The Burning of the Symbolic Boat

Celebrations to mark the festival of Saint Devota, Patron Saint of Monaco, will be held on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 January.

The celebrations are among the very oldest traditions of the Principality of Monaco, and a part of the national culture in fields as diverse as religion, folklore, history, literature, art, painting, music, coinage and stamps.

This tradition, which comes from the "Legend of Saint Devota" passed down in a medieval text, holds a special place in the hearts of all Monegasques.
Legend has it that Devota, a young Christian women from Corsica, was martyed by the Prefect Barbarus under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. It is said that her body was removed by believers during the night after her martydom, placed on a boat, and taken to Monaco to be entombed in a chapel known as the "Chapelle des Gaumates", on 27 January in the year 303 or 304 AD.

Under Honoré II, in the 17th century, Devota became the Patron Saint of Monaco.

The current tradition was established in the 1870s. Every year, a boat is symbolically burned in the presence of the Sovereign, the Princely Family and numerous Monegasque personalities. Afterward, there is a firework display at Port Hercule.

Programme: 

6.40 pm Procession departs
Route de la Piscine – Opposite Le Nautic restaurant
6.45 pm Boat arrives
Quai Jarland (Route de la Piscine) -
Dove released
Relics presented and city blessed
(with the presence of the Palace Guards)
  Procession continues
 * * *
7 pm Eglise Sainte Dévote church: Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament,
presided by H.E. Mgr Bernard Barsi, Archibishop of Monaco
in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II and the Princely Family
 * * *
  7.30 pm Concourse of the Eglise Sainte Dévote church: 
Symbolic Boat Burning by the Prince Family
 * * *
Afterward, a firework display set to music at Quai Rainier III
will be presented by "Flash Art Monaco Entertainment".