The candle lit at the feet of Saint Eustochia on the day of memory of her incorrupt body was yesterday the sign of Messina’s entrustment to its saint.
It was delivered during the celebration in Montevergine by councilor Alessandra Calafiore, at the end of a ritual that brought together city authorities, representatives of the brotherhoods and numerous faithful in the monastery church. A gesture that is renewed over time and which this year too has brought the city back to the incorrupt body of Eustochia Smeralda Calafato, in the place that preserves her memory. Presiding over the celebration was the superior general of the Rogationists, Father Bruno Rampazzo, on a day that took on a particular meaning also due to the connection with Saint Annibale Maria Di Francia, on the centenary of the death of the founder of the Rogationists and the Daughters of Divine Zeal.
In the rite the relationship between the city and its saint was symbolically renewed: through that gesture, the Municipality entrusted the Messina community to the protection and intercession of Eustochia. Present alongside the Poor Clares in the church of Montevergine were the city authorities, representatives of brotherhoods and equestrian orders, volunteers from the canteens of Cristo Re and S. Antonio and the faithful who accompanied the celebration.
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