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Description
Its history is indissolubly linked to that of its founder, Smeralda Eustochia Calafato, who was proclaimed a saint by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
She was so beautiful that, as the legend says, Antonello da Messina choose her as a model for his famous portrait Virgin Annunciate (l’Annunciata). Since she was very young, she wanted to dedicate her life to God but her father, a rich trader, opposed it. When he died, Smeralda—who, after the monastic vows changed her name to Eustochia—became a member of the Poor Clares. Her brothers opposed her and, after several threats by them of burning the convent, she entered the monastery of Basicò. The need to dedicate herself to the Poor Clares’ rules made her obtain in 1460, with the approval of Pope Callixtus III, the authorization to found another monastery near the Accomandata former hospital. She stayed there till 1464, the year in which she founded the Monastery of Montevergine.
The building is constructed along the via XXIV Maggio (once via dei Monasteri, one of the main roads of the town before 1908), and it is visited by tourists who want to see the uncorrupted body of Santa Eustochia, exhibited on the altar in a shrine which stood up to the earthquake of 1908. After the earthquake, the monastery reopened in 1929. The visitor is immediately enchanted by the cozy atmosphere of the one-nave church, decorated by harmonious architectonical elements and enriched with marble inlays and altars and capitals decorated by putti.
In the interior it is possible to admire the painting representing the Virgin of the Angels with St. Francis and St. Clare made in 1658 by the painter Giovan Battista Quagliata, the painting of St. Francis while receiving the stigmata made by Michele Panebianco during the 19th century, and that of St. Blaise, dated 1931, made by Gaetano Corsini.
Unfortunately there were many works destroyed by the earthquake, but in the room where the body of Santa Eustochia is exhibited, there are some sacred treasures of great value.
She was so beautiful that, as the legend says, Antonello da Messina choose her as a model for his famous portrait Virgin Annunciate (l’Annunciata). Since she was very young, she wanted to dedicate her life to God but her father, a rich trader, opposed it. When he died, Smeralda—who, after the monastic vows changed her name to Eustochia—became a member of the Poor Clares. Her brothers opposed her and, after several threats by them of burning the convent, she entered the monastery of Basicò. The need to dedicate herself to the Poor Clares’ rules made her obtain in 1460, with the approval of Pope Callixtus III, the authorization to found another monastery near the Accomandata former hospital. She stayed there till 1464, the year in which she founded the Monastery of Montevergine.
The building is constructed along the via XXIV Maggio (once via dei Monasteri, one of the main roads of the town before 1908), and it is visited by tourists who want to see the uncorrupted body of Santa Eustochia, exhibited on the altar in a shrine which stood up to the earthquake of 1908. After the earthquake, the monastery reopened in 1929. The visitor is immediately enchanted by the cozy atmosphere of the one-nave church, decorated by harmonious architectonical elements and enriched with marble inlays and altars and capitals decorated by putti.
In the interior it is possible to admire the painting representing the Virgin of the Angels with St. Francis and St. Clare made in 1658 by the painter Giovan Battista Quagliata, the painting of St. Francis while receiving the stigmata made by Michele Panebianco during the 19th century, and that of St. Blaise, dated 1931, made by Gaetano Corsini.
Unfortunately there were many works destroyed by the earthquake, but in the room where the body of Santa Eustochia is exhibited, there are some sacred treasures of great value.