Religious Celebrations

Every year, on the third Sunday of September, Morolo celebrates the feast in honor of the Madonna delle Grazie, also known as Madonna del Piano, in the area where the church dedicated to the Madonna is located.

Over the years, the religious festival has taken on more and more aspects of entertainment and food and wine stands are set up where it is possible to taste the culinary delights and local products.

The first feast of Santa Marinella is that of the 'blessing of the animals' dedicated to Saint Anthony and which is held on Sunday near January 17, the day dedicated to the saint.

On this date in the Quartaccia district, tastings and competitions are organized while the blessing is held in the Church of Via Aurelia Vecchia and is followed by a procession of the Saint through the streets of the neighbourhood.

The Feast of Sta Caterina and Fair of the Coats (Festa di Santa Caterina and Fiera dei Cappotti) stems from the fact that the farmers had harvested and had the money to buy winter clothes.

A Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Cellino San Marco is religious festival for a cult probably introduced by the Basilian monks who brought so many saints of the East.

Saint Benedict, patron saint of Europe, is highly revered in Militello Militello in Val di Catania.

The Feast of Saint Benedict begins on 3 July with the octave, but reaches its climax on 11 July with the procession through the city streets and various events that act as a "kit" for the religious festival.

The Feast of Maria Ausiliatrice takes place on May 24 at the Confraternity Church of Santa Maria dello Spasimo, from which the city's district takes its name.

The statue of the Madonna enthroned with the Child is carried in a procession on the shoulder.

The feast of St Sebastian occurs on January 20th and is deeply felt in Militello in Val di Catania.

The celebrations have already begun on the 18th at the church of the same name and end with the eucharistic celebration at the Church of Santa Maria della Stella.

The feast of the Madonna della Stella, the main patron saint of Militello in Val di Catania, is the most important religious festival in the city and is celebrated on 8 September.

The feast of the patron saint: the Madonna della Stella
The celebrations in honor of the Madonna della Stella begin on August 29th with the traditional procession of the "Cantata" for the main streets of the city, accompanied by fireworks.

Followed by nine days of preparation for the festival, until vigilia, on 7 September, when the doors of the chapel are opened, which house the precious simulacrum of Maria Santissima della Stella.

It is a precious statue in golden wood and hemp of 1618, restored after the earthquake in 1693 by the sculptor Camillo Confalone.

The statue, on the occasion of the celebrations and after the offering of the votive candle by the Mayor, is placed on a throne within a rich eighteenth-century wooden fercolo, preparing it for the procession the following day.

On 8 September, in fact, the Madonna is taken around the streets of the city, surrounded by great emotion and popular devotion.

The program of religious and recreational events of the days of the Christmas Eve also includes the parade of flag-wavers, the musical band, fireworks, concerts and musical performances.

Mariani and Nicolesi
The religious, social and civil history of the militellesi is characterized by a strenuous opposition between nicolesi, the parishioners of the church of San Nicola, and Marians, supporters of Santa Maria della Stella.

The two cults are born in medieval times but the dispute is more recent. It was caused by the decrees of the Council of Trent which, from the second half of the 1500s, distinguished the master churches and the parish churches.

From that moment on a terrible competition on maturity started (not always played correctly on the interpretation and / or interpolation of ancient archival documents), to claim for one or the other parish the greatest antiquity in the exercise of matrix rights.

This explains the "competition" among the supporters to those who shoot the most beautiful fires or decorate the city with the most splendid lights.