The tribute of the Messina to San Giovanni Decollato was renewed on the day of his martyrdom known precisely as “decollation”; He is dedicated to him the church located in the homonymous square between Viale Regina Margherita and the Boccetta torrent. The procession of the simulacrum right on the shoulder by the group of PORTERI CERI Messina (led by Salvatore Comunale and Franco Forami) has returned to parade through the streets of the Antoni, Mitchell, Trionfo, Piazza San Pio, Viale Regina Margherita, Borzì, Longo and Gagini, before returning to the church square where in the evening a suggestive show of pyrotechnic games took place in the evening; The statue rests on an artistic fercolo made by the Milanese craftsman Rocco Ruggeri. The procession was accompanied by the “Santa Cecilia” musical band of Santo Stefano Medio, together with the members of the Confraternity led by Domenico Romano, the renewed Confraternity of San Cristoforo and a representation of the Diocesan Interconfraternal Center.
It was the new priest Don Antonino Morabito who presided over the solemn mass concelebrated by the rector Father Gaetano Clemente and by Msgr. Giuseppe Costa, archiepiscopal delegate of the church of Santa Maria alla Archbrovado. Unlike the other religious buildings of the city reconstructed after the 1908 earthquake, that of S. Giovanni Decollato was not made in reinforced concrete but in bricks; Among others, some confreres of the time participated in the building, including Giovanni Marra, to which the decorations are due, and Giuseppe Cannavò who took care of the stuccos. The catino of the apse was frescoed by Luciano Batoli with the “baptism of Jesus” and under the “decollation” of Giuseppe Bonsignore. The rearrangement of the apse to adapt the Church to the post -conciliar liturgical rules and the altar of the SS. Sacramento were curated by the Salesian architect Don Giorgio Van; The mosaic of the prospectus, with the “preaching of the Baptist” is the work of the school of the Blessed Angelico of Milan. The history of the Confraternity of St. John Decollato, which originally had the task of burning to death to death; For this reason, Patrioti Messina who shot for freedom were also buried in the Church, among which Giuseppe slips.