This sanctuary above Mesoraca was not dedicated to a person venerated as a saint, but rather to the protection of the incarnate Son of God. However, the patronage of "Ecce Homo" does not focus on the almighty God—as Creator of heaven and earth, for example—but rather on the suffering God. For precisely because Jesus Christ bore the pain of suffering and death, we Christians are redeemed for all time.
During the traditional Stations of the Cross, we pray at the third station: "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. He had no form or comeliness, a man of sorrows, acquainted with infirmity." This is an apt description of "Ecce Homo."