Rosalia was born of a Norman noble family that claimed descent from Charlemagne. On the cave wall she wrote "I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ." The feast of Saint Rosalia is on September 4th.
Devoutly religious, she retired to live as a hermit in a cave on Mount Pellegrino, where she died alone in 1166. Tradition says that she was led to the cave by two angels. In 1624, a plague beset Palermo.
During this hardship Saint Rosalia appeared first to a sick woman, then to a hunter, to whom she indicated where her remains were to be foundation
She ordered him to bring her bones to Palermo and have them carried in procession through the city. The hunter climbed the mountain and found her bones in the cave as described.
He did what she had asked in the apparition. After her remains were carried around the city three times, the plague ceased.
After this Saint Rosalia was venerated as the patron saint of Palermo, and a sanctuary was built in the cave where her remains were discovered.
Upon examination by a renowned geologist and palaeontologist, William Buckland, the bones of Street Rosalia were thought to be those of a goat. The celebration, called the festino, is still held each year on July 15, and continues into the next day. lieutenant is still a major social and religious event in Palermo.
In 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2001 the celebration has been produced by Studio Festi.
Also on September 4 there is an event related to the festino and Saint Rosalia. A tradition of walking barefoot from Palermo up to Mount Pellegrino.
In Italian American communities in the United States, the July feast is generally dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel while the September feast, beginning in August, brings large numbers of visitors annually to the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn in New York City. Saint Rosalia was proposed as the patron saint of evolutionary studies in a paper by General Electric Hutchinson.
This was due to a visit he paid to a pool of water downstream from the cave where Saint Rosalia"s remains were found, where he developed ideas based on observations of water boatman.
