminating and most significant moment of the celebrations is day 17: starting from the alborata, mass is followed and then the morning procession through the neighborhoods Our Lady of Grace e St. Nicholas. At 17.00 pm after the solemn mass, the procession begins through the city streets (decorated with the usual lights) enlivened by the village band, ending with fireworks.

The cult of San Benedetto il Moro is very much felt by the Sanfratellans, the saint, in fact, is invoked for any public and private need, for rain and good weather, against natural disasters, and in the search for a lost object. Signs of devotion to San Benedetto il Moro are, for example, the presence of at least one member of the family with the name of "Benedict" or "Benedetta" and the diffusion of the saint's effigy, even on the clothes of the deceased.