The Oratory of Saint Lawrence ( it, Oratorio di San Lorenzo) is a Baroque oratory of Palermo. It is located near the

Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi; la, Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in ...

, in the quarter of the

Kalsa Kalsa or Mandamento Tribunali is a historical quarter of the Italian city of Palermo in Sicily. It is sometimes referred to as la Kalsa or the Kalsa. Names The common name of the quarter, ''Kalsa'', derives from the district's historic Arabic ...

, within the historic centre of Palermo. The oratory was built in 1569 to replace a former smaller church dedicated to

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

. Construction was funded by a confraternity of mainly Genovese merchants, and linked to

Conventual Franciscan The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv) is a male religious fraternity in the Roman Catholic Church that is a branch of the Franciscans. The friars in OFM CONV are also known as Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites. Dating back to ...

s. In 1699-1706,

Giacomo Serpotta Giacomo Serpotta (10 March 1656 – 27 February 1732) was an Italian sculptor, active in a Rococo style and mainly working in stucco. Biography Serpotta was born and died in Palermo; and may have never left Sicily. His skill and facility with st ...

realized a sumptuous stucco decoration, depicting the life of St Francis. The oratory is particularly famous because of the masterpiece altarpiece '' Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence'' (1600 or 1609) by Caravaggio. This important painting was stolen, probably by ''

Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...

'', on October 18, 1969. It has never been recovered. In 2015 a hi-tech replica of the altarpiece was placed inside the oratory.''Restitution of a lost beauty': Caravaggio Nativity replica brought to Palermo'' - ''The Guardian'', 10 December 2015
/ref> Michelangelo Caravaggio 035

References

Lorenzo Baroque architecture in Palermo 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy {{Italy-church-stub