Molfetta Cathedral, otherwise the Church of the Assumption and of Saint Ignatius Loyola ( it, Duomo di Molfetta, ''Cattedrale'' or ''Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta e Sant'Ignazio di Loyola''), is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

Molfetta Molfetta (; Molfettese: ) is a town located in the northern side of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. It has a well restored old city, and its own dialect. History The earliest local signs of permanent habitation are at ...

(the "new cathedral"), dedicated to the

Assumption of the Virgin Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution '' Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by G ...

and Saint

Ignatius Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...

. Originally a Jesuit church, it became the seat of the

bishops of Molfetta The diocese of Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi ( la, Dioecesis Melphictensis-Rubensis-Iuvenacensis-Terlitiensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Apulia, southern Italy, which was established in 1986, when the diocese of Molfett ...

in the late 18th century. Since 1986 it has been the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi.

History and description

The present cathedral was built by the Jesuits during the 17th century and dedicated to their founder, Saint

. Begun in 1610, it was not completed until 1744 with the construction of the façade, which bears the image of Loyola. At the

suppression of the Society of Jesus The suppression of the Jesuits was the removal of all members of the Society of Jesus from most of the countries of Western Europe and their colonies beginning in 1759, and the abolishment of the order by the Holy See in 1773. The Jesuits were ...

in 1767 the church was abandoned until 1785, when it was restored and extended and made into the new cathedral of the diocese of Molfetta, when the

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...

of the patron saint of the city, Saint Conrad of Bavaria (San Corrado), were translated to it from the previous cathedral ("''duomo vecchio"'' or the "old cathedral"), which is now the church of San Corrado. Among the works of art in the cathedral are the ''Dormitio Mariae'' (" Dormition of Mary") attributed to Scacco (16th century), the monument of the Molfettese naturalist and historian Giuseppe Maria Giovene, to the left of the altar dedicated to Saint Conrad, and on it, the magnificent canvas by

Corrado Giaquinto Corrado Giaquinto (8 February 1703 – 18 April 1766) was an Italian Rococo painter. Early training and move to Rome He was born in Molfetta. As a boy he apprenticed with a modest local painter Saverio Porta, (c1667–1725), escaping the rel ...

of the

. In 1887 the ceiling vault was decorated in

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

by the Molfettese painter Michele Romano.

Bibliography

* ''Cattedrali di Puglia. Una storia lunga duemila anni'' (ed. Cosimo Damiano Fonseca). Mario Adda Editore: Bari. 2001 Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

Cathedrals in Apulia Churches in the metropolitan city of Bari {{Italy-RC-cathedral-stub