Photos: Sergio Betancort
Femés celebrated the big day of its festivities this Friday in honor of the patron saint of Lanzarote, San Marcial de Rubicón, with the traditional procession, which was joined by residents and public officials from all over the island. In addition, this year the Bishop of the Diocese of the Canary Islands, Monsignor Francisco Cases Andreu, also attended the event, who after eleven years in office presided for the first time over the mass that is celebrated in the town on the day of San Marcial.
The bishop, who began by apologizing for not having come before to preside over this celebration so important to the Catholic community, was assisted by five priests, including the head of the Yaiza parish and archpriest of Lanzarote, Sixto Álvarez.
As every year, the small church was packed with parishioners and many of them followed the celebration from the nearby surroundings, by loudspeaker. The songs of the celebration were performed by the Yaiza Polyphonic Choir, directed by Professor Nuvi Tavío. Afterwards, after the mass, the processional retinue was set in motion, headed by the Yaiza municipal band and followed by the bishop and other members of the clergy.
When the image of San Marcial crossed the portico of the church, the first applause and cheers were heard. Afterwards, with the image located in front of the portico of the church, the municipal band offered a musical melody and immediately afterwards the members of the Rubicón de Yaiza folk group sang and danced the most traditional of Canarian folklore, hearing again the applause and cheers to the saint, while he made his entrance into the church.
This brought to an end a day in which the 613th anniversary of the creation of the Bishopric of Rubicón and, therefore, of the Canariense Rubicense Diocese, under the patronage of San Marcial de Rubicón, who was initially called de Limoges, was commemorated, for having lived in this city of France as bishop and evangelizer.
Thus, although he is also a saint very venerated in France, he was named patron saint of Lanzarote as a result of the devotion that the conqueror Juan de Béthencourt and many of his French companions had for him. It was Pope Benedict XIII who made it official with his bull of July 7, 1404, when he made the Church of the Castle of San Marcial de Rubicón a Cathedral and Bishopric.
