By Steve Svetovich

The tradition continues. It’s a tradition in the Bunker Hill section of Dunmore since 1906.

Saints Anthony and Rocco Parish will hold its annual Italian Festival August 9, 10 and 11 at 122 Kurtz Street in the Bunker Hill section of Dunmore.

Food, games and live entertainment once again will be featured. 

The annual event is noted for delicious Italian foods and pastries and musical entertainment, but the highlight is the annual Feast Day Mass to be held this year Saturday, August 9, at noon, followed by the annual Procession with Statues of the Saints at 1 p.m. It’s a tradition that is now 118-years-old.

Started in 1906 in the Bunker Hill section of Dunmore, the procession has taken place every year, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was broadcast on social media in the first year of the pandemic.

The actual Feast Day is August 16, so the procession is always held the closest weekend prior to the Feast unless it falls on Sunday.

Many families participate in the procession. It symbolizes the strength of their parish family.

Rev. David Cappelloni, pastor, Saints Anthony and Rocco Parish, who blesses the people with a relic of Saint Rocco at a special Mass before the procession said the event helps the parish have an identity.

“We carry the statues of our patron saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph through the neighborhood to remind people of who we are and who we are called to be,” Rev. Cappelloni said.

“The procession of our patron saints are carried throughout the Bunker Hill section to show and signify that we, ourselves, are also striving to become saints.”

After leaving the church, the procession travels throughout the streets of the Bunker Hill section of Dunmore with the patron saints carried on beams by the men of the parish. The parish priest accompanies the procession and blesses bystanders with a relic of Saint Rocco. A band usually follows the procession.

In addition to the special Mass and procession, the Dunmore community always celebrates its annual three-day festival the same weekend. Those who walk in the procession of faith often pray for others or someone in remembrance.

The tradition also carries on with few changes each year. It’s all about family, tradition, and mostly faith.

Saint Rocco, the protector against deadly plagues, is considered the patron saint of Guardia dei Lombardi. Veneration to this Saint dates back to 1656 when a deadly plague and drought swept through the Italian town, killing 1,110 of its 1,475 residents. Guardia’s first procession in honor of St. Rocco took place that year when the remaining townspeople prayed to him to bring rain and to end the aggressive plague.

By the time the Guardiese immigrants arrived in Dunmore, the procession to Saint Rocco had been an integral part of life in their Italian community for more than 250 years.

When Italian immigrants settled in the Bunker Hill section of Dunmore, they continued many of the same traditions. The annual procession is one of them.

In the early 1900’s the Guardiese community in Dunmore had become so large that members decided to found their own church. About 40 families banded together and called themselves the Society for Congregation of Saint Rocco’s Church. They traveled door to door within the community to solicit funds to purchase a church building from a Presbyterian congregation in the neighborhood.

The first Mass at Saint Rocco’s Church was held in October 1905. The first procession to honor Saint Rocco took place the following August.

The annual festival was added to the procession in 1922. Initially, members prepared food at the stoves of the church basement and carried it outside in bowls to sell on the grounds.

Saint Rocco is the patron saint of pestilence and contagious diseases and the patron saint of dogs. The statue of St. Rocco is considered unique because of his pose with his left hand pointing to an open sore on his leg. Few images of saints expose any afflictions or handicaps. His body is enclosed in a glass tomb in the church of San Rocco in Venice, Italy. The death of this great follower of Christ is commemorated on August 16 of each year.

As a 14th century pilgrim, Rocco was famed for healing plaque victims. Indeed, he died after contracting the disease whilst nursing the sick during an epidemic in Northern Italy. San Rocco is usually depicted lifting back his garments to reveal the plague bubo on his thigh and is often accompanied by a dog.

Father Cappelloni said Saints Anthony and Rocco are now linked to Our Lady of Mount Carmel where he also serves as pastor.

The three-day festival will run 5 to 9:30 p.m, the first two nights and noon to shortly after 9:30 the final day.

The Dunmore High School marching band and cheerleaders will perform the first night, Friday, August 9, at 6 p.m, followed by the band, Picture Perfect, at 7. Picture Perfect has been performing for several years at the traditional event. The band, Popstar Drive, will perform Saturday, August 10, at 7 p.m,

Following the Feast Day Mass at noon and Procession of Saints at 1 p.m. Sunday, August 11, Vinsko Entertainment with provide music at 2:30 p.m. followed by the Scranton Prep cheerleaders at 5:30 p.m, and the Luongo Brothers Band at 6 p.m. The always popular and entertaining Luongo Brothers of Dunmore are a constant at the annual festival. There will be fireworks at 9 p.m. or dusk. All raffle drawings will be held at 9:30 p.m.

Then there is the delicious Italian food, pastries and desserts to fill and satisfy the palate. That includes sausage and peppers, pasta fagioli, shells, tripe, delicious pizza, porketta, Italian pastries, cookies, cakes and deserts, pizza fritta, cannolis, and anything else Italian.

Oh, the pasta fagioli! The best with Parmesan cheese and crushed red peppers.

And let’s not forget the beer tent, wine, coffee, cappuccino, crispy potato pancakes, french fries, lemonade and root beer floats. A new desert item, gelatto, was added last year. Dunmore’s Bill Genello will be sure to be seen serving drinks.

It’s an event in Dunmore not to be missed and a tradition that is sure to go on forever.