Messina is preparing to celebrate San Francesco di Paolapatron of the seafarers, to whom the Sanctuary church in front of Rada San Francesco is named. A program full of initiatives promoted by the Parish of Santa Maria dell’Arco with the Confraternity named after the Saint, which this year will have three important moments: Wednesday 30 April at 5.30 pm in Piazza Castronovo The community with the parish priest Don Luciano Gampetthe will welcome them The relic of the stick of San Francesco kept by the minimal friars in Palermo, a symbol of the long journey made, marked by the effort but also by the joy of giving himself for others; At 6pm in the parish the solemn mass. From Thursday 1 May to Saturday three will take place the triduo in preparation for the party which will be preached by Msgr. Giuseppe Costa: every afternoon after prayer and meditation at 6 pm the celebration will follow.
Sunday 4 May patronal feast At 11 the solemn mass presided over by the cardinal Paolo Romeo Archbishop emeritus of Palermo; at 6pm the procession of the simulacrum and the relic of the stick will travel the streets Istria, freedom, pola, viale carousel, concerties, gasometer, freedom, canva, Garibaldi, piazza Castronovo (with stop and prayer of entrusting the children and young people of the catechesis), Bellinzona, Viale Regina Elena, Rione Ogliastri, Viale Regina Elena, Cuba, Argentina, Argentina, Duke. Abruzzi, Viale della Libertà (with a stop at the Church of the Ringo), Brazil, Ecuador, Princess Mafalda, Cuppari, Istria. At the end of the procession in the pedestrian area of via Concenerie, the show of the “Cavadduzzu and Omu Sabbaggiu” will take place.
The third important appointment linked to the jubilee year will be, Sunday 11 May at 5 pmthe transfer of the simulacrum to the Rada San Francesco e Boarding on the Caronte & Tourist ship for the suggestive procession at sea: as they explained Don Gampetti and the president of the Diocesan Interconfraternal Center Fortunato Marinoit is the third time that this gesture is accomplished to celebrate the bond of San Francesco di Paola with the sea; Previously he took place in 1970 aboard Filomena Matacena, in 1989 on Archimedes and in 2003 on Giuseppe Franza. 2014 instead was the year of the historical re -enactment aboard a boat that started from Catona in Calabria. Among the recreational events from 1 to 4 May the exhibition “San Francesco and the popular piety” will be open.