Friday of the Twenty-second Week of Ordinary Time

Saint Rosalia was born around 1130 in Sicily, into a Norman noble family that traced its lineage to Charlemagne. Drawn from an early age to a life wholly given to God, she renounced privilege and withdrew from the world, choosing solitude and prayer as a virgin hermit. Tradition holds that two angels guided her to a cave on Monte Pellegrino, where she lived in hidden communion with Christ. There, she left a simple testimony of love for the Lord, and she died alone in 1166. Centuries later, in 1624, Palermo was devastated by plague. Rosalia was said to have appeared to the suffering, revealing where her remains lay and asking that they be carried in procession through the city. When her relics were borne through Palermo, the plague ceased, and the people acclaimed her “la Santuzza,” the little saint who intercedes with compassion in times of contagion and fear. She is venerated especially as patroness of Palermo and of many Sicilian towns. Her feast day is September 4.