The devotion to the Most Holy Mother of Sciacca has a very ancient tradition behind it. Of the fifty churches that existed and still exist in the city of Sciacca, the Blessed Mother is honored with more than thirty-five of those churches bearing her name.
The devotion to the Blessed Mother under the title Soccorso (help) began in the year 1432,
with the coming of the Augustinian Friars. These priests had built their monastery next to the church of Saint Barnabas Outside the Walls, which was the seat of the Confraternity of Saint Barnabas founded in 1400 by the nobility of Sciacca.
In that church, the Augustinians placed a painting depicting the Blessed Mother under the
title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. In the painting, the Madonna is depicted with the infant Jesus in her left hand and in her right hand she holds a club, with which she crushed the devil under her feet. Under her mantle was an angel and a child whom the devil had tried to
carry off.
As the devotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary grew, the members of the Confraternity of Saint
Barnabas decided to have the painting of Our Lady made into a statue; the statue was executed in Palermo, Sicily in 1503. The statue cost 204 lire and was sculpted by Giliano il Mancino and Bartholomeo Birrittaro. In the currency of today 204 lire would be worth 35
cents.
The statue was placed on a barge to be transported by sea to Sciacca. The townspeople had no idea when the barge bearing its precious cargo would arrive. When
the barge was sighted off shore, the sailors rushed to the beach and carried the statue in procession into the church. Until this very day, the sailors of Sciacca, are the only men permitted to carry Our Lady's statue in procession.
The devotion to the Madonna del Soccorso di Sciacca increased with the turn of the centuries and to attract more of the faithful, to this devotion, the Augustinians demolished the old church of Saint Barnabas and built the Bascilica of Saint Augustine which was opened in 1792.
In November of 1625 a horrible epidemic broke out in Sciacca which had already plagued other parts of the island of Sicily the year before. The mortality
rate was very high, killing almost 40 percent of the population.
Medicines were of no help, many people sought the grace and the intercession of the saints. Finally the people turned to the Blessed Mother to intercede for them.On February 2, 1626, on the Feast of the Purification of the blessed Virgin Mary, the judges of the town of Sciacca, the Captain of Arms, the priests and people, gathered in the cathedral church and begged for an end to the
plague. They proclaimed Maria SS. del Soccorso principal patroness of the city. With solemn vows they made the following promises: to forever and irrevocably carry the statue of Our Lady in solemn procession every year on February 2, to observe a fast on the vigil of the feast, and to make a solemn novena.
When the solemn vows were completed, the sacred statue was taken from the altar of Saint Barnabas' church, was placed on a special float, and was
carried in solemn, penitential procession through the streets of the city. In front of the statue were all of the members of the church of Saint Barnabas in sack cloth and ashes followed by the congregation of the disciplinati, then the various societies, the religious communities of the city and the diocesan priests. Behind the float which carried Our Lady, followed the Captain of Arms, the judges, royal officials, the nobility, and the masses of the people, all forming a very long line.
Through the gates of the city the statue entered in solemn procession. All along the route of the procession could be seen the sick and dying who with their families joined their prayers and sacrifices with those who walked in the solemn procession.
When the procession arrived at Piazza Monestero, the market place, a towering whirlwind of smoke distracted the people from the statue. Suddenly a fragrant dense blue smoke was seen rising from the statue and disappeared into the sky. "Viva Maria" (long live Mary) "Our prayers are answered"cried the crowd. The joyous echo resounded throughout the city, where the cry was repeated by thousands of hearts. The bells pealed out in festive tones while the guardians of the bastions began to shoot their cannons on salute to Our Lady.
The plague ended and in thanksgiving to Our Lady, a solemn novena was celebrated and the keys to the city were placed at Our Lady's feet. The silver keys which now hang from the cincture of the statue recall the miracle of the blue smoke which signaled the end of the plague. Even today, on the day of the procession, when the statue arrives at the market place of Sciacca, a large quantity of incense in a brass skull is set on fire to symbolize the great miracle of the blue smoke. The solemn vows which were made on that day were confirmed on April 1, 1644 by King Philip IV. He decreed that every city
in his kingdom was to proclaim Our Lady as its patroness.
In 1817 a violent earthquake struck Sciacca causing death and widespread destruction. Many of the people fled their homes and began to live in barracks of wood in the outskirts of the city. On the 14th and 18th of January, the earth shook violently. The townspeople felt that the statue of their patroness should be brought to a small wooden church near the city park where they felt it would be safe.
The senate and the archpriest Bendict Bento decided to have the procession of Our Lady from the church on the afternoon of January 19th. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and the statue had already been place on the float. The Augustinian friar was putting the sacred ornaments on Our Lady to be carried to the procession.
The president of the Society of Saint Barnabus dusted the statue and came down from the statue with his habit soiled. It seemed as if the statue was not fixed properly and so he got up on the float again. But when he touched the marble statue he cried out, stupified, that the statue was sweating. On the face, neck and chest came out drops of sweat which gathered up and came down along the folds of her mantle. When the guardian of the monastery began to dry the statue with a linen cloth, it was obvious that the sweating was to continue. The municipal leaders of the city arrived on the scene and
they too could also verify what was happening. The crowd which had gathered outside the church cried out that a miracle had taken place. Their enthusiasm became all the greater when the pastor of the church came out and showed the crowd the miraculous cloth of sweat. A cry was voiced by thousands, "Viva Maria, grace has been granted." With that, the great crowd carried the venerated image in procession to the little wooden church where the statue continued to sweat long into the night. After this miraculous incident the violent earthquake ceased. Even today, this event is commemorated
by wiping off the statue after the procession. Until 1812 the senate of Sciacca had promised to have the Te Deum sung in all of the churches on January 19th to thank God for having saved their city, through the intercession of the Madonna, from the violent earthquake. The statue remained in the church of Saint Augustine until 1861 when it was transported to the high altar of the cathedral church of the diocese and enthroned under the title of Maria SS. del Soccorso.
On August 15, 1907, carrying out the decree from the Vatican of July 15, 1906, the statue was newly crowned in gold. The celebrating of the Feast on August 15 was not instituted until 1869 after the statue had remained in the cathedral for eighteen months. This great procession was and is still preceded by the traditional days of festivities called "la Festa."
The procession of February 2 is kept in obedience to the vow of 1626 and is preceded by a solemn novena. The first of February is kept as a fast day and
at twelve noon of that day, the statue is taken in procession from the church of Saint Augustine to the mother church. During that procession, many of
the faithful walk with bare feet. The most solemn feast of the city of Sciacca is the procession celebrated on February second.
This beautiful and ancient devotion to the Blessed Mother certainly did not remain in Sciacca alone. As the waves of immigrants entered the Untied States from the countries of Europe, they brought with them their characteristic religious practices and cultural traditions. The Italians were no less different, and in particular, the people who came to America from the town of Sciacca.
Many came to America and lived in the cities of Brooklyn and Boston. Many other immigrants made their home in the borough of Norristown, PA, where a large colony of Sciacchitani began to grow. The first people to settle here from Sciacca did not exactly find the streets paved with gold. Actually, the hallmark of these immigrants was hard work and sacrifice.
The Society of Maria Santissima del Soccorso was founded in 1904 at a time when dire depression prevailed. For the sole purpose of planning ways and means to overcome the many family misfortunes and financial distresses among the Italian immigrants, Filippo Catagnano, Matteo Baldassano, Michele Marinello and Severio Santangelo constituted themselves a committee and met for the first time on the first Sunday of April 1904. By unanimous vote, they created a society, naming it Maria Santissima del Soccorso di Sciacca.
It was not until December, 1907, on motion by Giovanni Lauro, that it was approved to have the statue of Maria SS. del Soccorso made. In 1908, the statue was an accomplished fact, being sculpted by Giuseppe Florio Bruno of New York, a native of Sciacca.
On September 25, 1908, the image of Maria Santissima del Soccorso was carried in procession to the Italian Church of the Holy Saviour for the veneration
of the faithful.
The great devotional practices and veneration of the Blessed Mother, begun hundreds of years ago in Sciacca are still continued by the descendants of
these people in America. Each year, on the Sunday closest to the Feast of the Assumption, the feast of Maria SS. del Soccorso is celebrated with Solemn
Mass, procession and social activities. Hundreds of people walk in the beautiful and solemn procession through the streets of Norristown accompanied by
the Mayor and other high political officials as well as the clergy.
These people continue a tradition handed on generation after generation of venerating the Mother of God under the title Soccorso (help).
In truth, She has always been their patroness and protector. Whatever the need... the end of a horrible plague hundreds of years ago, the dangers and hardships of immigrants in a new country, or the many problems and crises of today, She, the Mother Most Pure, has always been the guard and shield of the Sciacchitani and indeed of all God's people.
