Patronal Feast of Saint Honaratus

Saint Honaratus, patron of Molise

Molise is a tiny village of just over 140 inhabitants in the province of Campobasso, famous for being the only Italian municipality to bear the exact same name as the region it belongs to. Situated at about 860 meters above sea level around the Carafa Castle, the town celebrates its patron saint Saint Honaratus on July 5th.

The relics in the crypt

The relics of Saint Honaratus were transferred in 1716 from a Roman catacomb and are kept in the crypt of the church of San Nicola di Bari and Sant'Onorato, built in 1533. The devotion to the saint is intertwined with the history of a village rich in churches — from the church of the Annunziata (1523) to the sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie (1730) — and with the Lombard fortress later remodeled in the Renaissance period.

A community feast

The patronal feast on July 5th is the heart of the village's Molise summer. Around the solemn mass and the procession of the simulacrum through the narrow streets of the historic center, civil celebrations unfold, in a town that experiences its most intense moment in the first days of July, just a few days after the feast of the Madonna delle Grazie on July 1st-2nd. It is an opportunity to rediscover an authentic corner of inland Molise and its unique identity.