Goriano Sicoli is a small municipality of about 500 inhabitants placed within the Sirente-Velino Regional Park overlooking the Subequana Valley: surrounded by woods and valleys, it borders the municipalities of Castel di Ieri, Cocullo, Prezza and Raiano. The medieval village is guarded by a special setting: “I Cerri,” a huge public forest. In this setting suspended in time, the traditional Feast for Santa Gemma Vergine is celebrated from May 11 to 13.
THE STORY OF THE SAINT
Originally from San Sebastiano dei Marsi, born around 1375, she moved with her family to Goriano Sicoli; her parents, who were devoted to herding sheep, died due to an epidemic, leaving her alone. The girl did not lose heart, continuing to graze her flock. Just as she was grazing, she was noticed by Count Roger IV of Celano, who tried to seduce her, but she repulsed him so firmly that she drove him to repentance and convinced him to erect a cell near the church of St. John the Baptist.Gemma lived there as a virgin recluse leading a life of penance for 43 years until her death. Upon her death, the Gorianese were awakened by the sudden ringing of bells, and so many extraordinary events and miracles began to occur in the village that the exhumation of the body was requested: the Saint’s remains appeared still intact, and it was decided to move the body to the church of St. John the Baptist inside an urn. It was the bishop himself who, with a decree, ordered, from that moment, the official veneration of Blessed Gemma. But it had to wait until 1890 for her to be sanctified.
THE FEAST.
The protagonists are two women, a girl barely in her teens and a woman who is already married and a mother.Every year, onMay 11, a girl from San Sebastiano dei Marsi, wearing a traditional costume, travels to Goriano Sicoli with relatives and a group of worshippers, in remembrance of the saint’s coming to the village. The first person who goes to meet and greet her is the compañero, called the procurator of the feast, while the comare and the girl who impersonates Saint Gemma are called the procurators. The young woman is made to stay, the guest of a woman from Goriano, in the house that tradition indicates as the Saint’s, which has become today the Shrine of Saint Gemma the Virgin. In this house, from the first days of May, the women of the village begin to knead and prepare the doughnuts and the “bread of St. Gemma“: strands of bread with the letters of Her name on them, which is baked and piled up to be placed in adorned baskets, used during celebrations.
On the afternoon of May 11 there is a procession led by St. Gemma and the comare, followed by local maidens in period costume. Each carries a basket containing loaves of bread on her head, and as they walk along the streets, they stop at each house, leaving a loaf of bread in the hands of the owners. Indeed, the story goes that the bread she was given in prison to feed herself was redistributed to the poor who passed under her window, which is why it has such a central symbolic meaning for this holiday.
On May 12, the two proxies will attend religious services together, both carrying a candle, the young woman carrying the new one and the comare the one from the previous year.
On the morning of May 13, unbeknownst to everyone, the young woman who impersonates Saint Gemma sneaks out of the house and disappears, taking with her bread, doughnuts, cookies, “ciambelloni” and wine, offering the products to the people of San Sebastiano, the birthplace of the saint and today a hamlet of the municipality of Bisegna.
Check out the event on the Facebook channel: Santa Gemma 2024
