Santa Rita in San'Agostino, sometimes just called Sant'Agostino, 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 ...

parish church and sanctuary, located on Via Vittorio Emanuele II #318, in

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

, region of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, southern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The church was formerly attached to an Augustinian convent, and known as Sant'Agostino. But in the 20th century was dedicated as a sanctuary to Santa

Rita of Cascia Rita of Cascia, OSA (born Margherita Ferri Lotti; 1381 – 22 May 1457), was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun. After Rita's husband died, she joined a small community of nuns, who later became Augustinians, where she was known both for pr ...

History and description

Monastic followers of St Augustine putatively arrived to Eastern Sicily fleeing the Vandal invasion of North Africa in the late 5th century. Construction of a monastery and church in Catania is documented since 1209. Construction was endowed by the nobleman Ferdinando Guerriero, and the church was initially dedicated to San Giacomo (St James). However, in 1577 all the monks died from the plague, and the town elected to burn all the contents of the monastery. It was rebuilt in 1615 with designs putatively by

Giuseppe Palazzotto Giuseppe Palazzotto (1702 – 1764) was an Italian architect, active in Catania, Sicily. He used a Baroque style, and was employed extensively during the flurry of reconstruction, after the 1693 Sicily earthquake which nearly flattened his native c ...

. The monks rebuilt a monastery by 1637. Destroyed by 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 ...

, reconstruction was slow, and the incomplete structure was heavily damaged by the 1818 earthquake. The monastery was suppressed in 1866. The facade is rather sober in comparison to other churches in Catania. It is enlivened by two statues at the first story roofline: on the left is ''St Augustine treading upon heretics'', while on the right is ''St Thomas Villanova showing charity to a child''. The interior has wooden statues sculpted by Giuseppe Stuflesser of Ortisei. The apse reutilizes columns (spolia) from an Ancient Roman building. Among the altarpieces from the church are:Catania Blog
*''St Emidius with Christ, Madonna, and St Agatha'' (circa 1750) by Alessandro Vasta *''Madonna of the Girdle with St Augustine and St Monica'' (1700) by Nicolò Mignemi il Vecchio *''Charity of St Thomas of Villanova'' (1809) by Giuseppe Zacco *''Ecstasy of San Nicola da Tolentino..'' (1804-1805) by Zacco

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rita Catania 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Catania Agostino Catania