Feast of San Calogero in Petralia Sottana
The celebrations on June 18th begin with the sound of the bells, at six o'clock the statue of the Saint is placed by a member of the Committee the "reicola", that is the reliquary with the relic. A banquet is then set up at the entrance to the Church for the collection of offerings and the distribution of holy cards and blessed votive sandwiches. Various religious services follow. During the day, the faithful bring gold, little bells, ex voto, flowers, laurel sprigs, intertwined wheat shells, green beans, black cherry twigs, pumidda cannameli, which are tied with multicolored ribbons at the vara. In the afternoon, half an hour after the long chime of the call, solemn Vespers concluded, the Saint is placed on the vara and the tolling and rhythm of the mass bell increase frantically. The statue is dried with a white linen embroidered with the Saint's initials. This tablecloth will be kept and lent, on request, to the sick of the town. The start of the procession is announced by firecrackers, the roll of drums and the juggling of the banner, "u paliu". It is an ancient custom for San Calogero to leave the church backwards, so as not to turn his back on the Blessed Sacrament, kept in the chapel of the same name. The procession is divided into 18 stops in memory of the day on which the Saint, dying, reached glory. In some stops the porters are refreshed with biscuits and wine and are offered to all votive loaves.
The Saint with the vara returns to the Church after a long journey, and begins at "A spinnata da vara e du Santu" Saint is stripped of his precious clothes and covered with wooden ones and raised to the altar that houses him in the Mother Church.
Dates and Scheduling
18 Jun 2024
06:30 Ringing of bells and firing of firecrackers and bombs;
07:00 Solemn Holy Mass presided over by the Bishop Monsignor Giuseppe Marciante and act of entrustment of the city to the patron saint San Calogero;
Basilica Chiesa Madre
08:00 Tour of the musical band through the main streets of the town.
09:00 Holy Mass.
Basilica Chiesa Madre
10:30 Tour of the musical band through the main streets of the town.
11:00 Holy Mass.
Basilica Chiesa Madre
12:00 Tour of the musical band through the main streets of the town.
17:00 Tour of the musical band through the main streets of the town.
17:30 Holy Mass.
Basilica Chiesa Madre
18:30 Solemn procession with the relic and the precious image of SAN CALOGERO on the launch, which, starting from the Basilica Chiesa Madre, will return to the Church of Saints Giovanni Battista and Calogero Eremita;
21:00 Traditional firing of firecrackers and bombs;
22:30 RUPERT BAND live.
24:00 Fireworks show.
Piazza Umberto I
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References
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