Members of Holy Family Parish celebrated the feast of San Gennaro, honoring St. Januarius, patron saint of Naples, Italy, Sept. 23, at the church in Port St. Lucie. The saint’s actual feast day of Sept. 19 is marked in grand fashion every year in Italy and in New York’s Little Italy, where many of the diocese’s Italian faithful attended before moving to Florida.

“I really want to see this become a big celebration here in Port St. Lucie like the feast of San Gennaro in New York,” said Rosa Arciprete, born in Naples, Italy, and owner of the St. Lucie Bakery in Port St. Lucie. The bakery donated many of the pastries for the festival, with all proceeds from ticket sales donated to the poor, she said. “We have been doing this for 13 years, except for two years because of COVID.”