1821.] 
and the Feast of St. Agatha. 
29 5 
some plants, and you soon arrive at 
Pompeii, of which I have already given 
you a description. 
LETTER IV. 
Catania , 2bth August, 1810. 
I have seen the famous f£te of Saint 
Agatha. The whole city was illumi¬ 
nated with small lamps, supported by 
pyramids of wood planted on each side 
of the pavement. This uniform illu¬ 
mination produces a much finer effect 
than in our own country. At eight 
o’clock, the senate, composed of eight 
or nine personages, and the president, 
went to the cathedral in a coach, which 
for its antiquity may well reckon two 
centuries. I shall * not undertake to 
describe to you here its ludicrous form. 
Having introduced myself, with some 
difficulty, iuto the midst of a crowd 
of persons, who all carried wax tapers, 
I found myself near to the altar. After 
several discourses, which fatigued the 
impatient enthusiasm of those around 
me, they carried away Saint Agatha, 
whom we had not yet perceived. This 
object of the adoration of the people, 
was covered by a veil as far as the head, 
which was carefully adorned, and of the 
natural size, but looked a little distorted. 
It was decorated with diamonds, and 
all kinds of precious stones, and reclin¬ 
ed on a massive substance which ap¬ 
peared to be silver. Four priests car¬ 
ried it on their shoulders ; the cries of 
Long live St. Agatha ! resounded 
through the church, illuminated like 
that of Messina. The soldiers, ranged 
in two lines, could hardly make a pas¬ 
sage for it. Every one was in motion, 
and kept leaping before this statue: 
44 Oh ! how handsome she is—Oh ! how 
good,” &c. were the cries which ac¬ 
companied it throughout the church 
and in the city. If there are idolaters, 
they are to be found, in reality, among 
the inhabitants of Catania. 
It was not without pain that we wit¬ 
nessed this mummery in the heart of 
Europe. I can assure you that, of all 
the leligious ceremonies which I have 
seen in Italy, and above all in Sicily, 
there are very few which are dedicated 
to the Supreme Being; it is generally 
to some saint, sometimes to the virgin, 
and very rarely to Jesus Christ, that 
these people address their vows. The 
Neapolitan soldiers laughed at this 
* enthusiasm of the Sicilians; they were 
not aware that they do the same thing 
for St. Januarius, at Naples. When the 
English call the catholics idolaters, 
they are certainly in the right, if they 
see them only in Italy, which appears 
to bethe centre of catholic superstition; 
but travellers must perceive that in 
France the people are much more dis¬ 
creet in their outward demonstrations, 
and their ceremonies are much more 
imposing. A priest in France preserves 
the dignity of his character ; he is not 
seen at the theatre, and above all, in 
the evening, giving his arm to a lady, 
&c. However, there are not, perhaps. 
in any spot in the world men greater twenty pair of oxen ; it traverses the 
infidels than the higher classes of city in this manner amidst peals of ac- 
Italians and Sicilians.—But I have left clamations, and the f£te is terminated 
Saint Agatha at the entrance of the by a display of fireworks ; after seeing 
church ; they are carrying her from which I must set out for Syracuse, 
thence in gn enormous car, drawn by To 
