Sicilian saints

Santa Rosalia of Palermo

St Rosalia's splendid silver shrine
in Palermo Cathedral

We sailed to Sicily, staying  first in the capital, Palermo. Palermo’s patron saint is Saint Rosalia (1130–1166) . She was a twelfth century noble woman, who refused the arranged marriage her family wanted for her and became a hermit and lived in a cave on Mount Pellegrino, just outside the capital city of Palermo, living in solitude and prayer, moving from cave to cave to escape from her disgruntled family. When she died, her body remained in the cave where she had lived, and its location was gradually forgotten.

In 1664, during the same epidemic of plague which had inspired the story of Sant’Efisio, Santa Rosalia appeared to a woman suffering from it and told her that if her bones were carried in procession through Palermo, the plague would abate. Helpfully, she also told her where to find the bones… The woman dispatched a hunter, to whom Rosalia has also appeared, and he discovered a woman’s skeleton in the cave to which he had been sent. The bones were carried in procession through the town, and, indeed, the plague stopped. As in Cagliari, the procession is repeated each year, on July 14th.

Palermo Cathedral

The site of the cave where Santa Rosalia's bones were found is now a shrine, much visited by pilgrims.

Santa Lucia of Siracusa, Sicily 
Saint  Lucy ,(283-304), like St Efisio , was martyred during the persecutions of Christians by the Roman Emperor Diocletian.  Lucy refused the marriage that had been arranged for her with a pagan nobleman, and in revenge, he denounced her as a Christian to the Sicilian Governor. He ordered her to sacrifice to the emperor, which she refused to do. The Governor sentenced her to death, but ordered her to be sent to a brothel first. The soldiers sent to remove her found that they couldn’t drag her away, even when they hitched her to a yoke of oxen, however. They heaped wood around her and tried to burn her, but the wood refused to burn. Eventually she was killed by a sword being thrust into her throat. Later legends say that she was tortured by having her eyes gouged out, which is why she is often pictured, rather gruesomely, carrying her eyes on a tray. Her cult spread very widely, and she is venerated in many customs around the world. Her feast, on Dec 13, comes at the darkest time of year, and in Scandinavian countries she is celebrated by young women dressed in white robes with red sashes, wearing crowns of candles and singing the traditional Santa Lucia hymn. It is said that she brought food to those in hiding from persecution in the catacombs, and wore candles on her head so she had her hands free to carry it. Believe it if you will!

St Lucia's shrine in the church in Siracusa. Her statue had been moved temporarily to the Cathedral, across the square, as part of the festival of her patronage of the city. Photographs weren't permitted there.

There is a lovely video of the Swedish St Lucy's Day procession here

St Sebastian

St Lucy is only one of the many saints celebrated in Sicily, and every church seemed to take enormous pride in its saint. High in the Sicilian hills in Acreide Palazolo we came across the church of St Sebastian. The custodian showed us round with immense pride (and then sold us a rather overpriced rosary...) His delight in "his" place was obvious though, and infectious - we bought the rosary...

The high altar, with the statue of St Sebastian above it. 

The custodian proudly led us to the platform on which the saint's statue was taken from the church each year on Sebastian's feast day. It has wheels, as you can see, but to get it down the enormous flight of stone steps leading up to the church, it has to be carried. We were told that it took 80 strong men to do this.  I wondered at the thought of finding 80 strong men willing to do anything in an English country parish... But here - below - is the proof that it actually is so!

 We weren't in Acreide Palazolo for St Sebastian' Day, but I managed to find a video on YouTube. Not many Anglican churches would have the confidence to celebrate their saints so loudly and joyfully!

Madonna della Lacrime
In the middle of Siracusa stands a church which looks oddly like a witches hat, a vast, modern concrete edifice. It turned out to be the Basilica built to house a statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary which, it was alleged, had been found weeping in 1953 in the house of a young couple, Angelo Iannuso and Antonina Lucia Giusto, who were expecting  their first baby. Antonina's pregnancy was difficult, and at one point she lost her sight temporarily. When she regained it, she saw that the statue was weeping. (Madonna della Lacrime means Madonna of tears). This was widely hailed as a miracle, and the Basilica was built to welcome the pilgrims which it was predicted would come to venerate it. It was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1994.

The Basilica, whose architecture has attracted both positive and negative comment. It is certainly unmissable, but sadly is showing signs of "concrete cancer" already. 

The roof from inside.

The Basilica is vast.

The reliquary

The statue.

The reliquary containing the fluid collected from the statue is regularly sent out to parishes which request it. It houses part of an embroidered cloth and a handkerchief used to cover the statue and soak up the tears, and and a test tube in which the liquid was placed. The reliquary is decorated with four statues, St Lucia, patron saint of the city, St Martian, first bishop of the city and Ss Peter and Paul. Peter sent Martian to the city, and Paul stayed for three days in Syracuse, on his way to Rome.
On the base of the Reliquary there is an engraving in Latin: "O Virgin of Tears, tears of repentance from the hardness of our heart - August 29, 1953".

Siracusa by night, just because it was beautiful!