We were invited to film at Holy Family Church Detroit for their annual procession and celebration of Società di Santa Fara di Cinisi.

Rev. Paul Ward led the walk which took their Sicilian parishioners around a few blocks that weave through the streets of Detroit and back to the church.

As Holy Family historian Nick Sinacori explained, this tribute to their Sicilian homeland villages has been taking place for almost as long as Holy Family has been a beacon of comfort for those who traveled here to Detroit some 100 plus years ago.

To make this day even more special was the celebration of the recent canonization of Sister Santa Maria Di Gesu Santocanale by Pope Francis which will set her on path to become a saint. Santacanale was an Italian Roman Catholic nun who also went by the name "Maria of Jesus” and established the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculata of Lourdes. Santocanale was well known for her treatment of the ill and the poor and was also a member of the Secular Franciscan Order.

On display for the procession were Sicilian club members carrying their banners representing the villages they are from. As the congregation walked and said the rosary, one of Michigan’s true opera legends, Dino Valle, filled the air with song.

We are thrilled to feature Holy Family Catholic Church in our upcoming Christmas special, Detroit: The City of Churches.