Des Plaines church hosts Italian mass

For a while, it looked like it would take a miracle for the final day of the feast of Santissimo Crocifiso di Ciminna to get off the ground.

An entire day of outdoor events, including a horse parade and fireworks, had been planned for Sunday's finale of the 12th annual weekend festival, held by Chicago's Sicilian community at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines.

Instead, heavy rains forced the crowd inside to hold the special Mass in Italian.

But the day to celebrate a miracle in the Sicilian town of Ciminna had something of a miracle in store for devotees. By the time Mass was over, sunshine broke through the sky, leading Maryville's Rev. John Smyth to remark, "Just remember the rain came from God just as well as the sunshine."

The origin of the feast goes back to the 1600s, according to the group's Web site.

It commemorates an event that occurred in 1623. One night, a shady character, Bartolo Caiazza, was murdered. At the funeral, the young man in charge of carrying the image of the crucifix was unable to move it from the wall where it rested. The crucifix stayed in place until Caiazza was buried.

Twelve years ago, a replica of the image was brought to the Chicago for the first feast, the result of a crusade by Prospect Heights resident Philip Nigliaccio, whose family was spared after a terrible auto accident.

"We are here to celebrate, to pray together, to be close to the church," Nigliaccio said at Maryville Sunday.

During Mass, several men were dressed head to foot in white, with red cummerbunds around their waists. Meanwhile, little girls were dressed like angels, replete with wings. At the end of the ceremony, the replica cross was taken down and paraded before the crowd, who tossed flowers at it and shouted phrases in Italian.

The cross used in Sunday's ceremony was black. The reason is that the original cross was made out of wood and eventually turned black from the lamps burning beneath it, said Nigliaccio's sister, Lee Scimeca of Arlington Heights.

Sunday was a chance not only to celebrate a miracle, but also an opportunity for the Sicilian community to renew ties.

Nick Rizzo, who came to the Chicago area from Ciminna in 1955, was on hand with his son, Matthew, and Matthew's two sons.

"It's just an honor for me to carry on the tradition and pass it along to my sons," Matthew Rizzo said.