Normally on September 4, devotees of Santa Rosalia, Palermo’s patroness, recognize their protectress with a solemn pilgrimage to her sanctuary at the top of Mount Pellegrino. They pay homage to the maiden who died on this day in 1166, with prayers, solitude, and a trek up the mountain barefoot or on their knees. This year…
Tag: Saint Rosalia
Paying Homage To Palermo’s Santa Rosalia
Palermo’s patroness, Santa Rosalia (Pictured: her likeness illustrated in Palermo’s Immaculate Conception Church), is recognized annually on September 4, the day she died in 1166, with a solemn pilgrimage to her sanctuary at the top of Mount Pellegrino. Tomorrow, pilgrims will arrive from far and wide to process up Mount Pellegrino, often barefoot or on…
Barefoot in Palermo for La Santuzza
On September 4, 1166, Rosalia, a young woman who had sworn her life in service to Christ, died. The example she set and her protection of Sicily’s capital city is celebrated annually in Palermo with a solemn procession up Mount Pellegrino to her sanctuary. It’s a long, steep climb done by many barefoot to illustrate…
Rosalia’s Cave
Palermo’s patron, Santa Rosalia, is recognized on September 4, the day she died in 1166, with a pilgrimage to her sanctuary at the top of Palermo’s Mount Pellegrino. Pictured is the sanctuary’s chapel that is housed inside the cave where a hunter in 1624 had a vision of the little-known, medieval-era saint. In the vision,…
A Pilgrimage for Santa Rosalia
Palermo’s patron saint Santa Rosalia is recognized again on September 4, the day she died in 1166, with a pilgrimage to her sanctuary on Palermo’s Montepellegrino.
It was 1624, and Palermo was Under Siege
During the late spring and summer of 1624, Palermo was under siege, but it wasn’t another foreign invader that was the perpetrator. This time it was a plague that afflicted more than 10,000 inhabitants. Things were looking pretty bleak until in early July, when a lost hunter had a vision: Santa Rosalia appeared to him…
Santa Rosalia before 1624
Before 1624, Santa Rosalia (1130-1166) was a little-known, medieval-era saint. Her story is often compared to Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) because she too was the daughter of a Norman nobleman, who rejected a life of privilege and instead sought a life devoted to prayer and solitude. During her lifetime, Palermo and Sicily experienced an…
The Feast of Santa Rosalia is Days Away
The preparations for il Festino for la Santuzza are underway in Palermo.