The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
SACRIFICE OF THE DEVOTED
This weekend, Italian tradition, revelry will converge for 97th year
MIDDLETOWN — Eugene Nocera never imagined he’d carry on in his late father’s footsteps when, as a young boy, he witnessed his Italian community’s absolute fidelity for their patron saint.
His dad, known to all affectionately as “Eddie,” was chairman of the St. Sebastian Church feast for 18 years. He died in 1998.
Nocera is now a common councilman in Middletown.
“It’s wonderful in so many ways,” Nocera said of taking on the role of general chairman of the feast many years ago. “None of this was ever planned.”
Everyone has their personal story tied to the feast, he said.
“About 15 to 20 years ago, I pulled up to Washington Street,” Nocera said. “I just happened to park behind my father.”
He was not the chairman at the time, but still actively involved into his 70s.
“So when are you going to become the chairman?” his father asked him, following their embrace. Six months later, with his father gone, Nocera was asked to consider being on the board. He quickly agreed.
“That’s the beauty of life,” he said. “I’m proud to take it over from my dad, who was an incredible hard worker and very upbeat guy.”
This weekend, parishioners, residents and others will celebrate the 97th year of the festival with a carnival, live music, food vendors, an auction, contests and other revelry at the 155 Washington St. church beginning Friday at 5 p.m.
According to tradition, St. Sebastian lived in the third century and was a highly ranked Roman soldier who hid his Christian devotion.
The emperor Diocletian discovered his faith and ordered him killed. Surviving the first attempt on his life, Sebastian confronted Diocletian, who had Sebastian beaten to death.
The heart of the celebration takes place Sunday, when the saint’s statue is carried in a procession and the I Nuri runners, dressed in white with red sashes, run barefoot or in socks from the St. Sebastian Cemetery in Middlefield or the Italian Society on Court Street.
There will be coconut shrimp and a couple of new bakery items this year as part of the food offered by vendors, and traditional staples such as arancini, Vecchito’s Italian ice, cotton candy, pizza and many more delectables, Nocera said.
“The fried dough is made by the parishioners, so it’s phenomenal,” said festival committee secretary Karen Nocera, Eugene Nocera’s wife, committee secretary and city recreation department supervisor.
Eugene Nocera has noticed the crowds have become more family-oriented recently.
“They are young, high school- and college-age, and in their 20s and 30s. That’s wonderful because they’re continuing with the tradition,” he said.
The cross-section of I Nuri runners range from very young to middle age to elderly, he said.
“A lot of the families — maybe more so than ever before — are bringing little ones with them - little, little ones you have to carry,” he said.
The event is modeled after the observance in Melilli, Sicily, that dates back to the year 1414. There, the celebration, which took place last week, runs for seven days. When Italian immigrants came to Middletown from Melilli around the turn of the last century, they built St. Sebastian Church, modeled after the one from their homeland, and adopted the traditions of the feast, and later, the I Nuri.
Public Health Chief Sanitarian Sal Nesci hopes the
weather holds out for the three-day run. Like Eugene Nocera, he is Middletownborn and raised.
“When I was little, even at that age, when my parents explained to me what was happening, it was emotional,” Nesci said. “It wasn’t just us there in celebration of our devotion to St. Sebastian, in celebration of our heritage and our culture, but there were so many other people. You were all feeling the same thing.”
The power of churchgoers’ faith is awe-inspiring, he added.
“You can look at each other and you know what each are thinking. And to this day, it’s the same thing. When we get to the pinnacle, the culmination, the high point of this weekendlong festival — 12 o’clock on Sunday — it’s a unification of everyone’s spirituality and devotion to God and St. Sebastian,” Nesci said.
When Eugene Nocera was a boy, he recalled the procession alone was a two-day event, as the likeness of St. Sebastian was paraded around the neighborhoods in the North End Saturday with a band and large gathering. Sunday, the joyous fete moved to the other part of town. Sunday evening, they were driven to the carnival, at Palmer Field at the time, about a mile down the road.
Eugene Nocera has a photograph of his father from that era.
“He was like Gen. McArthur on the statue,” he said. “He would direct the statue and what streets we would
go to. The runners were not part of the original procession.”
“When you come out of the church and the doors are open and you see everybody in the street, it’s just such a powerful feeling, the devotion. It’s just amazing,” Karen Nocera said. “Year after year after year, you don’t think you’ll feel that same devotion again, but you do, probably more than the year before.
“During the course of the year, if you forget, then this re-inspires you when you revisit everything,” she said. “It just reminds you of how important your faith is, and your devotion. Every year I go, I think it
couldn’t possibly be any better and it is.”
Sebastian is the patron saint of health and goodwill.
“People save up their money for the whole year and present their petition to the statue. Whatever they are praying for is the sacrifice they are making,” Eugene Nocera added. “There were children on the statue who would take — if you wanted them to — your offering. But I remember, as a little boy, they had to do it themselves. That’s how devoted they were.”
It was a remarkable thing to witness, he added.
“Elderly people had to be helped up to the statue so they could pin the money on or the jewelry or the gifts. I saw that repeated over and over and over. You realize there’s something very special going on there.”
Feast hours are Friday from 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday from noon to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday’s 8 a.m. Mass is in Italian, followed by an 11 a.m. Solemn Pontifical Mass.
For more information, visit St. Sebastian Church on Facebook.