Santo Domingo En Soriano

''Saint Dominic in Soriano'' ( it, San Domenico in Soriano; es, Santo Domingo en Soriano) was a portrait of Saint Dominic painted in 1530. It is an important artefact in the Dominican friary at Soriano Calabro in southern Italy. It was believed to be of miraculous origin, and to inspire miracles. It was the subject of a Roman Catholic feast day celebrated on 15 September from 1644 to 1913. Its miraculous origin was the subject of several 17th-century paintings. Several ecclesiastical buildings have been named after it.

History

There seems to be no record that Dominic himself ventured further south in Italy than Rome. In 1510, members of the Dominican Order founded a friary at Soriano Calabro, Calabria, in the arch of the foot of the boot of Italy. A town grew up around it. In 1530, the friars began to display for public veneration a portrait of the founder of their Order.

In the early 17th century, Silvestro Frangipane, a Dominican, investigated the painting and wrote a book about it. Several senior members of his Order gave it their '' imprimaturs'', and it was published in 1634.

Fra Frangipane wrote (in an English translation):

That narrative is largely the one accepted by the Dominican Order today.

The portrait soon acquired a reputation for having marvellous properties. According to Fra Frangipane, if it was ever hung in a place other than the one specified by the Virgin Mary, the following morning it would be back in its proper place. He described numerous other miracles attributed to its presence. No fewer than 1,600 miracles were reliably attributed to its presence within a space of 78 years. In 1644, Pope Innocent XII ordained a feast day on 15 September to commemorate its origin and properties.The years from when the portrait began to gain its reputation until its official recognition fall squarely within the Counter-Reformation, which is dated 1545–1648. The feast may have been suppressed in 1913, when Pope Pius X moved what had until then been the movable feast of Our Lady of Sorrows to the fixed date of 15 September.Saint Dominic has always been held in the highest regard. The feast may have been removed from the church calendar simply because its subject, the portrait, no longer existed. If there is any mention of either the portrait or the feast in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1907–1912), it is not easy to find.

The more recent history of the portrait seems to be unknown. Soriano Friary was badly damaged by an of 6.6 magnitude. It was rebuilt; but in 1783, Calabria was struck by a series of five earthquakes within two months. The first, on 5 February, was of 7.0 magnitude, and levelled Soriano to the ground. The third, on 7 February, was of 6.6 magnitude, and its epicentre was 3 km from Soriano. In Soriano itself, 171 people had died, and damage estimated at 80,000 ducats had been caused. The friary was rebuilt for a second time, but seems never to have regained its earlier reputation; it seems to disappear from the records. The portrait may have failed to survive one of those events.Most of the paintings by notable artists were made before 1659. The friary continued to be a destination for pilgrimage until 1783 (see Soriano Calabro in Italian Wikipedia for a narrative). Arguments for loss of the portrait on either, or any other, date are inconclusive.

A description of the painting

In 1634, Fra Frangipane wrote:

An English translation:

Artistic representations

The miraculous origin of the portrait seems to have been a significant topic for religious art in 17th-century Italy and Spain, as evidenced by the number of paintings described later in this section. It is uncertain which, if any, of the painters had seen the original. Those paintings are consistent in showing Dominic slightly less than life-size, full length, wearing his habit, with book and lily, thus generally conforming to Fra Frangipane's 1634 description; but differ in detail. They are also consistent in another way: all show the three saints exhibiting the open painting to one or more friars.

Examples (with provenance, where known) include (arranged approximately by date):
* First half of 17th century Giovanni Battista Giustammiani (Italy)for the , Greve in Chianti, Tuscany; now in the Museum of Saint Francis, Greve in Chianti.
* Carlo Bononi (Italy).
* 1626 Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain)Santa María Magdalena, Seville.
* 1629Juan Bautista Maíno (Spain)Museo del Prado, Madrid.
* 1640Matteo Rosselli (Italy) Church of San Marco, Florence.
* Mid 17th centuryJacopo Vignali (Italy) Convent of San Marco, Florence; one of the first examples taken from the original.
* Alonzo Cano

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