The Chiesa madre of Santa Maria la Cava e Sant'Alfio ('Mother Church of St. Mary of the Pit and St. Alphius') is the main

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in

Lentini Lentini (; ; ; ) is a town and in the Province of Syracuse, southeastern Sicily (Southern Italy), located 35 km (22 miles) north-west of Syracuse. History The city was founded by colonists from Naxos as Leontini in 729 BC, which in its beginning ...

, province of Syracuse, Sicily Italy.

History and description

The present church was built after the

1693 Sicily earthquake The 1693 Sicily earthquake was a natural disaster that struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, then a territory part of the Crown of Aragon by the Kings of Spain Calabria and Malta, on 11 January at around 21:00 local time. This earthquake was ...

by merging the former cathedral of Santa Maria la Cava with the

chapter Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...

of the

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

dedicated to the Saints

Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus Saints Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus (), martyrs in the Byzantine traditions of southern Italy, were three brothers from Vaste, in the diocese of Otranto, who died with their mother, Benedicta, during the persecution of Decius, ca 251 AD. T ...

. Construction began in 1700 and continued until 1750. Built in

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

-style, the interior has three

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

s. In the left nave, the reliquary float of St. Alphius, made of silver, is stored. The float is carried in a procession through the main streets of

during the celebrations for Saints Alphius (9–11 May), the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of the town. The right nave hosts the sepulchres of the martyrs Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus. Notably, the church hosts a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

icon of the

Virgin Hodegetria A Hodegetria, or Virgin Hodegetria, is an iconographic depiction of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to him as the source of salvation for humankind. The Virgin's head usually inclines towards the c ...

dated from the 12th century.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Cava Lentini 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy