Curiosity about San Calogero: the Black Saint.
Riccardo Spoto - CC3.0
A legend tells why San Calogero is black
San Calogero is the Patron Saint of Agrigento and every year, in the month of July, the solemn celebrations in his honor. The simulacrum of the Patron Saint depicts a man of black skin. The color of the skin is explained through a legend.
It is said that the young San Calogero was a very good but extremely clever man. San Calogero took care of the work in the fields together with his brother Sant'Angelo. When the work was harder, San Calogero used his cunning to get his brother to do it: at the time of plowing the fields, San Calogero convinced his brother to take care of it since the weather was mild, promising that he would take care of the sowing, when the weather he would have become cold and merciless; at the time of sowing he still convinced his brother to carry out the work as the weather was not yet so bad, promising to take care of the hoeing, which would arrive with the frost and the cold of the north wind; At the time of hoeing, Sant'Angelino, tired of his brother's excuses, did not let him complete the speech, warning him that he should take care of the second hoeing; at the second hoeing, San Calogero managed to convince his brother again to carry out the work, promising to take care of the harvest; at the time of the harvest, San Calogero invented yet another excuse and Sant'Angelino, who would in fact become a saint, took care of everything.
But Sant'Angelino's patience came to an end: when San Calogero offered him to choose between straw or the grain, since he was certain that his brother would somehow be able to get the grain, tired and irritated, he set fire to everything. However, San Calogero could not allow the fire to devour a year of his brother's toil and work, he threw himself into the smoke and flames and managed to put out the fire. But the heat and the smoke were such that the Saint became completely black and remained so for the rest of his life.
