SAINT "HIPPOLYTE MARTIR",

SAINT PATRON OF COCENTAINA TOWN

        Saint Hippolyte appears in our history among documents from the “Archivo Histórico Municipal de Cocentaina” which directly refer to the Saint or to a festival in his honour that was celebrated in the town since 1600.

       The story of his selection as patron saint by chance with his name drawn from a bag containing a number of candidates is well known to most people in Cocentaina.

 

        Between the end of 1590 and the middle of 1600, Cocentaina suffered a plague that diminished its population.  As people died medicine could do little as the disease spread widely. Fear led people to believe the pandemic was a divine punishment and they prayed for a saint to intercede for them.

 

        On Sunday morning, May 7th 1600, people from Cocentaina (so-called “socarrats”) gathered in the City Hall with the clerics form the two town churches. Three saints were chosen as candidates and the rest was left to chance and divine intervention. Into a velvet bag, three papers with three different saints’ names were placed. An innocent hand, a child’s hand, picked the paper with the name of Cocentaina’s future saint; St. Hippolyte.

 

        Though he was already a recognised and wise saint in the catholic community the local people complained that he was not important enough to intercede and protect them. They repeated the selection process a second time and a third time; but in all of them the child picked the name of St. Hippolyte.  Realising finally that this could be a divine sign, the people happily proclaimed and accepted him as the patron saint.

 

        On May 10th 1600, the General Council had a meeting and all the members agreed to celebrate the patron festival on August 13th, the day on which St. Hippolyte was tortured and martyred.

 

        From this time on the festival “Moros i Cristians” grew and evolved with each century into its current tradition filled spectacle.

        

        In 2000, the fourth centenary of the proclamation of St. Hippolyte as a patron saint was celebrated with an outstanding sculpture.  At the base of this sculpture one can read: Cocentaina: birthplace and centre of the “Moros i Cristians” festival.