The second procession of the Festival of Santa Rosa took place on Friday evening. Hundreds of marchers dressed in costumes from all of the periods of Viterbese history snaked their way through town to the duomo where they were joined by hundreds more marchers from groups and organizations in the city. They then processed back to the Cathedral of Santa Rosa. The route took them right past the windows of the school so we were able to get a bird’s eye view of the entire proceedings. You might ask, what was the purpose of all this walking?
Santa Rosa was a native of Viterbo, born in the 13th century. We have yet to discover what miracles have been attributed to her to elevate her to the status of saint. It is a peculiar twist of Italian Catholicism that they have “relics” of their saints in churches. A relic is literally a piece of the saint. For instance, there are little bits of Saint Catherine of Siena (fingers, toes, etc.) spread all over Italy. The entire mummified body of Santa Rosa is in the cathedral in Viterbo except for …. her heart. For some unknown reason, her heart is kept in the duomo. Each year during the festival of Santa Rosa her heart is transported through the city and reunited with the rest of her body. It is carried and escorted by the same group of men who will carry the macchina the next day. They are celebrities for the weekend. I hope the video I took eventually makes it onto the blog. You can’t really see the heart, it is at the very top of the flowered creation they carry it on. You get just the tiniest glimpse around the one minute mark.
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