San Nicolò is a

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 ...

, Franciscan church in

Cagli Cagli is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, Marche, central Italy. It is c. south of Urbino. The Burano flows near the town. History Cagli occupies the site of an ancient village on the Via Flaminia, which seems to have ...

, province of Pesaro e Urbino, region of

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

, Italy.

History

The

Benedictine order The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...

church and monastery date to 1388 when the nuns of Santa Margherita, who until then had occupied the old monastery along the Via Flaminia near Campo Ventoso relocated to San Nicolo. In 1529, the monastery was assigned to cloistered Dominican nuns. In 1700 a large part of the convent was restored with the construction of small cells, and a new

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

."Cagli: Chiesa e Convento di San Nicolò", La Valle del Metauro
/ref> Following the suppression of religious orders and congregations implemented with royal decree 3036 of 7 July 1866, around 1880 the monastery was alienated in order to erect a girls' school."Monastero di San Nicolò di Cagli", Instituto Centrale Per GLI Archivi
/ref> The portal of the church, in sandstone, has a dog with a candle in its mouth in bas-relief in the tympanum, a play on the phrase ''Domini canes'', or ("Hounds of the Lord"). On the side of the main entrance there is access to the cloistered convent. The church has a single nave, with a vault decorated in 1758 with the symbols of San Nicolò, a miter and crozier. The main altar was consecrated on 16 November 1749. Above the high altar is the dove of the Holy Spirit placed in the center of a large sunburst. The altarpiece, by

Gaetano Lapis Gaetano Lapis (1706–1773) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period. Biography Lapis was born on 13 August 1706 in the central Italian city of Cagli, the son of Filippo Lapis, a wool merchant, and his wife Olimpia Orlandini of Cantian ...

, depicts the "Madonna of the Rosary and St Dominic". It was stolen during the Napoleonic period but subsequently returned. On either side of the main altar are statues of Dominican saints

Catherine of Siena Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), known as Catherine of Siena, was an Italian mystic and pious laywoman who engaged in papal and Italian politics through extensive letter-writing and advocacy. Canonized in 1461, ...

and

Rose of Lima Rose of Lima, TOSD (born Isabel Flores de Oliva; 20 April 1586 24 August 1617) (, ), was a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Lima, Peru, Spanish Empire, who became known for both her life of severe penance and her care of the pover ...

. On the left side of the altar, under a small canopy supported by two angels, there is a small door with a chalice in

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

through which the cloistered nuns receive communion. In the left side altar the "Miracle of Soriano" is represented, in the right side altar the "Miracle of San Nicola di Bari" is depicted.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Cagli 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Buildings and structures completed in 1398 Churches completed in the 1390s {{Marche-RC-church-stub

History

See also

References