ST. JULIAN

31 AugustNorth Transept Spire-G76
Patron Saint: Hoteliers, travellers and the city of Macerata Symbol: Sword

San Giuliano L’Ospitaliere is the patron of the diocese and city of Macerata. His feast is celebrated on 31 August every year. His figure appears everywhere in Macerata with various aspects: whether he is the protagonist or a secondary figure, we find him in churches, on access doors around the city walls, on the ancient seal of the university, on commemorative medals of the municipality, in lordly palaces and, finally, on standards. The saint’s life inspired a novel already at the time of Gustave Flaubert – “Saint Julien l’Hospitalier”. It darkly relates the youth of this untiring vindictive Flemish knight who, at a certain point of his life, decided to seek expiation for his sins in prayer, thus dedicating himself to provide hospitality for the poor and to carry pilgrims from one bank to another of a dangerous river. However, there are many doubts about the saint’s identity. Indeed, some think it could be another San Giuliano, martyr of Brioude. The legendary Giuliano, called “hospitaler” by the people, would, therefore, be the usurper of the title, and, in any case, he would not be recognised as a saint by the ecclesiastical authorities. Hence, we wonder to whom the relic of the left arm preserved at the Duomo of Macerata belongs. What counts is that cultural interests and initiatives that are useful to the city in terms of hospitality are organised in the name of the patron, actual or possible saint.The statue of San Giuliano, which can be admired on Spire G76 of the north transept was produced in ca. 1954, along the model designed by sculptor Angelo Ferreri. There is still no certainty about who actually made it, whether it was Ferreri himself or a worker at the building site of Veneranda Fabbrica.