Catalan farmers invoke Saint-Gaudérique to bring rain

Catastrophized by the winter drought, Catalan farmers brought out, on Saturday March 18 in Perpignan, the relics of their patron saint Saint Gaudérique in the hope of bringing rain to the Pyrénées-Orientales. “At some point the situation is so critical that we bring out all the possible saints, we call on everyone”summarizes in a joking tone Julien Bousquet, 29, market gardener and arborist, participating in the procession.

Under the stormy sky, hundreds of people (clergy, religious brotherhoods, farmers and the curious) marched through the streets of old Perpignan, carrying relics of the patron saint of Catalan farmers, Saint Gaudérique. The Catholic procession ended on the banks of the Têt, one of the main rivers of the Pyrénées-Orientales.

“This ritual had not been practiced for almost 150 years”, explains to AFP the archpriest of the cathedral of Perpignan, Benoît de Roeck, who led the ceremony organized at the request of a winegrower from the area. Saint Gaudérique (Galdéric in Catalan) an Aude peasant who lived in the 9th century is one of the most famous and celebrated Catalan saints and was “traditionally invoked for water problems”he says.