Church of Jesus

Church of Jesus

The façade of the Church of Jesus

The façade of the church of Jesus
Basic information
Location

Alcamo, Trapani, Italy

coordinates = 37°58′47″N 12°57′55″E / 37.9798°N 12.9653°E / 37.9798; 12.9653Coordinates: 37°58′47″N 12°57′55″E / 37.9798°N 12.9653°E / 37.9798; 12.9653
Affiliation Catholic
Territory Alcamo
State Italy
Province Trapani
Region Sicily
Patron Jesus
Founder Father Vincenzo Abbati
Groundbreaking 1684

The Church of Jesus or Church of the College of Jesuits is a Catholic church located in Alcamo, in the province of Trapani. It is the second largest church in Alcamo, after the basilica di Santa Maria Assunta,

History

The church's construction began in 1684, thanks to the savings made by the Jesuits who built it on a piece of land given by the Town Council; in exchange for it, they undertook to make several building improvements at their own expenses, in particular:

The Jesuits' emblem represented in a marble inlay inside the Church.

On 7 June 1725 Father Vincenzo Monteleone from Alcamo, who was the rector of collegio dei Gesuiti, was appointed as procurator for the building of this Church which in that period reached only the height of 8 palms on the western side, opposite the town walls.

On 29 July 1764 they inaugurated the Church with a solemn cerimony. Later they decorated it with stuccoes and in 1767 completed its construction,[1] which lasted 80 years on the whole, so people called it “the Church of Patching”.

In 2014 they made some works of consolidation on the façade.[2][3]

Description and works

The façade of the church is dominating piazza Ciullo: it is in Baroque style and is enriched by square pilasters with doric-tuscan and [[Ionic]] style. There are five niches on this façade and they contain the statues of saint Ignatius of Loyola, saint Francis Xavier, Our Lady of Miracles (the patroness saint of Alcamo) and the archangel Michael and Raphael[1].In 1931 the three statues which are placed in the lower part were restored (free of charge) by Giuseppe Bambina,[4] a sculptor from Alcamo. It was necessary to restore them because of the damage provoked by the Garibaldian troops that threw stones and shot their guns against them when they entered the town on 17 May 1860.[4]

In 1989 they placed a clock above the central balcony. Operated by a remote control, it substituted an older one that decorated the Bell tower of the Mother Church of Alcamo before, while on the sides there are two bell towers surmonted by triangular cusps.[1] Inside one of the belfries there are three bells "Saint Ignatius of Loyola", "Saint Francis Xavier" and "Monstrance Holy Heart of Jesus". On the top of the façade there is a a marble crown in memory of the Spanish nomination of Sicily.

There are two entrances: the main one is in piazza Ciullo and the side one in via Mazzini. The main entrance has got a stone stairway (called "pietra di li Carrubbazzi" by people).[4]

The Church is with one nave[1] and overtopped by a barrel vault. The walls and the apse are embellished by stuccoes (cornices and wallpapers) in Rococo style, completed in 1767, (the year in which the Jesuits were expelled from this Church), maybe realized by Giovanni and Francesco Russo, who were Lorenzo Curti's assistants when young.

The present one dome was made in 1962; below it there was a headstone with the letters "P X" (missing today) indicating the entrance to the Crypt expanding six metres deep towards the high altar, where they buried the members of the Society of Jesus who had deceased.

On the high altar there is a painting made in 1797 by Giuseppe Renda, a painter from Alcamo, entitled Jesus' circumcision (La circoncisione di Gesù).[1] The altar is enlighted by stained glass windows from the top. In the central one Jesus is represented with his open hands.

Inside the Church there are four chapels, the bigger ones are placed instead of the Transept. The chapels are the following:

Besides, in the Choir there is an altar which was first located in one of the side chapels (very presumably the chapel of the Holy Heart of Jesus or that dedicated to the Immaculate Conception). This altar is surmounted by a wooden bust of saint Ignatius of Loyola.

At the side entrance from via Mazzini there is a holy water font dated 1500 made with white alabaster, probably coming from the church of the Annunciation.[5] On its moulded shaft there are the carvings of some motifs with acanthus leaves and the image of the Annunziata.[5] The circular basin of the font is decorated with swags and contained four heads of angels: today there is only one existing.[5]

The sepulchral monument of Father Vincenzo Abbati

Next to the main entrance of the Church there is a marble monument: it is in Baroque style and realized by unknown artists at about 1764.[6] It is 383 centimetres high and 198 large.

Inside it there are the mortal remains of father Vincenzo Abbati (deceased in1654); thanks to him they built the following buildings: the Jesuits' college, the church of the Holy Family and the convent of the church of Santa Maria dell'Itria.

The monument is embellished by marble inlays representing vegetable compositions and is surmounted by the emblem of the Jesuits' order with the monogram IHS above a tympanum aedicule.[6]

In the middle of the monument, inside a niche of elliptical shape, they inserted the bust of Father Vincenzo Abbati.[6] On the bust's sides there are two allegorical marble female figures, one is holding a cornucopia and the other a pyra.[6]

Below the Abbati's bust there is the family Abbati's emblem, represented by three stars set in correspondence of the vertexes of an overturned triangle with an eccentric feline's claw on a grey background.[6]

Below you can see a marble inlay with a commemorative Latin epigraph with the following words:[6]

« HOSPES NE QUAERAS IN URNA D VINCENTIUM ABBATI QUEM VIVUM ADHUC IN AEDE VIRGINIS HODECETRIAE ET IN HAC COLLEGII MOLE, QUAS PARENS ET AUCTOR A FUNDAMENTIS EREXIT INTUERI FAS EST QUIN AMPLISSIMO VIRO PIETAS MORES INGENIUM VICARII CURA PRODIGENTIA FERE IN EGENOS ET OPEROSUS AMOR IN PATRIAM IMMORTALITATEM ADDICENT HEC TE SPECTATOR MONET COLLEGIUM ALCAMENSE SOCIETATIS IESU HAERES EX ASSE ABIIT MID 8BR MDCLIV AET AN LXX »

« Stranger, don't look for Don Vincenzo Abbati in this tomb, because it is easy for you adimiring him, still living, in the Church of the Virgin of Odegitria (Itria) and in this magnificent building of the College, which he built from their foundations, Father and Founder. Moreover, his piety, honesty, genius, the care of the vicariate (forane), the prodigality for the poor, the affection for his town will deserve immortality to this eminent figure. The adjoining Alcamo's College of the Society of Jesus, his universal heir, reminds you all this. He died on 10th October 1654.»

In the pseudo-pilaster strips above the sides of the epigraph there are two portrayals of skulls, with some ornamental motifs representing shells and volutes in the middle.[6]

Bibliography

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chiesa del Collegio dei Gesuiti (Alcamo).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Comune di Alcamo - "Chiesa del Gesù"
  2. ↑ TrapaniOK.it - Alcamo Comune - Ultimati i lavori di messa in sicurezza della chiesa del Collegio del Gesù
  3. ↑ AlpaUno - Alcamo: chiesa Collegio, via ai lavori
  4. ↑ Facciponte intervista allo scultore Giuseppe Bambina
  5. ↑ Facciponte descrizione dell'acquasantiera da parte degli architetti Ettore Sessa e Giuseppe Di Giovanni
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Facciponte descrizione del monumento funebre da parte degli architetti Ettore Sessa e Giuseppe Di Giovanni

External links

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