The first Sunday in May 1496 was a very sunny day.

The early summer mornings are cool but not stuffy, and the wind from the sea is slightly salty, but also pleasant.

In Sicily, and especially in Palermo, Santa Rosaria is known as a saint.

Many years ago, when the Black Death was rampant across Europe, Sicily was not spared, and although it has been too long, perhaps because the horror of the time was so unforgettable, the fear of death at any moment can be found in many of the documents that have been handed down.

It was at that time that Santa Rosaria appeared.

It is said that before her apparition, she was just the wife of an ordinary merchant, and in addition to taking care of her family, she kept doing small crafts every day, and such a woman was destined not to do anything particularly eye-catching in her life.

But when the plague came, and all the clergy and officials either refused to show their faces out of fear, or they themselves were not spared, and the people of Palermo were completely panicked and even began to give up on themselves, Santa Rosaria suddenly received a revelation from God and Christ, and she bravely walked out of her house and walked into the streets full of dead people, and began to comfort one dying after another with her inspired hands.

Miraculously, when she bravely walked towards the plague, the Grim Reaper seemed to be deterred by fear, and the plague would silently recede every time she went to a place, and when the news spread, the name of Santa Rosaria began to spread in Palermo, Messina, and even further south of Sicily.

Countless sick people dragged their dying bodies to Palermo, hoping to be caressed by the life-saving hand of the saint, and more healthy people wished to receive that miraculous healing power from her, and Santa Rosaria never refused all those who supplicated, and she even left her home for this one and went to a remote convent, and then she opened the door and opened her arms to all those who asked for help.

Eventually, the plague disappeared as if it had appeared out of nowhere, and just as the survivors of the catastrophe were rejoicing in surviving the protection of Santa Rosaria, the merchant's wife died suddenly.

This plunged the people of Palermo into deep agony and provoked their mad worship of Santa Rosaria, who believed that she was a guardian angel sent to them by God, and the day of her death became the anniversary of Santa Rosaria's ascension.

Looking at the records on the books, Alexander stood in front of the huge bookshelves in the library of the Cathedral of Monreale, a slight smile on his lips, of course he knew about Santa Rosalia, and even knew of the several heated arguments that had taken place for her hundreds of years later, some of which were unacceptable.

At least Alexan scoffed at the suggestion that the real reason why the female saint had gone so far as to approach the dead was that she had some special fetish for corpses.

However, there are also various speculations about the fact that Santa Rosaria survived frequent contact with the dead during the Great Plague, some of which are mystical, and more of which are quite credible scientific speculations.

One of the most authoritative is that Santa Rosaria is a rare pathogen adaptor, which not only protects her from infection, but also allows her to transmit some antibodies from herself to those who come into contact with her through certain methods, which explains why she sometimes only needs to touch a patient to save a life.

As for why she died after the plague disappeared, there are also some more scientific explanations, that is, because of the special physiological functions, Santa Rosaria not only adapted to the plague, but even became a special phenomenon that relied on the plague to survive to some extent, when the plague disappeared, her body was unable to adapt to the healthy environment, which eventually led to a lack of antibodies and functional failure.

Of course, this speculation is only speculation, and although there has always been a skeletal of Santa Rosalia in Palermo, it has been proven that it is not Santa Rosalia.

Alexander was not interested in the mystical powers of Santa Rosalia, but in the monastery where the Palermo lady had spent her life.

As it happens, it was the same monastery where Alexander saw Crean hiding Malejo.

When he heard that the Synod of Bishops was to be held in the Cathedral of Palermo that day, Alexander could not help but feel a strange feeling in his heart, as if what was about to happen was somewhat familiar, but he could not remember what was going on, but he was sure that the ultimate goal of all these events should be this synod.

The Synod of Bishops of Sicily will appoint not only the Bishops of Palermo, but the Archbishops of the more prestigious and important Dioceses, and this is the key.

At this time, however, the place where the synod was held was changed, and the reason for this change was the disappearance of Malejo and the murder of Perón.

Thinking about these Alexander felt a little tighter in his throat, once these seemingly unrelated things were connected, he would find that the purpose of all this was in front of him.

Even, maybe Alfonso seemed to appoint him as the treasurer of the library on a whim, after all, although the library of the Cathedral of Monreale is nominally privately owned, after so many years of accumulation and precipitation, how can the treasure of knowledge contained in it not be valued by the church, but such an important place is under the care of a Greek who appeared inexplicably? Alexander shook his head secretly, priest, sometimes a little too clever.

Obviously, if someone in the church were to be in charge of the library, it would not necessarily be possible for some people to find out about them, and if the priest's own people were in charge, they might be exposed afterwards and discover their relationship with the priest.

But if it's an outsider whose origin is unknown, if something happens in the future and is found in the library, it will only end up being a wall.

Even Alexander suspected that by then, he might not have had a chance to tell the difference.

"Priest ......" Alexander turned to the last page of the document, looking at the sentence in which he muttered slightly, which read: 'It takes only courage to discover the secrets of declaration and death'.

The old and ancient documents were carefully put back in their original places, although they are not known to be written by the first generation, but their precious value is still incalculable, at least when Alexander heard about the bishopric meeting held on the anniversary of Santa Rosaria, and came to the library to inquire about the documents about Santa Rosaria, and stumbled upon the relationship between the female saint and the monastery.

"That's all it seems."

Looking at the clear sky outside, Alexander walked out of the stacks, the third morning prayer had just ended, and the procession of bishops was walking through the courtyard along the corridors on the side of the cathedral, today was the day of Santa Rosaria, and it was the day of the meeting of the bishops' conference, and all the bishops were to participate in the procession of the reliquaries until the sun set.

Alexander walked out of the church through the side door, and while he was still in the door, he heard the noise outside, and when he walked out of the church, he saw the crowd from the square in front of the church, along the hill of Caputo to the city of Monreale below.

It seems that the whole city of Palermo has gathered in front of the Cathedral of Monreale this morning, and the colorful and various costumes have become an important tool for the people to compete for beauty on this day, men's sword sleeves and leggings, women's fancy feathers and pleated skirts, soft leather boots embroidered with various patterns and curly shoes lined with flannel cloth make different sounds on the ground, and those unusually large and exaggerated shawls and undercarriage silk shirts, often because of their staggering oversize, which again and again attract all kinds of envy or jealousy from their owners.

This day is Santa Rosaria Day and one of the most important holidays in Palermo.

As soon as Alexander walked out of the church, he was stopped by men, who hung strips of cloth painted with white bones, which represented the terrible Black Death and death, and women who wore long black silk scarves over Alexander's head, a custom that is said to have originated from the fact that Santa Rosalia used a black scarf to cover the victims' faces every time.

However, some of these bold women will cover their heads together while covering the men, so that they can kiss those handsome men without presumption, although most of the women who do this are not doing serious things, but some of the women of good families who have become bold because of the emotions around them on such days will suddenly do such almost crazy things.

Alexander had been attacked more than once, and his angular, sculptural face had caused him a lot of trouble, and for a moment it seemed as if the women of Palermo had gone mad, until he had to cover his face with a hat that he had prepared in advance, and then he blended into the crowd and walked down the hill.

It's not a long way from the Cathedral of Monreale to the city of Palermo, but it's not so easy to walk in an era when you don't even have to jump on a normal gravel path.

Walking on a donkey's dirty road, Alexander couldn't help but think of the books about Rome in Italy.

Although the statement that all roads lead to Rome is an exaggeration, it at least shows the prosperity and civilization of ancient Rome, but this civilization disappeared with the invasion of the Goths and the demise of Western Rome, and after a thousand years, Eastern Rome, which had left a precious seed for Western civilization, also declined with the rising of the new moon.

"History is such a strange thing," Alexandre sighed with a slight emotion, but when he saw the towering towers of the South City of Palermo from afar, he exhaled softly, and threw those innocent moans behind him: "None of this has anything to do with me, at least not now." ”

Although he had already seen the Palermo people's enthusiasm for Santa Rosaria's day in Monreale, it was only after entering the city that Alexander realized that he was underestimating the reverence that the city's inhabitants had for the saintess, or rather the Palermo people's enthusiasm for joining in the fun.

Every street, every square, and even every alley seemed to be packed, and the rich men who rode tall horses, who were usually enviable, became the object of ridicule, for they could only ride their horses a little bit forward in the streets, and look like juggling clowns.

As for the real jugglers, they turned the moment into a full-blown carnival, shouting to attract the audience, and more often than not, spraying fireballs into the sky along the streets, or carrying a skeleton representing the plague with a wooden pole, and then directing the puppets to dance without any ropes in the sighs of amazement.

The whole of Palermo was immersed in a heat wave of celebrations and revelry, until noon with the dull sound of bells from the bell tower of the Cathedral of the Assumption, the people in the streets began to look at each other in the midst of the noise, and the intense atmosphere of contagious anticipation gradually spread throughout the city.

The bell rang again, the bronze doors of the cathedral slowly opened, accompanied by solemn chanting, and the procession led by forty-four priests and a group of Aragonese guards, the golden coffin of Santa Rosalia, escorted by eleven Sicilian bishops, left the cathedral and began the procession.

Alexander stood in the crowd and watched the procession pass, Alfonso walked at the end of all the bishops, at the head of all the priests.

This position suits him very well, but this position is just awkward.

A bishop who is not a bishop, a priest who is not a priest.

So what exactly is he?

The priest, however, was unusually calm and composed, his pace slow but not sluggish, and the bishop of Palermo was placed on the velvet tray in both hands, and Alfonso seemed to be shrouded in a layer of light in the midday sun.

The sight caused people to sigh, and many began to bow to Alfonso, and those who came close took the corner of his robe and kissed him, but Alfonso remained calm.

Alexander didn't look any further, and walked towards the Mararo Bazaar.

He knew that the real show today was not a parade in the streets, but in another place.