San Terenzio, the Patron of Pesaro (Sept. 24th)

I presume that attending a religious procession in the South of Italy – in Sicily for instance – is an overwhelming experience, where religious fervor merges into a ritual setting made up of gold, flowers, Baroque statues, baldachins and black veils; ‘a mystic and sensual rapture’ as the Sicilian ‘metaphisical’ singer Franco Battiato sings in his beautiful song ‘E ti vengo a cercare’. No ‘mystic and sensual rapture’ in the sober procession I attended yesterday for our Patron Saint in Pesaro; and yet the most beloved annual event by us Pesaresi never fails to give me a reassuring sense of continuity with the Past, making me feel a link in the chain of human history (overall human history and particular local history – the history of my grandparents so to speak) going from the year 247 A.D. (the year of the martyrdom of San Terenzio) up to Sept. 24th 2013. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday afternoon in front of our cathedral (duomo), inside the cathedral (displaying beautiful mosaic floors) and inside the Diocesan Museum.

St. Terenzio, Patron of Pesaro

Cathedral (duomo)

The Procession

Cathedral – romanesqye facade

The Patron St. Terenzio in his shrine

Standard of the City of Pesaro

The Patron in his shrine

The Cathedral’s rose window

The Cathedral inside

Inside the Chapel of St. Terenzio

Chapel of St. Terenzio

San Terenzio

Paleochristian sarcophagus – Diocesan Museum

Diocesan Museum

Diocesan Museum

Paleochristian sarcophagus – Diocesan museum

Paleochristian sarcophagus – detail – Diocesan Museum