ALFIO, Saint, Martyr. — Patron of Lentini. This saint, along with his two brothers Filadelfo and Cirino, is known to us from a late text (8th–9th centuries) of no historical value. The place of origin and the year of his martyrdom are difficult to identify; it began in Rome, continued in Pozzuoli, Taormina, and Catania, and was completed in Lentini on May 10. The text suggests it occurred under Licinius (307–313); Papenbroeck, however, assigns it to 251. The bodies of Alfio and his companions were found outside Lentini only in 1517. The Byzantine Synaxaria commemorate them on May 10; they were introduced into the Roman Martyrology on the same date by Baronio.
ALFIO IN FOLKLORE. — The popular cult of St. Alfio is especially widespread in Sicily. In Catania, on the night of May 9–10, the so-called *nudi* ascend barefoot to the small town of Trecastagni, where the Saint is particularly venerated, and descend in the afternoon of the 10th in festively adorned carts. This votive journey gives rise to typical forms of popular devotion.