June 17, 2024, 1.40pm
8 min read
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PALERMO – Sicily is the region chosen for 2024 to offer the oil that fuels the votive lamp that burns day and night in Assisi, on the tomb of San Francesco, patron saint of Italy. The event, which is repeated every year with the participation of a different region on the occasion of the 4th October celebration, involves the entire Sicilian population, with its civil and religious institutions.
The initiative
The details of the initiative were presented this morning at the Palais d’Orléansin Palermo, by the president of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani, by the president of the Sicilian Episcopal Conference Monsignor Antonino Raspanti, by the custodian of the Sacred Convent of San Francesco in Assisi, fra Marco Moroni OfmConv, by the custodian of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Porziuncola fra Massimo Travascio Ofm, by the mayor of Assisi Stefania Proietti, by the mayor of Palermo Roberto Lagalla.
Also present were the representatives of the eighteen dioceses of Sicily and the representatives of the regional departments of Agriculture (general manager Dario Cartabellotta), Cultural Heritage (councillor Francesco Paolo Scarpinato and general manager Mario La Rocca) and Tourism (general manager Maria Concetta Antinoro) involved in the initiative, in addition to the Presidency. During the presentation, a video message of greeting from the bishop of Assisi, Monsignor Domenico Sorrentino, was shown.
On the occasion, the logo that will mark all the events capable of attracting thousands of pilgrims, created by the Sicilian Region, was also revealed. The Churches of the island will donate one thousand liters of oil (60 for each diocese) to power the lamp of Assisi; the excess quantity will remain available to the diocesan Caritas.
Sicily restores two works of art
The gift that the Presidency of the Sicilian Region has decided to offer for the occasion is the protection of two important works of art in Assisi: 20 thousand euros are allocated to the restoration of the oil painting on canvas, with a polychrome wooden frame, depicting “The apparition of Saint Joseph to Saint Bonaventure”, from the 18th century, in the Basilica of San Francesco, and another oil on canvas depicting “The Madonna in the places of the Passion”, from the 17th century, attributed to Piergirolamo Crispolti.
The Presidency of the Region is also financing the 25 ceramic lamps which are passing through the parishes and communities of the dioceses of the island, the printing of 300 thousand prayer cards with the effigy of Saint Francis and 4 thousand booklets of the celebrations of 3 and 4 October, approximately 3 thousand pilgrim kits for all those who from Sicily they will reach Assisi in those days.
Three of these lamps, at the end of the press conference, were donated by the bishop of Caltagirone, Monsignor Calogero Peri, representing Cesi, to the three guests coming from Assisi.
There “Guardians of beauty, let’s light up hope” event will involve the entire island in Assisi, twenty-one years after the last participation, in 2003. A program full of events. In the afternoon of October 3scheduled for 4.30 pm the greeting of the mayor of Assisi and the president of the Umbria Region to the delegation of the Sicilian Region and at 6 pm the celebration of the first vespers in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
The October 4feast of the Patron Saint of Italy, meeting between the authorities at the Municipal Palace of Assisi at 8.30, then a procession to the Basilica of San Francesco, the upper church, where the president of Cesi, at 10, will preside over the solemn Eucharistic celebration, in the presence of all the authorities and pilgrims, and where the mayor of the capital city of the invited Region, therefore Palermo, will light the votive lamp of the Municipalities of Italy.
At 11.30, from the Loggia of the Sacred Convent, in the lower square, the greeting of the Minister General of the order of Friars Minor Conventual, the message of the president of the Sicilian Region, the message of a member of the Italian government and other authorities. The celebration of the mass and the institutional messages will be broadcast live on Rai Uno.
Schifani: “Commitment to fraternity and solidarity”
“The offering of oil is a symbolic gesture that goes beyond the material gift – states the President of the Region, Renato Schifani – representing devotion, commitment and the will to keep alive the values of peace, brotherhood and solidarity”.
Schifani then added: “Sicily has a deep historical and spiritual connection with Saint Francis, whose life dedicated to the weakest reminds us of the importance of living in harmony with others and with nature, just as a great fellow countryman of ours guided by this Franciscan spirit, brother Biagio Conte, founder of the Mission of Hope and Charity, did , who passed away last year. The Franciscan essence is rooted in our traditions, known for hospitality and generosity.”
And again: “Oil, a product of the Sicilian land, symbolizes peace and prosperity, the fruit of the passionate work of its people. Being present at the ceremony in Assisi in October is an invitation to collaboration for a better future, inspired by the principles of justice, love and solidarity that Saint Francis taught us. An event which for our island also represents a national showcase in the sign of peace and coexistence between peoples”.
“To leave an indelible mark, we have already financed the restoration of the two paintings, thus demonstrating our commitment to protecting the artistic heritage and promoting the universal values of respect and collaboration,” concluded the governor.
Raspanti: “Saint Francis is an extraordinary figure”
“The celebrations that have taken place in Assisi for many years are of exquisitely religious and spiritual value – he stated Monsignor Raspanti– being Saint Francis, as stated by numerous pontiffs and by Pope Francis in particular, a figure of extraordinary greatness and holiness, a person who, perhaps more than many others, sends us the full and all-round image of Jesus Christ crucified and risen” .
“Francis of Assisi also sends us the image of God’s merciful love, who embraces the entire creation, loving it to the full, offering himself for this great love – he continued -. These extraordinary values have been recognized for centuries and still today even in the civil sphere. It is for this reason that we go on a pilgrimage every year, and we do it again this year with great joy and a pinch of pride together with the government of the Sicilian Region, the mayors, as an act of the entire nation that offers the oil for the votive lamp of Francis, patron saint of Italy”.
The custodian of the Sacred Convent of Assisi speaks
“Sicily, which has always been a crossroads – a meeting place and a frontier – of cultures and traditions, of religions and faiths, of languages and nations, is a land of welcome and integration – he underlined fra Marco Moroni, custodian of the Sacred Convent of San Francesco in Assisi -. A complex story, with shared values and attitudes rooted in the hearts of the people who shaped it and made it what it truly is: a kaleidoscope of differences conveyed into an identity that is beauty”.
“I hope that this pilgrimage is truly a mutual gift in which those who arrive and those who welcome know how to learn from the gifts of others, so that we become and are increasingly communities in which differences are not obstacles to collaboration, but on the contrary the raw material of our commitment for the common good, which must first and foremost be an opportunity for growth for those who are excluded or in the process of being excluded”, he highlighted.
“May this pilgrimage to Assisi be a path of growth for all of us in solidarity, in a style of transparency, justice and custody of the common home”, he concluded.
“To Assisi to ask for peace”
“In the year in which we celebrate 800 years of the impression of the Stigmata of Saint Francis – he added fra Massimo Travascio, custodian of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Porziuncola – it is even more significant to become pilgrims to Assisi to ask that from our wounds and that of all humanity comes a new life of reconciliation and peace”.
“Pilgrims to Assisi in the desire for personal conversion as a premise and condition for every step of solidarity, justice and peace – he underlined -. Pilgrims to entrust themselves to the Poverello, so that he may sustain our hope and that of the world; to make the words of consolation and blessing of Saint Francis and his appeal to the centrality of the Holy Gospel echo in hearts.”
The mayor of Assisi: “Great emotion”
“With great emotion the city of Assisi welcomes the Sicilian Region this year to the celebrations in honor of Saint Francis, patron saint of Italy, and to the gift of oil that will fuel the lamp in front of the saint’s tomb”, the words of the mayor of Assisi, Stefania Proietti.
“Every year, on October 4, an extraordinary event is repeated as testimony to the profound Franciscan messages, such as peace and dialogue, which are universal and particularly felt in this historical moment – he added -. Today more than ever we need to cultivate the feeling of non-violenceto commit ourselves so that the wars, the too many wars that bloodied the world, stop.”
And finally: “The bond that unites the Seraphic City to the Sicilian land is strong, Sicily will bring the pride of its history and its roots, of its culture and its traditions and in Assisi it will find an open “house” to strengthen the heritage unrivaled in the values that we have in common.”
Lagalla will light the votive lamp
Also present was the mayor of Palermo, Roberto Lagalla. “It will be a strong emotion for me to be able to light the votive lamp on the tomb of Saint Francis in Assisi on October 4th – he said -. On that occasion I will have the honor and responsibility of representing all my fellow mayors of Italy in a solemn and intense moment. I am also pleased that this event also falls in the year of the four hundredth anniversary of the celebrations of Saint Rosalia, Patroness of Palermo, who ideally shares a very similar life and spiritual path with Saint Francis.”
Published on
June 17, 2024, 1.40pm
