All’s well that ends well. On Sunday 6 September the statue of San Saba, patron saint of the Messina village of the same name, will return in procession through the streets of the town. In recent weeks the religious festival had been at risk but after the constructive dialogue between all the components in the field – the parish priest, the Curia and the Committee – serenity has returned. “Beautiful news, welcomed with joy by the whole community”, writes the committee which on the evening of Sunday 23 August had organized a party in the square in honor of the Patron Saint, with music and conviviality, demonstrating that popular devotion remained alive. “There were no winners or losers: there was only the desire to safeguard a tradition that belongs to all the inhabitants of San Saba”.
It must be said that by going out on September 6th instead of the traditional date of the end of August, the procession risks having fewer faithful: many, in fact, have now returned to the city from the sea and resumed their daily commitments. For this reason, the Committee addresses to the entire community “a heartfelt invitation to participate in large numbers, to make the day a moment of collective celebration worthy of the devotion that the Patron Saint deserves. An official invitation, in particular, should be addressed to Father Gianfranco Centorrino, who with his mediation work made this happy epilogue possible. What happened in San Saba above all tells a story of participation: citizens who organized themselves, a dialogue born in the right institutional settings, and a Curia that knew how to listen and mediate. A path which deserves to be told in full, because it is precisely in the clarity of the facts that the value of the work done by everyone is recognised”.