Feast of the Crucifix in San Marco d'Alunzio

La Feast of the Crucifix in San Marco d'Alunzio it is a religious rite that involves the community in an event in which sacred and profane elements with deep roots in the history of the Aluntines are mixed.

Description of the feast of the Crucifix in San Marco d'Alunzio

On the morning of the feast, a mass is celebrated in the Aracoeli Church of San Marco d'Alunzio which houses a wooden crucifix from 1652, the work of Scipione Li Volsi, an exponent of Sicilian Baroque. The Crucifix is ​​housed in a canopy used for transport and a canvas depicting the Virgin of the Seven Sorrows is placed at the foot of the statue.

Meanwhile 33 penitents, as many as the years of Christ, head to the nearby one Church of Santa Maria dei Poveri where they wear an indigo-colored tunic with a conical-shaped hood that only allows a glimpse of their eyes and they don't wear shoes, but hand-knitted socks, the piruna.
The men and women who by vote or by grace received decide to carry the Crucifix in procession are also called Mugglers and their identity is secret.
The penitents, dressed in ritual tunics, head towards the Church of Aracoeli, kiss the ground at the foot of the entrance staircase then enter the building from a side door and position themselves at the sides of the statue, ready for the procession. The Confraternity of SS. Forty Martyrs opens the procession followed by the clergy, the Babbaluti with the Crucifix, the band and the faithful. The procession crosses the streets of the town and, along the way, the penitents chant the plaintive prayer: "Signuri, mercy, mercy!" which is accompanied by the band with sad music.

At the end of the Via Crucis the Crucifix is ​​placed in the Church of Aracoeli in a tomb with red and yellow drapes and the following day, after the mass dedicated to the sick, it is brought back to its chapel where it is kept for a year.

The history of the feast of the Crucifix in San Marco d'Alunzio

The origins of the feast of the Crucifix are uncertain. Giovanni Meli, an XNUMXth century Sicilian historian, writes in a text dedicated to history of San Marco d'Alunzio that this ancient ritual dates back to 1612. However, in the same book Meli reports a fifteenth-century writing which describes particular spiritual exercises performed by the faithful in the Church of Aracoeli. Historians, however, are unable to reconstruct these religious ceremonies because the sacred elements are also mixed with profane rites that do not conform to the Catholic tradition and are therefore poorly tolerated by the ecclesiastical authority of the time.

When the feast of the Crucifix takes place in San Marco d'Alunzio

The feast of the Crucifix in San Marco d'Alunzio is thelast Friday of March, but when the Easter falls in the same month, the procession is the Friday before Palm Sunday. On the Wednesday and Thursday that precede the feast, the community prepares for the religious event with particular liturgies that are repeated at the end of the penitential days on the following Saturday.

Where the celebration of the Crucifix takes place in San Marco d'Alunzio

The festival begins with a liturgy in the Church of Aracoeli then the Crucifix in procession travels along Piano Gebbia and reaches Piazza Sant'Agostino, parades among the streets of the historic center along via Aluntina and then returning to the Aracoeli Church from where it started.

What to do during the event in San Marco d'Alunzio

The feast of the Crucifix is ​​the occasion for visit San Marco d'Alunzio, a country of province of Messina within the Nebrodi Park. The town is home to the Church of Aracoeli built in the XNUMXth century, known for its wooden sculptures and Church of San Teodoro, richly decorated with stucco. Just outside the historic center you can visit the remains of the temple of Hercules from the XNUMXth century BC, a building probably used for sporting activities linked to the cult of the hero-god.
On the top of Mount Rotondo there are the ruins of an ancient one Norman castle built by Robert Guiscard in 1061 to protect the coast from Saracen incursions.
The tourist can also retrace the history of the area by visiting the Museum of Byzantine and Norman Culture and Figurative Arts.

How to get to San Marco d'Alunzio, the roads to follow

To reach the Aracoeli Church in San Marco d'Alunzio from Messina, take the A20 motorway from via Boccetta. Continue until the S. Agata Militello exit and take the SS289 in the direction of via Aluntina in San Fratello. Then follow the signs for San Marco d'Alunzio, the church is in the historic center of the town on via Aluntina.