Despite the hordes of tourists it attracts from all over the world, Sicily has retained an element of mystery — distinctly Catholic mystery.

Located in the Mediterranean between Italy and North Africa, the island sparkles with facets of the varying civilizations that have peopled the place through the ages. Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans all had their day here, as did Arabs, Normans and Spanish. It was only in 1870 that Garibaldi landed on the island to begin his march that would make Italy finally independent of foreign powers.

Travel around the island and you'll see remnants of each age — preserved not only in architecture and art, but also manners and foods.

But if you come here for more of a pilgrimage experience, you'll want to honor Sicily's beloved Santuzza, or “little saint,” as St. Rosalia is affectionately called.

You'll need a car or bus from Palermo in order to ascend Monte Pellegrino, where, during the 12th century, the adolescent Rosalia, daughter of Norman nobility, grew disgusted with the luxury and ostentation of the Norman court. After entering a convent in Palermo, she fled to a structure on the mountain. Here, under the protection of a religious order, she could live the simple, prayerful life of a Christian hermit.

The queen, it's said, ceded the area of Monte Pellegrino, where Rosalia could both enjoy the stillness and be visited occasionally by those in need of her spiritual strength. She first became attached to a Byzantine church that was later destroyed. Then the extreme asceticism of the Greek orders attracted her, helping her to spend long hours in contemplation of Christ's Transfiguration on the Mount.

Her death in 1170 drew hordes up the mountain from Palermo to her chapel in a cave, beginning a tradition of pilgrimage that later died out for centuries. There her story might have ended. But in 1624, the “Black Death” would make her an instrument of salvation through Christ and a beloved patroness of Sicily.

Protectress of Palermo

The plague seems to have arrived on a ship from North Africa that was filled with Christians fleeing slavery. Palermo and much of Sicily saw the plague destroy young and old, peasant and noble, for years to come. Then one day, a holy man had a vision. He was told, he explained, that Rosalia's bones could be found in the cave on Monte Pellegrino — and that they must be carried through the streets of the city in a procession in order for the plague to be lifted.

Church authorities did not know whether his vision was from God, but soon enough they decided they had no choice but to investigate. Bones were found, just as the visionary had said, and it was decided — after a long inspection — that they were indeed those of the saint. (Having no forensic scientist to confirm the DNA, they relied on prayer.)

A cardinal from the famous Doria family finally called them authentic, and on June 7, 1625, they were placed in a reliquary and carried in procession through Palermo's winding streets.

Soon afterward, the plague receded and then disappeared. On Aug. 15, Rosalia was officially declared “Protectress of Palermo.” On June 26, 1630, Pope Urban VIII inserted her name in the martyrology, and her relics were placed in Palermo's main cathedral. That's where they remain, for veneration, to this day.

The idea of a procession soon caught on with Palermo's nobility. Always looking for a celebration, they made the day the plague ended, July 15, a time of feasting and frolicking that would have sent Rosalia farther into her cave.

Fortunately, the faithful had her shrine in the mountains rebuilt, and it remains a moving experience to descend into her grotto and spend time in prayer with her. In 1787, the great German writer Goethe visited the shrine and wrote: “The shrine is more appropriate to the humility of the saint than the pomp of the festival that is celebrated in honor of her renunciation of the world.”

Percolating Prayers

The great festival is still observed in Palermo in July, and less elaborately on Sept. 4, the day of her death. But a better idea perhaps is to visit the grotto itself. You'll see by the quantity of ex-votos that many have preceded you on this pilgrimage. Wax limbs and photos, flowers and messages ask the Santuzza for intercession.

To enter the grotto is to join in a Sicilian mystery. A frisson of surprise and joy is apt to make you spend more time here than you planned: The prayers of centuries seem to effervesce in the cool air.

The grotto was carved into the rock, more than 80 feet deep, at the spot where the relics were found. At the far end, tapers illuminate a figure of the Immaculata. On the ceiling, metal channels the water that flows here from a mystical stream. It is offered in the holy water font at the entrance to the grotto.

At one part of the cave, an opening in the rock contains only the marble head of the saint, illuminated, representing the solitude she embraced on this spot.

Behind a glass case, a reclining statue of the young Rosalia resides, crowned with golden roses and arrayed in a robe of gold thread, a gift of the Bourbon King Charles III. She embraces a crucifix, as she did in life. However, her dress is hardly that of a hermit. The king was paying tribute to her as to another royal.

Leaving the grotto, you will find a place to obtain mementos of this shrine. You can proceed also to the top of the mountain, where a large statue of Rosalia looks out over the world. Weather permitting, you can see eastward along the coast as far as the still-active volcano, Mount Etna, on the far side of Sicily. This view is another reason for joy and thanksgiving. The saint's life was rich in views of the natural world, before the building campaigns of Sicily.

Enthusiasm for Santa Rosalia lives on in the parts of the world to which Sicilian fishermen have traveled. Among them is Monterey, Calif., where each autumn her statue is taken from the church to the waterfront to bless the fleet.

One trip to Rosalia's own little corner of the world — in Sicily — and you'll see how a life so humble can inspire celebrations so spirited.

Barbara Coeyman Hults is based in New York City.