More than 400 years ago, Roman Catholic...

More than 400 years ago, Roman Catholic tradition holds, a long drought in Sicily brought a devastating famine. And with farmlands desolate and the people dying, the faithful prayed to St. Joseph to ask the Lord for rain.

When the rains came, the crops flourished again. And to thank St. Joseph for his intervention, the poor of Sicily vowed to honor the patron saint with a celebration commemorating their good fortune.

Today, in one of the countless tributes worldwide to St. Joseph, Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in San Pedro will commemorate the traditional St. Joseph’s Table with a procession and banquet at its parish, at 870 W. 8th St.

The event will begin at the church auditorium at 11:15 a.m., where parishioners, accompanied by the Monterey Park Italian Band, will form a procession and carry a statue of St. Joseph to the rectory. There, priests, Eucharistic ministers and Knights of Columbus will join the procession, which then moves on to the church for a high Mass at noon.

After the Mass, the procession will resume, with parishioners and others returning to the auditorium. Three San Pedro young people depicting Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus will ask for admittance, and, with Msgr. Patrick Gallagher, will enter the auditorium, where the priest will bless the food donated by parishioners.

The banquet, which over time has become known as a “poor man’s meal,” will consist of fresh pasta and dried beans, squid salad, vegetables, fruit, bread and dessert. The dried beans and fruit are meant to symbolize the hardship of those who lived through the famine; the huge quantity of food, to illustrate the bounty that came with St. Joseph’s intervention.

“We put out all this food to bring back memories of the plentiful,” said Nino Accetta, past president of the Italian Catholic Federation, and a Sicilian whose family came from Trappeto, a tiny seaside town near Palermo.

Since the local celebration began about 35 years ago, Accetta said, it has annually drawn between 300 and 500 people, many of them needy. And though there is no charge to attend the celebration and meal, the parish’s St. Joseph Table Society accepts donations. Last year, Accetta said, those donations provided $1,500 for the church’s relief efforts as well as two $300 scholarships awarded to area students on the basis of need, not just scholastic ability.

The food remaining from the banquet is distributed by Sisters of the Poor to the needy and elderly in San Pedro. And although the crowds over time have been large, Accetta said, there has always been plenty of food.

“We have never run out yet,” he said.