Saint Rosalie of Palermo

However, by order of her distraught family, the Saint was sought throughout all of Sicily. The angels warned her that she would soon be discovered if she remained on Mount Quisquina; so Rosalie, taking her crucifix in one hand and the pilgrim's staff in the other, headed toward Mount Pellegrino. The angels, onc mont Pellegrino Site of the saint's second retreat and death. e again, led her. They showed her, in the highest part of that mountain, a cave that God had destined for her. It had an opening barely sufficient to pass through, it was dimly lit, and the ground was so soaked by water that Rosalie could barely find a corner to rest without being in the mud. The vault was very low, so that the Saint was almost always bent over. It was in this dreadful retreat that she spent the last years of her life, having only herbs and acorns for sustenance. After eighteen years of this austere and penitent life, Our Lord called her to Him to give her the reward she had so well earned (September 4, 1160).

Her cult spread rapidly throughout Europe and even reached Africa. The two caves she had inhabited became two visited and highly frequented sanctuaries. However, her body had not been found. The water, falling on her drop by drop, had enveloped her in a stone as transparent as alabaster and as hard as crystal. Numerous searches had been made, they had dug everywhere and had discovered nothing. An opinion had spread among the people of Palermo that this holy body would only be found on the day when di Palerme Birthplace and site of the saint's principal miracle. vine vengeance would weigh upon the city. On May 29, the plague broke out in Palermo and, a few days later, the body th at wa peste Epidemic that ceased after the exposition of the saint's relics. s being sought was found by breaking this long alabaster stone of which we have spoken. However, the plague continued its ravages and many plague victims obtained their healing by invoking Saint Rosalie. On January 22, 1625, after much hesitation, this venerated body was exposed in public, and the plague ceased suddenly. Following these striking miracles, a magnificent chapel was erected to Saint Rosalie and her bones were deposited there, enclosed in a beautiful silver reliquary. Since that time, the cave of Mount Pellegrino has become a sanctuary entirely covered with marble and gilding. Following a striking miracle, the cult of Saint Rosalie spread to the Indies and her name became popular in the Orient.

She is represented: 1° carving on the entrance of her cave the formula of the vow she made to spend her days in this retreat; 2° crowned with white roses, in memory of her name and her virginity.

Acta Sanctorum Acta Sanctorum Monumental hagiographic collection by the Bollandists. , September 4th. — One can see in this collection (volume II of September), a series of twenty-three magnificent engravings, representing the various phases of the Saint's life.

Saint LAWRENCE JUSTINIA Saint LAURENT JUSTINIEN First Patriarch of Venice. N, first Patriarch of Ve nice, Venise Final location of the transfer of relics in 1200. who, by his virtues and his miracles, honored the episcopal chair to which he was, against his will, raised on this day. His death is mentioned on January 8. 1455. — In a suburb of Rome, Saint Victo rinus, bishop saint Victorin Bishop of Amiternum and martyr. and martyr, who, illustrious for his holiness and his miracles, was elected Bishop of Am iternum Amiterno City of which Victorinus was elected bishop. by all the people of