THE STORY OF SAINT HILARION

"Ilarion, was born in the village of Tabatha (in 291 A.D), about five miles south of Gaza, the Palestinian city. He grew, according to the proverb, like a rose from a thorn, because he was born into a family that worshiped idols.

His family sent him to Alexandria where he was placed in the care of a grammarian; here Ilarion, for his age, gave great proof of his talent; in a brief period of time he became very knowledgeable in literature and beloved by all. There was, however, more important detail than these, because he believed in Our Lord Jesus, his pleasures were not found in the follies of the circus, nor in the blood of the arena, nor were they found in the dissoluteness of the theatre, they were found exclusively in the church's reunions.

There, having heard about the acclaimed name of Anthony, who was being praised by all the populations of Egypt, he became fired with the desire to see him. Thus he set out, and as soon as he set eyes on him, he changed his former robes and stayed with him…".

Ilarion lived in Palestine (he is in fact considered the founder of the Palestinian monasticism), in Syria and in Egypt; he departed from the latter bound for Sicily. As written by Saint Girolamo, it is expressly stated that Ilarion landed in Pachino, a Sicilian promontory. He then withdrew twenty miles inland to a solitary place where he soon became renowned for his miracles. Joined in Sicily by his disciple Esichio, he let it be known that he was unable to carry on living in those regions, he wanted to travel to a certain barbaric population where his name and language would be unknown and where he could, as a consequence, live in solitude.

• Even this far away Ilarion was unable to remain hidden because he was yet again called upon to work miracles.
  He freed the country from a terrible dragon which destroyed crops and livestock when it wasn't devouring farmers and shepherds.
  
• Then he was called upon to stop a tidal wave which he did by drawing three crosses in the sand (the tidal wave, preceded by an earthquake), the Dalmatian coasts are historically documented and date back to the year 366.
  
• Yet another time, with only a gesture of his hand he forced three pirate ships, who were a threat to the population, to rebound from the coast instead of landing. It is said that the pirates were bewildered by the fact that against their will they were sailing away from the coast; the more they rowed towards the shore, the further away from it they got.
  

• He died in Cyprus at the age of eighty (this is how Saint Girolamo, in chapter thirty), describes the place Ilarion chose as his last home.
  

• Because of an exceptional drought, the people wished to implore rain from their Patron Saint, by carrying their relic in a procession to the hermitage of San Nicola, the procession was to take place on the thirteenth of May.
  On the fourteenth, rain arrived, according to the testimony of the archpriest Davide Prota, which is recounted on page 254 of his "Ricerche Storiche su Caulonia (Hstorical Research on Caulonia), edited in Roccella Jonica by the Tipografia Toscana in 1913.
  The archpriest certainly is a credible witness if one considers the detatchment (to not speak of the irony) with which he treats all the religious popular demonstrations of Caulonia (including the three evenings of the Caracolo, as anyone who has read the Appendix O pages 246 to 254 of his book can confirm).
  

• The decree for the proclamation as Patron Saint of the city was issued by the bishop Carlo Pinto on the twenty-second of October 1629, but the tradition of the festivity dates back to feudal times, when the marquis, feudatory of Castelvetere (today's Caulonia), sent his troops to honour the relic of the Saint (an ulna set in a silver arm) which was departing for the convent (still existing today) of Saint Nicholas in the mountains.
  
• In 1815 a statue was added to the relic, sculpted in wood by a skilled artist from Serra by the name of Saint Bruno, thus was born among the people the false belief that Saint Bruno and Saint Ilarion were brothers who chose to do penance along the shores of the Allaro (river). It was said that the first brother would eat nothing but a few lupines a day, throwing the shells into the water which would then be gathered up and eaten by Ilarion downstream. However, we now know that Ilarion lived between the third and fourth century, while Saint Bruno founded his Carthusian monastery in Calabria in 1091.
  

• About ten months following the death of Ilarion, Esichio was able to smuggle the corpse to Maiuma, in Palestine, giving it proper burial in the ancient monastery found there.

• The great misadventure of a Caulonian marquis who had cast doubts on the authenticity of the relic (the bone of an arm). Apparently he was immediately paralysed, so he implored the Saint to cure him with prayers and promised to provide an adequate reliquary. The healing was prompt, so the marquis commissioned the sculpture of the silver arm which even today conserves the Saint's relic.
  
• Many Caulonian migrants to America and Australia swore that they had seen their ship upheld by a little old man in Oceanic storms whom they didn't hesitate to recognise as their Patron Saint.
  
• During the war it was said that saint Ilarion had covered the village with thick clouds to avoid it being bombarded.

• One of these verses is "Volgi benigno il ciglio, gran Santo Ilario, a noi, che in questo esilio, abbiamo fiducia in te" (Look kindly upon us, great Saint Ilario, on us, who in this exile, have faith in you).

• The tailors had to finish clothes ordered from them four or five months earlier in time for Saint Ilarion's Day (the Caulonians frequently called their Saint "Ilario"); even the shoemakers had to meet this deadline, seeing as then they not only repaired shoes but also made new ones.
  
• As the festivities drew near, the carpenters' and the blacksmiths' workload also increased.

• These people would sit along the steps of "piazza Mese" before the holy mass began and sell what they had brought or exchange it for a few bottles of oil.

• "Pignatte" (a sort of pot), sack races, the "cuccagna" tree (the tree of abundance), donkey races
  
• The "carrette" (handcarts).
  • These were personally built by each participant, they consisted of a well shaped slab of wood, to which a well stuffed cushion for seating was added, as well as wooden wheels (made by a good carpenter), ball bearings were added to the wheels before they were attached to the axles (the posterior axle was fixed, the anterior axle rotated on a central pivot, the whole contraption was manoeuvred round corners by using reins), brakes were not usually applied, to slow down one used to use one's feet, with a certain ability, and at the finish line the cart was stopped by a load of sand.
    
• During the days before the festivities, the traffic wardens allowed training competitions (the course ran from the "piano Baglio" to "piazza Seggio"), but once the real competition was over it was no longer possible to parade with the handcarts. They were put into a deposit until the next year or used at other times by pulling it by its reins, in order to transport sacks or heavy luggage.
  For technical reasons, this competition took place the day before the festivities; only the Caulonians could compete because that was the only way to keep the streets clear enough for the handcarts to race through.
  

• The October festivity is always organised for the third Sunday, even if the day doesn't happen to be the twenty-first.

• The many foreigners (from seaside resorts such as Roccella Ionica) would be intent on negotiating the price of and acquiring provisions for the winter such as fruit, oil, pulses, wheat and flour.