Celebrated on June 2nd, the feast of Saint Erasmus is the festival of the patron saint of fishermen. The ceremony began at 6 pm in Saint Anne's Church with a mass celebrated by Father Benoit, followed by a procession at sea.
Each year, the statue of the Saint is hoisted onto a fishing boat to be carried in procession at sea, in the heart of the Gulf of Saint-Florent. The priest blesses the boats and casts a wreath of flowers into the sea. The population is invited to join the fishing boats and pleasure boats to follow this procession on the water. This event, which takes place in several fishing ports in Corsica, is particularly popular in Saint-Florent, a marina that also thrives to the rhythm of its traditional fishing activities.
Saint Erasmus, restored at the Golden Leaf in 2015, was taken in procession at sea, accompanied by the Santa Croce Brotherhood and the Florentine Saints, to the Tignosu lighthouse.
All the boats participating in the procession were invited to take a moment of prayer in memory of all those who perished at sea, and a bouquet of flowers was thrown into the sea in their memory.
Let's recall that Saint Erasmus, originally from Antioch, which was Syrian at the time, lived around 280 AD.
The origin of this patronage is attributed to the fact that he was preaching when a storm suddenly broke out: terror seized the congregation, and they saw that the lightning had spared him.
Since then, sailors have given the name «St. Elmo's Fire» to the luminous wisps they sometimes spot on the ends of their boats' masts.