Processions of Saints

Devotions

Patronal feast-day processions that carry a saint’s statue, image or relics through a parish or town — a distinct branch of Catholic processional life alongside Marian and Eucharistic processions.

A procession of saints, or patronal procession, is a public procession held on or near a saint’s feast day in which the faithful carry that saint’s statue, image or relics through a church, parish or town in a communal act of honor and petition. It is one branch of the wider Catholic tradition of processions, distinct from Eucharistic processions, which carry the Blessed Sacrament, and from Marian processions, which honor the Blessed Virgin Mary specifically; this page covers the general practice of honoring individual saints in this way. Such processions are especially prominent as patronal feast celebrations in Italy, Spain, Latin America and the Philippines, though the underlying custom is found wherever Catholics keep a strong local devotion to a particular saint.

Quick Facts

  • Category: Pilgrimages & Processions — Pilgrimages
  • Origin: Ancient Christian veneration of saints and their relics, expressed in local patronal feast-day processions from the early centuries of the Church onward
  • Associated saint: Varies — every parish or town’s own patron
  • Country: Worldwide, especially prominent in Italy, Spain, Latin America and the Philippines
  • Feast/observance: The individual saint’s feast day, which varies
  • Church status: Recognized popular piety, subject to local ecclesiastical and liturgical norms
  • Private revelation: Not inherently dependent on private revelation

What Is This Devotion?

A procession of saints carries a statue, painted image, banner or, at times, a relic of a particular saint through a church or through the streets of a parish or town, usually on or near that saint’s feast day. Participants walk together in prayer, often reciting a litany, singing hymns proper to the saint, or praying the rosary, while the image is borne on a platform or carried by hand. The devotion honors the saint as a member of the Church already glorified in heaven, whose intercession the faithful seek, and it makes that ordinarily invisible communion of saints visible and public for a day.

This page treats processions of saints as a general category. It is distinct from a Marian procession, which honors the Blessed Virgin Mary specifically and has its own dedicated page, and from a Eucharistic procession, which carries the Blessed Sacrament itself rather than an image of a saint; see Marian Processions and Eucharistic Processions for those related but distinct practices.

Origin and History

Public honor for saints, expressed through the movement of their relics or images, is attested from the early centuries of the Church, when the translation of a martyr’s relics to a new church was itself marked by solemn procession. As parishes, guilds, confraternities and towns across medieval and early modern Europe adopted individual patron saints, the annual feast-day procession carrying that patron’s image became a standard feature of local Catholic life, a custom that Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and other missionaries and colonists carried to the Americas, the Philippines and elsewhere, where it took root and developed distinct local character, in some places growing into major civic festivals built around the Church’s calendar.

Catholic Theology

Processions of saints flow from Catholic teaching on the communion of saints, the belief that the faithful on earth remain united in prayer with those already glorified in heaven, and on the legitimacy of asking a saint’s intercession before God. As with every act of veneration of a sacred image, the honor shown to the statue or picture carried in procession passes through it to the saint represented and, ultimately, gives glory to God; it is never terminated in the material image itself (SRC-01; SRC-02).

How to Practice It

  • Take part in your parish’s patronal feast procession if one is held, praying the litany or hymns proper to that saint.
  • If invited to help carry the image, platform or banner, treat the role as an act of service and prayer rather than a mere honor.
  • Use the day to learn more about the saint’s life and to ask that saint’s intercession for a specific need or intention.
  • Keep the procession’s true focus on prayer and honor to the saint and to God, rather than letting purely festive or commercial elements of a local feast overshadow its devotional purpose.

Associated Prayers

When It’s Observed

A procession of saints is normally held on or near the feast day of the particular saint being honored, which varies from parish to parish and country to country according to each community’s own patron. It is a local, particular observance rather than a date fixed on the universal Church calendar for all Catholics.

Church Status

Processions honoring saints are a recognized and long-standing form of popular piety, welcomed by the Church as an expression of genuine devotion while remaining subject to the local ordinary’s norms for public processions, including matters of route, timing and coordination with the parish’s liturgical calendar (SRC-01; SRC-12).

Common Misconceptions

“Carrying a saint’s image in procession is a form of worship of the saint.”

It is not. Catholic teaching draws a firm distinction between the adoration (latria) owed to God alone and the veneration (dulia) given to a saint; carrying or honoring a saint’s image is an act of respect and intercession, directed through the image to the saint and ultimately to God, never an act of worship terminating in the saint or the statue itself.

“A parish’s patronal procession is the same thing as a Marian procession.”

They are related but distinct. A Marian procession specifically honors the Blessed Virgin Mary, often under a particular title, while a procession of saints honors any other canonized or beatified holy person under his or her own feast; many parishes hold both, on different days of the year.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a procession of saints and a Eucharistic procession?

A Eucharistic procession carries the Blessed Sacrament, the consecrated Host itself, and calls for the profound reverence due to Christ’s real presence; a procession of saints carries a statue, image or relic of a saint and calls for veneration, a different and lesser kind of honor than the adoration owed to the Eucharist.

Can any parish start a procession honoring its patron saint?

Public processions on Church property or through public streets are subject to the local bishop’s or pastor’s norms; a parish wishing to begin or revive such a custom should coordinate with its pastor and diocese rather than organizing one independently.

Is it appropriate to carry relics, not just an image, in a procession of saints?

Yes, where a genuine relic is available and properly authenticated; many patronal feasts do include a relic of the saint carried with particular reverence, though an image or statue is more common where no relic is held locally.

Why do some countries have such large public celebrations built around a saint’s procession?

In regions with a long Catholic history, a town’s patronal feast often grew over centuries into a major civic occasion combining the religious procession with public festivity; the devotional core remains the procession and prayer, even where surrounding celebrations have grown considerably larger.

Sources

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