«365 years of devotion and protection between faith, history and legend»: this is the synthesis of the parish of San Sebastiano di Bulzi , a town in Anglona, which today celebrates its patron saint with classic religious rites.
«We must know that at least until about 1657 - they tell the parish -, the parish church of Bulzi stood on the slopes of the Su Monte hill and was dedicated to Nostra Signora de su Jaru (Our Lady of the Dawn or of Light) and the town was a bunch of houses scattered between Simbranos, Su Monte and our current historic center, supposedly no more than a hundred families lived there. This was a place defined, still in the parish census of 1831, therefore almost two hundred years later, as unhealthy and where malarial fevers reigned».
«The reason why Bulzi chose another patron around the middle of the 1600s (1647-1657) is to be found in the history of Sardinia at the time – they continue – The legend handed down to us orally tells us that with the town on its last legs, decimated by the plague, San Sebastiano appeared to the parish priest in a dream, who invited him to be the spokesperson for the population, so that they would rely on his patronage and ask him for his intercession to free the country from the plague. So the Bulzesi decided to entrust themselves to San Sebastiano with supplications, prayers and with the promise that if he freed the town from the epidemic they would elect him as sole Patron of the community by dedicating a church to him. The pardon was granted and the inhabitants of Bulza kept their promise by building or enlarging the current parish church and naming San Sebastiano as sole Patron of the Community».
«The new parish church has already been in operation since 1658 (the first official data contained in the historical documents of the diocesan archive). From that moment the old church of Santa Maria de su Jaru was definitively abandoned , which will fall into ruin and no trace of it will remain to this day - they conclude from the parish -. For us Bulzesi, San Sebastiano is our protector par excellence, he is the holy intercessor who more than the others is the object of gratitude of us Bulzesi in the feast that has been celebrated every year since 1658 on January 20 for 365 years with solemnity and great popular participation ».
