Towards
the end of the III century and the beginning of the IV century, a.C. with
the persecution by Diocleziano, Vicinius left from Liguria and arrived in
Sarsina where he was ordained bishop. He ran he diocese of Sarsina for 27
years and 3 months. Poetry and legend embellish the biography of the first
bishop of Sarsina: two white angels would have been present to his
election in the sky above Musella, holding the episcopal infula.
In
Musella, a village on a hill 10km far from Sarsina, the anchorite was
living in prayer when the church of Sarsina, illuminated by the apparition
of the angels, elected him bishop of the town.
The funeral of the Saint is still told by the imaginative voice of the
folk: a very high oak bowed down respectfully at the passage of the hearse.
The two steers hauling the hearse, because of the great sorrow, committed
suicide by throwing themselves into the turbulent waters of the Savio.
The prodigies,
which drew and are still drawing a large number of pilgrims, keep on
celebrating the thaumaturgic fame of Saint Vicinius, bestower of grace and
healer of possessed.
At the centre of
the ultramillenary cult we have the so-called "catena", a kind
of jointed, iron collar which, according to the tradition, was the
instrument of penitence of Saint Vicinius: the saint used to pray with a
heavy stone bound to this collar, which is nowadays closed around the neck
of the believers.Further info about the life of Saint Vicinius and about
the devotion to the saint is available on the web site of theSanctuary.
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