ALFIO, saint, martyr. - They were from Lentini. This saint, together with his two brothers Filadelfio and Cirino, is known to us from a late text (8th-9th centuries) and one of no historical value. Difficult to identify are the place of origin and the year of the martyrdom, which began in Rome, continued in Pozzuoli, Taormina, and Catania, and was completed in Lentini on 10 May. The text suggests that it took place under Licinio (307-13); Papenbroeck, however, assigns it to 251. The bodies of A. and his companions were found outside Lentini only in 1517. The Byzantine Synaxaries commemorate them on 10 May; they were introduced into the Roman Martyrology on the same date by Baronio.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Mani, II, Anversa 1680, pp. 502-50, 771-788; BHG, 57-62; Synax. Contantinop., pp. 671-72; Martyr. Romanum, p. 182; Lanzoni, pp. 629-31. A. Pietro Frutaz
S. A. NEI, FOLKLORE. - Popular devotion to S. A. is especially widespread in Sicily. At Catania, on the night of 9–10 May, the so-called nudi go barefoot to the little Etnean town of Trecastagni, where the Saint is particularly venerated, and descend from it on the afternoon of the 10th in gaily adorned carts. This votive journey gives rise to characteristic forms of popular devotion. Paolo Toschi