The Cross of the first Sunday of November

The procession on the first Sunday of November is the third procession in honor of Saint Spyridon, which was approved by the Venetian government of the island, at the request of the inhabitants of the island of Corfu in honor of the miraculous salvation of the island of Kerkyra by Saint Spyridon from the plague on October 29, 1673.

In 1673, less than 50 years after the plague epidemic of 1629, the plague broke out again on the island, finding its first victims in the Garitsa area near the city embankment, and spreading further to the entire city, despite the complex of anti-epidemic measures taken by the Venetian government. How long it lasted is unknown exactly – but it is known for sure that at the end of October the epidemic suddenly stopped, leaving behind a very large number of victims, unlike the previous epidemic of 1629, in which only a few dozen islanders died).

The sudden end of the epidemic in its full swing was for all the islanders an indisputable confirmation of the miraculous help of Saint Spyridon, who testified that for three days all the locals saw the image of Saint Spyridon, who held a cross in his hands and drove away some entity similar to a ghost (plague). Many residents also testified that they heard terrible screams when this entity ran away from the city and the island.