The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
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St. Sebastian devotee, I Nuri runner says God’s spirit passes through him at festival time
MIDDLETOWN >> You may not know him personally but if you’ve ever watched the city’s St. Sebastian Church I Nuri run, you know very well his distinguished baritone as he repeatedly intones “Primu Diu E Sammastianu” with his long, drawnout a sound.
“He’s always the one that puts the extra effort in,” said his daughter Santina Giuliano.
Domenic Giuliano, 70, of modest height with a long, white mustache that extends to his jawline, speaks in his native Sicilian dialect, frequently punctuating his loud, impassioned phrases with hand gestures.
“My mouth just opens and I...,” he said, before yelling in high-pitched voice.
He’s run every year as part of the St. Sebastian Church celebration — now in its 96th year — since he came from Melilli, Sicily, Middletown’s sister city,
in 1968 when he was in his early 20s. Domenic Giuliano has never been among the 12 men who bear the heavy platformed St. Sebastian statue, adorned with gold, trinkets, cash and other gifts of devotion, down the church steps and along an eight-tenths of a mile route.
“No, because I’m too short!” he said with a laugh. “But I’m strong like bull,” he said the Monday following the Catholic festival, after an early afternoon nap following a visit to the auction, where he sold rabbits to bidders, something he does often.
He was among the runners who made their way from the Italian Society on Court Street May 21, barefoot or in socks, dressed in white (to symbolize purity) and red (blood), and carrying carnations.
Residents celebrate their Italian heritage with the passionate pageant that honors the patron saint of soldiers, athletes and those who desire a good death.
According to tradition, St. Sebastian lived in the third century and was a high-ranking Roman soldier who hid his faith. The emperor Diocletian discovered his faith and ordered him killed. However, Sebastian survived the first attempt, confronted the emperor, and was then beaten to death.
And so the faithful scream out “E Chiamamulu Paisanu! Primu Diu E Sammastianu! The Sicilian phrase means “He’s one of our own! First God and then St. Sebastian.”
This year, Domenic Giuliano was limping due to a bum knee, said his daughter, but insisted on running anyway. She stayed close by, making sure he didn’t fall.
“He used to come from the cemetery in Middlefield,” Santina Giuliano said, “but he’s got bad arthritis to the point where I’m forcing him to wear white sneakers at least.”
After three days of the St. Sebastian feast at the Washington Street church, shouting out his devotion, Domenic Giuliano was utterly voiceless by Sunday night.
It took a full four days for his laryngitis to heal.
In Sicily, the festival has been celebrated for more than 600 years. Since arriving in Middletown, Domenic Giuliano has made the trip back home twice for the week-long feast, something he said is an unbelievable spectacle, with huge celebrations every day.
“There are many more people. And fireworks,” Domenic Giuliano said, covering his ears.
“Oh, my God, they were so loud! The ground was shaking,” he said, making loud pop sounds in staccato. “The (runners) came from very far away.”
Santina Giuliano, who pulled out two red scarves that are tied around the neck with the triangle portion lying on the wearer’s back, said: “What’s funny is, on May 4, it’s St. Sebastian feast day: His birthday is on May 4. So it’s always been a special day for him.
“He’ll just blurt out “Primu Diu E Sammastianu!” on his birthday,” said Santina Giuliano, who intermittently translated her father’s Sicilian language.
“He’ll do it here (at home) or at the Sons of Italy Italian Society but it’s usually around people that he knows,” said his daughter, who just opened a massage studio in the old red train caboose on Main Street in Cromwell.
“Yesterday, at the Sons of Italy, my daughter said, ‘calm down!’” Dominic Giuliano said.
“No one was ready yet. They’re just hanging out, getting ready to go outside in the next 10 minutes, so we have some time, and then all of a sudden, he just screams out loud. Actually, a little girl started crying — my cousin’s little daughter,” Santina Giuliano said, as they both broke out in laughter.
“I love to see the kids in all white. Oh, it’s wonderful!” Domenic Giuliano said.
For more than 25 years, Domenic Giuliano worked for Middletown Public Works as a laborer, filling potholes, raking leaves, keeping the plow truck drivers awake during snowstorms and jumping out to shovel when needed.
“He doesn’t drive so he could just walk through the backyard to work” (at the city yard) off Butternut Street,” said Santina
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