Festa di Sant'Agostino

Pavia, custodian of Saint Augustine

The Festa di Sant'Agostino is one of the most heartfelt observances in Pavia, the capital of its province in Lombardy. The city indeed houses, in the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, the relics of Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430), one of the greatest fathers of the Church, a philosopher and theologian whose work has marked the history of Western thought. The remains, which arrived in Pavia in the 8th century, rest in the famous marble Arca, a masterpiece of 14th-century sculpture.

August 28th, the Saint's day

The climax of the celebrations is on August 28th, the day the Church commemorates the solemnity of Saint Augustine and his birth into heaven: the Saint indeed died on August 28th, 430. The day is marked by the solemn mass, often presided over by a cardinal or bishop, and by moments of prayer that draw faithful from all over the diocese and beyond.

Exposition of the relics

One of the most solemn moments is the exposition of the urn with the Saint's relics, accompanied by the hymn Magne Pater and a prayer dedicated to Saint Augustine. It is a moment of intense spiritual significance, in which the community renews its bond with the patron saint and with his legacy of faith and thought.

A late-summer tradition

Preceded by a triduum of preparation in the preceding days, the Festa di Sant'Agostino is a well-established tradition that symbolically closes the Pavia summer. For the city, safeguarding the relics of the Saint of Hippo is a source of identity and pride: the festival is an opportunity to rediscover this extraordinary spiritual and artistic heritage, in the heart of Pavia.