The Procession of Santa Lucia

The Piazza Duomo in Siracusa, Sicily is one of the largest we have seen.  When the sun is out, the palazzi that surround the piazza dazzle in the sun.

The Piazza Duomo takes its name from the Cathedral that sits in its center.  This duomo is the home of Siracusa’s patron saint, Santa Lucia.

Courtesy: Archdiocese Siracusa

Legend has it that Santa Lucia lived in Siracusa at the turn of the 4th century AD.  When her mother’s bleeding disorder was suddenly and miraculously cured, Lucia pledged her considerable dowry to the poor.  Her fiancé was irate that he would lose his promised fortune, so he conspired with civic officials to have her sold to a local brothel.  When soldiers came to take her away, they were unable to move her…or burn her.  

So, one of them stabbed her with his sword, killing her, and turning her into one of the early Christian martyrs.  This photo is of a statue of Santa Lucia that normally sits in the Duomo.  When we visited with Morris and Gail Rosenberg, the statue wasn’t there…but in Chiesa di Santa Lucia at the other end of the piazza.

We wondered why.  The next weekend, we found out.

Every year, right after Easter, There is a procession that moves the statue and relics of Santa Lucia from the duomo to her namesake church.  After a week, there is another procession to move them back.

This is a big deal.  The local archbishop always attends.

The local clergy turns out in force.

Balloons are released much to the pleasure of the huge crowd in attendance. 

The police turn out in their dress uniforms.

The event is broadcast live on local TV.

As the statue emerges from the church, church bells across the city toll for 10 minutes.

The statue is heavy.  It takes 40 grown men to carry her…20 on each side.  Even so, the men carrying the statue have to stop and rest every few meters. 

The Duomo is perhaps 200 meters from the church.  But rather than heading directly for the Duomo, the procession moves out the other end of the piazza.

Three hours later, the procession…led by a marching band…is still circling the old city.  By now, it’s dark, and you’d think the enthusiasm would have waned.  

But no!

The crowd is still enthusiastic.  As the procession passes each parish church, it stops to allow that church to ring its bells to pay tribute to the saint.

The greatest honor of all is to have your infant daughter “kiss” the statue.  As the procession marches by, parents pass their babies hand-over-hand overhead to church laymen who touch the infant to the base of the statue.

Finally, after nearly four hours, an exhausted battalion of the faithful places both the statue and relics in their place of honor in the duomo, accompanied by massive fireworks.  Roger found all this a quaint custom and assumed it was peculiar to Siracusa.  But, as usual, he was wrong.

The very next day, we were in Modica, 75 km from Siracusa.  In the duomo, we saw the statue of St. George (the dragon killer)…the patron saint of the archdiocese …being polished up for his procession  the upcoming weekend.