With the annual celebration of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Saturday 14 September 2024 – which constitutes, together with the feast of Saint George, the most important religious event of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George – the Delegation of Eastern Sicily resumes its activities for 2024-25. The solemn Holy Masses will be celebrated on Sunday 15 September 2024 in Piazza Armerina for the Enna Section and in Catania for the Catania Section, on Saturday 21 September in Messina for the Messina Section and Sunday 29 September in Modica for the Ragusa and Siracusa Section. The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, which in the East is compared to that of Easter, is connected with the dedication of the Constantinian basilicas built on Golgotha ​​and on the tomb of Christ.

On September 13 in 335 A.D., the Church of the Resurrection and Martyrdom was dedicated in Jerusalem. The following day, with a solemn ceremony, the Holy Cross was displayed, which the Empress Helena had found on 14 September 320. In 614, the King of the Persians, Chosroes II, waged war on the Romans, and, after conquering Jerusalem, he took away with him, among the treasures, the Cross of Jesus. Heraclius, the Byzantine Emperor, proposed peace to Chosroes, a proposal which was rejected.  Faced with the refusal, Heraclitus waged war and won near Nineveh, asking for the return of the Cross, which returned to Jerusalem.

With the Feast of the Holy Cross, the cruelty of the Cross is not exalted, but instead the emphasis is placed on the Love that God manifested to men by accepting His death on the Cross. Even though He was God, Christ humbled Himself by becoming a servant. This is the glory of the Cross of Jesus.

The Cross, already a sign of the most terrible of tortures, is for the Christian the tree of life, the bed, the throne, the altar of the new alliance. From Christ, the new Adam, dying on the Cross, came the wonderful sacrament of the whole Church. The Cross is the sign of Christ’s lordship over those who in Baptism are configured to Him in death and glory. In the tradition of the Fathers, the Cross is the sign of the Son of Man who will appear at the end of time.

Evangelization itself, carried out by the apostles, is the simple presentation of Christ Crucified. The Christian, by accepting this truth, is crucified with Christ, that is, he must carry his own cross daily, enduring insults and suffering, like Christ.  Christ, burdened by the weight of the patibulum (the transversal arm of the cross, which the condemned man carried on his shoulders to the place of torture where the vertical pole was firmly stuck), was forced to expose himself to the insults of the people on the road that led to Golgotha. The sufferings that reproduce the state of death of Christ in the mystical body of the Church are a contribution to the redemption of men, and ensure participation in the glory of the Risen One.

The Holy Masses

Section of Enna

On Sunday 15 September 2024, Holy Mass will be celebrated at 11.00 by Monsignor Antonino Scarcione, at the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista in via Umberto I-Largo San Giovanni in Piazza Armerina.

Section of Catania

On Sunday 15 September 2024, Holy Mass will be celebrated at 12.00 by the Chief Chaplain, Monsignor Carmelo Salvatore Asero, Chaplain of Merit with Silver Star, at the Pontifical Collegiate Basilica in Catania.

Section of Messina

On Saturday 21 September 2024, Holy Mass will be celebrated at 6.00 pm by Monsignor Santi Musico’, Chaplain of Merit with Silver Star, at the Church of San Giuseppe al Palazzo in Messina.

Section of Ragusa and Siracusa

On Sunday 29 September 2024,  Holy Mass will be celebrated at 11.00 am by Father Michele Fidone, at the Cathedral of San Giorgio in Modica.

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“When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself,” saith the Lord (John 12:32).

O Holy Cross, for you the world is renewed, embellished, by virtue of the truth that shines and the justice that reigns in Him.

May there be no other pride for us than in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our salvation, life and resurrection; through Him we were saved and liberated (Cf. Gal 6,14).

Image above: Emperor Constantine and Saint Helena presenting the Holy Cross, painted by Vasily Sazonov before 1870.