The central chapel ceiling painting depicts Our Lady's Assumption into Heaven. A wooden sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patron Saint of Tusa, leads the procession through the streets, from the 13th to the 15th of August. The march is a statement of devotion and dramatizes the transition of the Virgin from earth to heaven. She is also venerated by the Tusani when this same statue is carried through the streets. on the nights of December 7th and 8th, followed by the faithful who sing the rosary.

The heritage of the Tusani reaches back to the time when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt into Canaan and the Ten Commandments: The Sicilians have suffered under a number of conquerors over the centuries but their faith in God and the Mother of God are a reality of history and the present.

Soon after the turn of the century social and economic conditions forced Tusanis to seek a new life in the USA. The Maria Assunta Society was formed to continue their devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary's Assumption to Heaven at St. Michael's parish every year since...

THE MARIA ASSUNTA FEAST IN AMERICA

In Pawcatuck, CT, the earliest celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Italian immigrants, is documented as August, 1920. The first feast celebration was sponsored and took place during the pastor-ship of the beloved Father John J. Keane, a priest with great vision and compassion for the Tusani. The first secretary of the Maria Assunta Feast Committee recorded the observance of the feast and the purchase of statue, carved in Genoa from wood, and shipped from Palermo, Sicily, in the year 1935.