Last week, we shared Peter’s pictures of the celebrations of the feast of St Agatha in her native city of Catania in Sicily. Another friend of ours, Dom Jakobus, a canon regular of Herzogenburg Abbey in Austria, was also there, and graciously agreed to share his pictures with us. Those of the Saint’s reliquary and the procession of it through the city in the first part were taken on the eve of the feast, February 4th.
The reliquary in the sanctuary of the cathedral...
with an honor guard.
The faithful touching pieces of cloth to the reliquary, which then become a relic by contact. (This is a very ancient custom, already attested at the tombs of the Apostles in Rome in the earliest years of the Constantinian peace.)
The reliquary is carried through the city.
The volcano Mount Etna looms over the city. St Agatha is honored as a patron of Catania not only because she is a native, and died for the Faith there, but also because of the many times her intervention has saved it from the volcano.
Nighttime decorations of the city for the procession.
