In a renewal of the venerable tradition of Sicilian faithful from the town of Sciacca, hundreds of Italian-American Catholics gathered in Norristown Sunday, Aug. 18 for the 115th annual feast in honor of la Madonna Santissima del Soccorso di Sciacca (supported by the M.S.S. Society). After Mass celebrated by Msgr. John C. Marine and other clergy at Holy Saviour Church in the Montgomery County borough, a procession of faithful followed a statue of Mary and the child Jesus, carried on the shoulders of 20 men, through the streets while rosary prayers ascended and the Verdi Band kept the pace in song. The procession was followed by benediction in the church and an Italian festival of abundant food, music and friendship in the Holy Saviour parish hall.
The festival commemorates the devotion begun in Sicily 500 years ago in thanksgiving for Mary’s intercession in ending a plague, and has been carried on in Norristown since immigrants arrived there from Sciacca in the early 20th century. (Photos by Samantha Gambino)
Heirloom vestments and flowers adorn the statue of Mary, under the Italian title of la Madonna Santissima del Soccorso di Sciacca — Our Lady of Perpetual Help — and the Child Jesus atop a platform carried in procession by some 20 men.
Men carry the statue along the streets of Norristown as their forbears did 115 years ago.
Community groups march in the procession ahead of the statue along the streets of Norristown.
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