The Holy Pilgrimage Church of the patron saint of Corfu, Saint Spyridon, is one of the largest pilgrimages in Greece because of the ossuary of the miraculous saint that is hoarded in the temple.
The church was built in 1589, in the form of the Ionian Basilica, by the Vourgari’s family of Corfu.
Although its exterior decoration is particularly modest, the interior of the temple is rich in decoration, with a particularly impressive iconostasis of 1864 made of marble of Paros. The remarkable icons of the iconostasis are works by the painter Spyros Prosalentis from Corfu. It is worth seeing the famous “urania”, the roof of the temple, which is divided into 17 sections with golden frames, painted initially by the great painter from Corfu, Panagiotis Doxaras, in 1727.
Among the many tributes that Saint Spyridon receives each year, stand out two large candles that were dedicated in 1716, the year that the inhabitants of the island spared the Turks, with his help.
The impressive towering belfry with the red dome, visible from every point in the historic city of Corfu, is located on the eastern side of the temple and bears a clock similar to that of Saint George of the Greeks in Venice.
The ossuary and the Holy Relic of Saint Spyridon
The ossuary, in which the Holy Relic of Saint Spyridon was placed, was made in Vienna in 1867.
Saint Spyridon, the humble bishop of the province of Trimythoundos of Cyprus, one of the prominent hierarchs of the First Ecumenical Synod, deceased in 358 AD.
The indestructible Holy Relic of the saint remained in Cyprus for about three hundred years after his decease, and about the end of the 7th century AD, was transferred to Constantinople due to the Arab raids against Cyprus. In 1456, three years after the fall of the city by the Turks, the priest Grigorios Polyefktos, carried the Holy Relic of the saint together with the relic of Saint Theodora of Augustus in Epirus and from there to Corfu.
The Holy Relic belonged for centuries to a family of priests in Corfu, whose descendants in 1925 will definitively give it to the ecclesiastical authority of the island.
Of particular interest is the history of the place where the saint lived. The first placement of the remains by the transfer from Constantinople to Corfu was at the temple of Saint Athanasios. In 1528 the relic will be transferred to the cathedral of Taxiarhos Michael at Campiello. In 1528, the Voulgari’s family, in honor of the saint, builds its own church in San Rocco. In 1537 the Turks besiege Corfu and the Voulgari’s family was forced, for safety, to transfer the relic to the church of Saints Anargyroi in the Old Fortress and after the siege returned to San Rocco. The extension of the fortress walls in 1577, also foresees the demolition of the temple, and thus the relic of the Saint is transferred to the church of Saint Nicholas of the Foreign in Garitsa.
The owners of Saint’s Spyridon relic will decide to build a new temple, whose doors will be opened in 1589 while it will be completed around 1594. In this temple, the relic of the Saint is located until today.
In 1967, the holy temple of Saint Spyridon of Corfu was officially recognized as a Legal Entity of Public Law with a presidential decree under the name “Holy pilgrimage of Saint Spyridon of Corfu”.
The memory of Saint Spyridon is celebrated on December 12th. It is a wonderful way in which the providence of God, on three islands of the Ionian Islands (Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos), that were for centuries Latin-held, the three Holy Protectors of the islands, keep their relics indestructible, as proof of God in the Supremacy of Orthodoxy.
The saint and the city
The history of Corfu is deeply connected with Saint Spyridon. Some of his wonders, such as the salvation of the inhabitants from a pestilence, the removal of the Turks who besieged the island in 1716, the discharge of the island from the plague epidemic in 1629 and 1673, proved to be lifesaving for the island.
The people of Corfu honor the patron saint majestically with litanies, many times during the year, with the participation of 20 philharmonics.
In particular, for the saint's relic litanies take place five times a year:
- Palm Sunday, to protect the island from the plague that had struck all over Europe in 1629.
- The Great Saturday for the miracle of the saint, who saved the island from a big pestilence.
- On 11 August, in memory of the salvation of Corfu from the raid-siege of the Turks in 1716.
- On the first Sunday of November, for the rescue of the inhabitants from the second plague epidemic in 1673.
- On December 12, celebrating the memory of Saint Spyridon (the relic is placed upright on the door of the temple).
