Ragusa Prepares to Mark San Francesco's Feast Under the Eighth Centenary

The run-up to the feast of San Francesco d'Assisi in Ragusa began with four parish choirs — San Paolo, Sacro Cuore, Savio and San Francesco — carrying the singing at a eucharistic celebration in the parish dedicated to the saint, in the city's Cappuccini quarter. The Mass was presided over by don Giuseppe Di Corrado of the Istituto San Paolo in Catania, a lecturer in patristics at the Centro Accademico di Formazione Teologica "Studio Teologico San Paolo" in the same city. The parish community thanked the choristers, saying their singing had made the celebration more intense and more widely shared.

The triduum of preparation continues on Friday 2 October, a day dedicated to the guardian angels and to grandparents, with the Rosary and the Coroncina to San Francesco at 18.00, Mass at 18.30 and a catechesis by Di Corrado at 19.30 titled "Francesco: la grammatica della Chiesa". A dance piece, "Oltre i confini del mondo. L'infinita carezza di Francesco", follows at 20.45 in piazza Cappuccini, performed by the Associazione sportiva dilettantistica Danzaperdire under Renata Guastella, and a concert, "La melodia del legno", by the cooperative Filotea with the Armonia Barocca orchestra of Modica's Liceo musicale e coreutico "G. Verga", closes the evening at 21.30. Saturday brings the Transito di San Francesco: Rosary at 18.00, Mass at 18.30, the rite of the Transito at 19.30, and at 20.30 the eleventh edition of the song competition "Una voce per San Francesco", now in its sixth Memorial "Mario Vita" and directed artistically by Laura Di Dio, with the Fatti Sentire Festival as official partner and a performance by the Swing Dance school.

Sunday 4 October is the day of the solennità itself. Mortaretti are fired at 9.00 and again at 18.00; don Nicola Iudica presides at the 9.30 and 11.00 Masses, both animated by the parish community. At noon in piazza Cappuccini comes the blessing of the animals, the appointment that, according to the local coverage, brings more families into the square than any other, with their dogs and cats, and which recalls the saint's bond with all creatures. The Rosary and Coroncina return at 17.30, and the solemn eucharist at 18.00 is presided over by the bishop of Ragusa, monsignor Giuseppe La Placa, with civil and military authorities expected.

The procession with the simulacrum of San Francesco sets out at 19.30 from piazza Cappuccini, along via Marsala to largo Beata Maria Candida, where it pauses before the monastery of the Carmelites, then on through piazza del Popolo, via Roma and corso Italia. A halt before the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista is described in the local press as one of the most keenly awaited moments of the route. The simulacrum continues to the ponte Padre Scopetta for a firework display before returning to piazza Cappuccini, where the choir "Mariele Ventre", directed by Giovanna Guastella, performs as it arrives. Until Sunday, after each Mass, the parish keeps open a charity raffle and a food collection stand for people in difficulty.

The day ends at 21.00 with theatre: the Compagnia Instabile di Modica stages "Francesco, la follia diventata sapienza", written and directed by Alessandro Nasi, a work that retraces the life and spiritual experience of the saint of Assisi. This year's edition carries an additional weight: it falls within the commemorations of the eighth centenary of the death of the Poverello, who died at Assisi in 1226, a recurrence the local press says renews the relevance of his message of peace, fraternity and respect for creation. Ragusa's programme closes on a line its papers repeat almost verbatim — a figure who, eight hundred years after his death, remains a point of reference for believers and non-believers alike.