Vincent Ferrer and Gesualdo: origins of the worship

The worship of Saint Vincent Ferrer in Gesualdo goes back, between history and legend, to an unusual event happened in Gesualdo.

It is told that the Sicilian religious community ordered to a Spanish artist the realization of the statue of Saint Vincent Ferrer. During the transport of the statue towards its destination, those who carried the statue stopped just in Gesualdo. Its beauty and the fascination of the story of the saint enchanted the people of Gesualdo who, as enlightened by a celestial inspiration, committed what could be defined a ‘mystic prevarication’. The legend wants that the statue did not leave again towards its destination but was hold in Gesualdo, and since then the worship of Saint Vincent Ferrer has remained fervid and constant.

The feast of Saint Vincent Ferrer, on the last Sunday of August, symbolizes the feast of the harvest and the ritual is a way to thank the saint for the rich harvests.

The anthropological meaning of the feast materializes in the symbolism of the figure of the child-angel, who flies over the people with the local identity that recognizes itself in an only person: a warrior saint who fights alone, on behalf of everyone, little but brave against everything that represents a hidden danger or a threat. From here it is born the traditional ‘Angel’s Flight’ that occurs exactly during the feast of the Saint, at 25 meters of height.