Feast of Our Lady of Sick 2nd SUNDAY OF SEPTEMBER
In 1669, during the eruption of the Etna volcano, the lava spared a small church located just outside the city center.
Inside there was a fresco depicting the Madonna of the Sick with the baby Jesus in her arms. But instead, the ancient urban center of Misterbianco was razed to the ground.
Every year, on the second Sunday of September, the faithful give life to one of the most beautiful, evocative and characteristic devotional celebrations of Misterbianco.
The feast in honor of the Most Holy, Help of the Sick, recalls the historical origin of the city of Misterbianco.
The festival alternates moments of great religious fervor with moments of historical re-enactment attributable to the eruption of the Etna volcano that destroyed the ancient city village in 1669.
The celebrations continue for four days and begin on Thursday evening with the transport of the bell, belonging to the old town, which is brought back to the village.
The bell bears the inscription in Latin:
“Huc passus aegri celerate: Maria salutem mentibus hic vestris corporibusque dabit””
or
”“Direct your steps here with concern or sick: Mary will give health to your souls and your bodies”.
On Friday morning, before dawn, the bell is carried in procession by the faithful to the so-called “chianu ‘e malati” that is the place where the Sanctuary of the Madonna degli Ammalati stands.
On Sunday morning, in a choral way, the population gathers to make the traditional pilgrimage, “Viaggiu”, towards the plain where a particularly suggestive and traditional moment takes place: the “cantata o ‘chianu”, that is a hymn in honor of the Virgin.
procession of the “painting”, the work of the Catania painter Giuseppe Barone who reproduces the 17th century fresco depicting the Madonna and Child, St. John and St. Paolo, commissioned as an ex voto by veterans of the war in East Africa in 1937.
La cantata
“Ai figli tuoi amorosi,
volgi pietoso il ciglio;
Maria d’ogni periglio.
Salvi saremo allora.
Vergin si bella e pura,
che Voi tutto volete,
che Voi tutto potete,
col vostro gran valor.
Or, via ricorriam sempre,
a questa gran Signora,
che tiene pronto ognora
il nostro bene a cuor;
indi, conforta il ciglio
fra i santi in paradiso.
Non più pensate a cosa fallace
or che vi dona l’eterna pace;
è questa Madre, o tribolati,
il gran sollievo dei malati.”
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“Italy without Sicily leaves no image in the spirit. It is in Sicily that the key to everything is found. The purity of the contours, the softness of everything, the yielding exchange of colors, the harmonious unity of the sky with the sea and the sea with the earth … whoever has seen them only once, will possess them for life”
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