One Sicilian town’s centuries-old devotion to the Holy Cross

At midday on Sept. 15, the cross is brought back to its church.

Not only is devotion to the Most Holy Cross very old in Montemaggiore, but the celebration of its feast day “is probably the oldest in the territory,” Panzarella said.

A popular legend says the cross, which can be dated to between 1480 and 1520, was found by Father Giuseppe Cangelosi and some farmers around the year 1625.

The story says the crucifix was found in a field near an abbey. The priest’s attention was drawn to the spot by a bush that was burning but not consumed by the flames.

Yet Montemaggiore’s councilor of culture and deputy mayor said a more likely explanation is that the cross was a gift from a member of the noble Migliaccio family, which ruled the area for years and was responsible for its founding.

There are no historical records to give proof to the theory, but the idea is supported by the fact that the Migliaccio family paid to have the Church of the Holy Cross built in the early 1600s, according to Riccardo Siragusa, the town’s deputy mayor.

There are also historical records showing that the feast of the Holy Cross was celebrated by the townspeople as early as 1628.

Siragusa and pastor Panzarella both explained that the town’s first celebration of the cross was marked every year on May 3 — the date sometimes known as “Roodmas” — which commemorates the finding of the true cross in the Holy Land.

Around the middle of the 1700s, the pastor said, Montemaggiore began to also mark the Sept. 14 feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Pope John XXIII removed the May 3 feast from the Church calendar in 1960 in favor of Sept. 14).

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The May 3 feast is also commemorated with Mass and a procession, this time along a longer and steeper path through the town’s outskirts so the parish priest can bless locals’ fields and animals.

Centuries later, Montemaggiore continues to mark both days with religious celebrations, though Sept. 14 has taken on much more importance.

“There are very deep connections to this festivity,” Panzarella said.