After the emblematic boat made it into the Port Hercule yesterday evening and was set aflame outside the Sante Devote Church, people gathered to enjoy the spectacular display of fireworks that brightened the sky for the celebration of Saint Devote the patron saint of the Principality, the Royal Family and the Archdiocese of Monaco, as well as the patron saint of the Island of Corsica.

As the story goes, in the 4th century during the persecution of Christians, a young girl named Devote was arrested, imprisoned and martyred and after her death the Christians saved her body and placed it on a boat bound for Africa to receive proper Christian burial. In a middle of Storm the boat safely arrived to the coastline of Monaco, and on that site a Church was built in her Memory. St Devote is the protective soul of the Monegasque identity.

Photos by Celina Lafuente de Lavotha