Discover Romanesque: Peoples and Legends

Saint Devota

A legend reported in the Almanach de la mémoire et des coutumes, by Lucie Desideri, holds that the Canonica was likely built in the same place where Saint Devota, a Corsican Virgin, suffered martyrdom under the emperor Diocletian. The Roman Prefect Barbarus, sent to the Island in order to free the country from Christians, charged of corrupting the people, had the young Christian woman arrested and obliged to renounce her faith. The woman’s denial led the governor to request for her martyrdom. When she died, without the least complaint, a white dove flew from her mouth announcing ‘Today, Jesus declares you the patron saint of Corsica’. Celebrated on the 27th January, Sainte Dévote is worshipped as the main patron saint of the island.