Corsican Faith: Light of an Island, Heritage of a People

1 november 2025

With Corsican Faith: An Essay on Popular Religiosity, published by Domuni-Press, Michel Garnier presents a profoundly rooted work, driven by the desire to understand and to make understood the spiritual soul of an island where faith is neither a survival nor a folkloric remnant, but a living breath. From the opening pages, the epigraph by Cardinal François Bustillo gives the text a framework of deep inner clarity. He recalls the memorable visit of Pope Francis to Ajaccio and “the breath of the spirit of 15 December 2024,” destined to continue igniting Corsican hearts and, beyond the seas, those of the entire world. This introduction places the reader on a path where insular spirituality unfolds as both a living memory and a ferment for the future.

A PEOPLE ANIMATED BY A SPIRITUAL IMPULSE

The book’s founding intuition is rooted in a statement by Abbé François-Joseph Casta, cited at the opening: “Every Corsican carries within him, almost naturally, a religious sentiment and a Christian sense that today must be made clearer and more fervent.” This observation, which Garnier adopts, serves as the guiding thread for his analysis. Corsican religiosity is not a mere accumulation of practices, but the expression of an inner movement, a transmitted heritage, and an intimate link between faith, culture, and territory.

Garnier demonstrates that this spiritual disposition is shaped by “a living inner faith, in which geographical factors, regional culture, and the deep relationships that unite all members of Corsican society in a shared communion of destiny strongly anchored in Catholicism continue to interact.” The collective dimension is central: faith gathers people, provides a common language, and connects even those who do not necessarily identify as believers.

HOLY WEEK: THE PINNACLE OF INCARNATE RELIGIOSITY

Among the major liturgical events discussed by the author, Holy Week occupies a singular place. Bishop Mgr Brouwer, cited by Garnier, powerfully summarizes its essence: popular religiosity is “a springing from the human heart that cries out for love and for salvation. At that moment, it is Jesus who matters, and only He. Everything else is irrelevant.” These words capture the intensity of participation characterizing insular spirituality.

On Good Friday, the Catenacciu of Sartène represents its dramatic climax. For the author, “the mystery of the Passion is the pinnacle of Corsican popular religiosity.” The nocturnal procession of the penitent, bearing cross and chains, is described as “a true living catechism,” in which the entire community enters into communion with Christ’s path. Cardinal Bustillo’s participation in the 2024 procession, broadcast live for the first time on television, underscored the symbolic power of this event, which unites gesture, memory, and faith in a single movement.

MARY, SILENT HEART OF CORSICAN IDENTITY

Marian devotion, constitutive of insular spirituality, occupies a key chapter of the book. Garnier demonstrates how the Dio vi Salvi Regina, which over time has become an identity hymn, is today “a very strong marker of Corsican identity, merging with and becoming inseparable from devotion to the Virgin Mary.” Sung at the end of liturgies as well as at civic gatherings, it expresses an attachment that combines trust, pride, and memory.

The September 8 pilgrimages, whether to Pancheraccia, Lavasina, or Casamaccioli, also testify to this relationship with Mary, perceived as a maternal and protective presence. Each site unfolds a story, a face, a way of expressing gratitude and hope. Garnier presents this dimension warmly, without romanticizing it, allowing the intrinsic beauty of these traditions to speak for itself.

FAITH THAT RESIDES IN HOMES

One of the most touching contributions of the work lies in its ability to enter the intimacy of faith transmission. Following Pope Francis, the author recalls that “it is in the silence of family life that most of us learned to pray, to love, to live faith.” Corsican religiosity thus unfolds in simple gestures: a cross on the wall, an evening prayer, a refrain repeated during vigils. These practices are not folkloric, but a profound fidelity to what is received in childhood and transmitted through the tenderness of family relationships.

The Corsican language itself carries this imprint. Proverbs, expressions, and everyday turns of phrase contain spiritual wisdom, where God, Mary, and the saints occupy familiar places. As Garnier shows, this linguistic dimension is far from secondary: it expresses the manner in which faith is inscribed in reality, in habits, and in the way one perceives life.

A TRADITION ORIENTED TOWARD THE FUTURE

Far from considering popular religiosity merely as heritage, the author demonstrates how it opens perspectives for the present. Faced with contemporary fragilities (demographic decline, social restructuring, distance from practice), popular religiosity appears as a support, a site of renewal. It enables the Church to continue to exist collectively, sometimes outside institutional frameworks, but always in fidelity to Christ.

Garnier cites the Directory on Popular Piety, which affirms that such piety constitutes “a providential instrument for the safeguarding of faith,” allowing the Christian people to advance toward “a more mature and deeper faith.” In resonance, Pope Francis’ 2024 visit and his words to Corsica acquire full significance: the island, far from peripheral, emerges as a center where a new way of believing is being reinvented.

A BOOK THAT ILLUMINATES, UNITES, AND TRANSMITS

Upon closing Corsican Faith, the reader understands that Michel Garnier’s essay goes beyond mere analysis. It is a text imbued with attention and care, capable of uniting erudition and sensibility. It reveals a religiosity that breathes with the island, a faith that is both seen and heard, an intimate spirituality that nourishes both major celebrations and everyday life.

Corsica emerges in these pages as a land of spiritual light: a place where faith, far from being eroded, remains a landmark, a strength, and a promise. In a world often disoriented, Garnier reminds us how living traditions can become resources for the future and offer a common language to those seeking paths of meaning.