Feast of Santa Rosalia
Description

Feast of Santa Rosalia

Feast of Santa Rosalia (u fistinu in Sicilian) takes place in July in Palermo. It is one of the Sicilian religious celebrations to be officially recognized as an intangible heritage of Italy by the Central Institute for Demoethnoanthropology (IDEA), a body established by the President of the Republic's decree dated November 26, 2007 n. 233

(The liturgical feast instead takes place on September 4th and is celebrated at the Sanctuary of Santa Rosalia on Monte Pellegrino in Palermo, where the Saint died in 1170 inside the cave).

 

The birth of the Festino di Santa Rosalia

In the year 1624 the viceroy of Sicily, Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, residing in Palermo, brought into the city port a vessel from Tunis and guided by Mohammed Calavà, a Tunisian Moor, suspected of plague, containing innumerable gifts, rich and precious, and freed Christian slaves. The disease thus spread among mice, in markets, in peripheral areas and finally in the city center. The population, tormented by the plague, continued to get sick and die and relied in vain on the patron saints of the city and of the four city districts: Sant'Agata, Santa Cristina, Sant'Aliva and Santa Ninfa. (Saint Lucia was also the patron saint of the city, but she had not assigned any mandate). However, no miracle was obtained.

Girolama La Gattuta, a 47-year-old woman from Ciminnese, an embroiderer, was ill with severe malignant fever at the Great Hospital in Palermo. On October 15, 1623, while he was suffering, he "saw" a nun dressed in white who attracted lightning behind her. He touched her mouth and immediately felt "filled with water". It was Saint Rosalia, who told the woman to go to Monte Pellegrino to fulfill a vow.

Girolama miraculously recovered after three days, but he did not go to Monte Pellegrino and did not take his vow; so he fell ill again with malaria. On May 26, 1624, the day of Pentecost, Girolama, sick, climbed Mount Pellegrino with her husband Benedetto Lo Gattuto, his friend Vito Amodeo, a 37-year-old sailor from Trapani, and his wife. The woman drank clear water that dripped from the rocky walls of a cave covered on the outside with vegetation and which was next to the ancient church of Santa Rosalia, and miraculously recovered. At that moment she fell asleep and dreamed of the Madonna dressed in white, with the Baby Jesus in her arms and with a coral necklace around her neck that instructed her to dig inside the cave where she would find "a saint, a treasure". At the bottom of the cave he saw a young woman dressed in a long tunic of arbraxo (old sack cloth) who, on her knees, was praying with the crown in her hand.

Then he saw a large stone, and with great insistence, in the first days of June he started the excavations. She led them herself, together with her husband, the surrounding peasants and the Franciscan monks from the nearby convent. In the meantime, the Senate, after the death of the viceroy Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy due to the plague on August 3, 1624, forbade citizens to leave their homes and especially the city without their own "bulletin", issued by the master notary. On 15 July 1624, at the point previously indicated by Girolama La Gattuta, the excavations ended and under a large slab of marble and very flat calcarenite, very white human bones were found (inserted in calcareous concretions). (At the beginning of the cave excavations they had found other dark colored bones, probably belonging to a secular friar and a novice, as well as goat bones). The white bones, due to their candid color and the delicate dimensions of the skull, were absolutely defined as the bones of a woman, and emanated a very strong and very pleasant scent of flowers; moreover, according to the testimonies, written however, only one man was enough to lift the box with the bones inside because "they were very light". The bones were cleaned and brought to the chapel of the Archbishop's Palace, where the cardinal and archbishop of Palermo, Giannettino Doria, resided, who after a view of the bones by the Jesuit anatomical medical fathers, led by Father Giordano Cascini, who also wrote the first biography of Santa Rosalia, collecting historical evidence and oral traditions handed down over time, which said that the bones were of a young woman, was convinced and decided to have the bones carried in procession through the streets of the city of Palermo, through the young Vincenzo Bonello. Here's the story.

On February 13, 1625, Saint Rosalia appeared on Monte Pellegrino to a soapmaker named Vincenzo Bonello (or Bonelli), who lived in the Monte di Pietà district, in via Pannaria, who wanted to commit suicide due to the death of his fifteen-year-old wife from the plague. The saint stopped him from committing suicide and told him that only if his remains were carried in procession and the "Te Deum Laudamus“, The plague would end, as Our Lady had told and promised her. Vincenzo called his confessor (parish priest of the church of Sant'Ippolito Martire al Capo), as Saint Rosalia had told him, and told him everything he had seen. After three days, Vincenzo fell ill with the plague and died, as he had already received his miracle. The bishop, having carefully examined the bones to some Anatomian doctors, was informed that they were "of a woman" and therefore, of Rosalia, the only woman who lived on Montepellegrino. On 9 June 1625 the archbishop of Palermo, Giannettino Doria, followed by all the clergy, the Palermo senate and some eminent citizens made a solemn procession through the streets of the city with the relics of the saint. At the passage of the sacred remains, at the intonation of the "Te Deum Laudamus”, The contagion of the plague stopped (from that moment no new cases of plague were recorded) and people recovered from the disease. Furthermore, Santa Rosalia protects the city of Palermo from earthquakes, storms and thunderstorms, from which she has defended the city itself even in recent times.

The rite in the past

In 1625 the relics were placed inside a silver and glass casket, kept inside the Archbishop's Palace, and from the same year they were carried in procession to commemorate the miracle, inaugurating a tradition that has suffered in more than three centuries very few interruptions.

The procession

The first "small celebration of 1624" was particularly short: the relics were moved a few meters from the Archbishop's Palace to the cathedral.

The path became longer and more complex with the passing of the years, until it involved a large part of the city. Many brotherhoods established over the centuries participate by right in the procession, the oldest and most famous is the Confraternity of Santa Rosalia dei Sacchi, established in 1635 and made up of barbers and shoemakers (varberi and scarpari).

The brotherhood, which takes its name from the clothing used during the procession, has the task of carrying the effigy of the saint which is kept in the church of Casa Professa during the year. All the brotherhoods had to wear a cloak with the effigy of the saint and large candles in procession. On the occasion of the festival, since the seventeenth century, the Cassaro was decorated with sumptuous temporary architecture. In 1674 the brotherhood of the Annunziata under the title of Santa Rosalia dei Muratori, obtained from the Palermitan Senate, the privilege of the port and carry over of the sacred relics of Santa Rosalia. privilege maintained and cared for over the centuries until today.

Text source: Wikipedia

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Technical sheet prepared by: Region of Sicily - Department of cultural heritage and Sicilian identity - CRicd: Regional center for inventory, cataloging and documentation and Sicilian regional film library

 
 
220
Feast of St. Rosalia
REIS - Book of Celebrations, Festivals and Ritual Practices
26-09-2018
patronal feast
Palermo
district or localization that does not coincide with the municipality
Palermo
 

Web card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero

Photo: web

Information contributions: Ignazio Caloggero / Web

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