1825-1830.] 
SANTA ROSALIA. 
95 
tour, was in 1851 still remembered and told by the Consul 
to illustrate Dr. Buckland’s acuteness in the observation 
of bones. 
The Patron Saint of Palermo is Rosalia, daughter of 
a distinguished nobleman, and born about 1130 A.D. At 
the age of twelve, Rosalia fled from her father’s house to 
the neighbouring mountains, and passed her whole time 
in devotion and penance. At length she retired to a 
cavern on Monte Pelegrino, where she died ; but no one 
knew of this retreat. During the plague of 1624, when 
all efforts to stay its ravages proved ineffectual, Rosalia 
appeared in a dream to a citizen at Palermo, and revealed 
to him where her bones lay unburied. The bones were 
reverently gathered up and placed in charge of the 
Archbishop ; yet still the pestilence raged. At last a 
certain man named Vincenza Bonelli, as he wandered on 
the mountain, encountered a beautiful damsel, who told 
him she was Rosalia and showed him her grotto. Bonelli, 
plucking up courage, asked her why she abandoned the 
city to such cruel ravages. She answered, “It is the will 
of Heaven ; but I am now sent to declare that, as soon 
as my bones are carried in procession through the city, 
the plague will be stayed.” Bonelli told his confessor of 
this meeting, and, in obedience to the saint’s commands, 
the relics were carried in procession through the city, 
and the plague ceased. 
The grotto, thus miraculously revealed, was consecrated, 
a magnificent shrine erected, and a statue to the saint 
placed there. The bones lay exposed to view behind a 
grille , and the faithful flocked to the shrine. 
