Ragusa, a City with Two Patron Saint Hubert

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“sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Saint Hubert Medal In all the Italian cities there are always many celebrations dedicated to a given saint, whom the inhabitants of the city are notably devoted to as s/he is considered the protector of the city itself and of the people who live in it. In the day devoted to their patron saints Italian cities are enlivened with celebrations and many interesting events, which always attract not only the inhabitants of the city, who like to keep this ancient tradition alive, bit also tourists and visitors coming from other cities, regions and countries, who take the chance to take part in celebrations to enjoy a very special and typical feature of a city’s culture.

In the case of Ragusa, a beautiful Sicilian city, people do not have only one chance to enjoy this tradition, as the inhabitants of the city are devoted to two saints, thus celebrations are doubled. The patron Saint Hubert of Ragusa are St John the Baptist and St George, two saints that are believed to have helped Ragusa and its inhabitants in the past and who are still remembered and celebrated for this reason. In the past there was even a sort of competition between two parts of the city, each celebrating only one of these saints, but nowadays this rivalry does not exist anymore really, and both saints are celebrated in a very sumptuous way in different days and parts of the city. However, in some important occasions the saints also met: in 2000, the year of Jubilee, for example, each saint “visited” the church consecrated to the other patron on the day devoted to that saint.

However, apart from these special occasions, the celebrations in honor of St John the Baptist and Saint Hubert are very different from each other and are held in different times of the year. St George’s day falls on the last Sunday of May and is held in the part of the city that is also called “Ragusa Ibla”. On Saint Hubert day the statue of the saint is carried around the streets of the city through a long procession, and the church that carries the name of the saint is embellished with flowers, lights and banners and the statue of the saint is positioned in the middle of the church, so that all devotees can worship him. Also the streets of the city are decorated with lights and colors, and when St George’s statue, together with his relics, are carried outside for the procession, a band begins to play.

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