Divota, Ghjuila, Riparata… These Corsican saints from Africa

The arrival of the Christian faith in Corsica probably dates back to the 4th century, near Mariana and Aleria. A very gradual arrival linked in particular to the forced exile of a certain number of bishops from North Africa, deported by the Arian Vandals. They undoubtedly carry with them the memory of figures of holiness whose stories will, little by little, merge with the history of Christian Corsica. Divota, Ghjuila, Riparata, Parteau, Appianu, Fiorenzu thus become “Corsican saints”.

In the popular Corsican faith, Saint Dévote (Divota), is a 3rd century martyr, executed in Aléria or Mariana, which were then Roman cities. Victim of the severe persecution led by Emperor Diocletian in the empire. A story which resembles exactly that of the passion of Julie of Carthage (Ghuilia, in Corsica) and whose relics the Catholic bishops would have taken to Corsica. Holy history tells that the boat containing Dévote’s body miraculously docked in the bay where, a few centuries later, the great city of Monaco was born.

A village in Upper Corsica also bears the name of Santa Reparata, from the name of another Christian martyr, persecuted during the violence ordered by the Emperor Decius. A miracle similar to that of Dévote, pushed the remains of the saint placed in a boat towards the bay of Nice where she is also venerated.

What about Saint Appianu? In the commune of Vico, the remains of the Saint’Appinau church, dating from the 6th century at the earliest, located in the Gulf of Sagone, undoubtedly evoke one of the first Christian settlements in Corsica. Saint Apiano would be a Nicene Christian, former bishop of Caesarea, who, banished from North Africa, came to settle here. In the 6th century, his memory was honored in this place, while the church was elevated to the rank of bishopric, a title which was then transferred in the 16th century to the neighboring village of Vico. The numerous graves which have been excavated in recent years around the church bear witness to the antiquity of the site where a Christian necropolis was established due to the spiritual attraction of the figure of the local saint and the bishops who succeeded him.