The Madonna of San Luca came to the city on Saturday and yesterday afternoon, the city moved for the Virgin. In fact, the beautiful sunny Sunday favored the ‘Run for Mary’, the recreational-motor walk open to all which ran through the streets of the historic centre, starting from Piazza Santo Stefano and ending in the courtyard of the Archbishop’s Palace, in via Altabella. A walk, now traditional, proposed by the Committee for Petronian events, in collaboration with local sports organisations, to celebrate the presence of the sacred icon in the cathedral. “The ‘Run’ – explains Don Massimo Vacchetti, director of the diocesan office for the pastoral care of sport, pilgrimages and free time – is an extraordinary moment of meeting between sport and faith, Church and city, running and rest, tradition and innovation. Every year the Madonna sets out to reach the heart of Bologna and the ‘Run for Mary’ is the echo of this movement and has its culmination in the courtyard of the Archbishopric, where anyone who has rediscovered the city, walking through its streets full of history and images depicting the Virgin, you can stop for a convivial moment”.
The week during which Our Lady is in the city is always full of important moments for believers. Today at 7pm, in the church of San Domenico Savio in via Isabella Andreini, Archbishop Zuppi will celebrate mass for the feast of the Patron Saint. Of the many celebrations, Wednesday’s is particularly heartfelt: at 5.15pm the Madonna of San Luca will reach the basilica of San Petronio in procession and at 6pm from the churchyard, the archbishop will give the blessing to the city. This will be followed by the memory, together with Mayor Lepore, of the victims of the explosion at the Bargi hydroelectric power plant.
