Picture: Anthony van Dyck · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Saint Rosalia
Italian saint of Palermo, honored for divine intermediation during the plague there
SaintResearchedPre-congregation
Feast: 4 September (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
1130
Died
1170
Beatified
—
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began
Who they were
Rosalia, patroness of Palermo and Sicily, is said to have been of noble descent and to have left home young to live as a hermit in a cave near Bivona and then on Monte Pellegrino, where she died.
Her remains were found in 1624 and brought to Palermo Cathedral.
The miracles
Pope Urban VIII placed her name in the Roman Martyrology; there was never a formal cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A hermit who became the patroness of Palermo.
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Rosalia
- Wikidata Q254402 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Saint Rosalia (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.