San Francesco D'Assisi 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 ...

church and former

minorite The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest contem ...

convent in the town of

Butera Butera ( Sicilian: ''Vutera'') is an Italian town and commune in the province of Caltanissetta, in the southern part of the island of Sicily. It is bounded by the communes of Gela, Licata, Mazzarino, Ravanusa and Riesi. It is located from ...

, the

province of Caltanissetta The province of Caltanissetta (; or ; officially ''libero consorzio comunale di Caltanissetta'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the southern part of Sicily, Italy. Following the suppression of the Sicilian provinces, it was replaced in 20 ...

, the 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. ...

, Italy. At this site by the 12th-century, there had been a church, Santa Maria del Castello, affiliated with a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery. In 1577, a Franciscan convent was built adjacent under the guidance of the Maestro Lo Monaco and patronized by Francesco Di Paola from Gelese. The church contains a wooden cross, dated 1631, with an image of Christ putatively painted by

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoe ...

. The altarpieces depicting the ''Assumption of the Virgin Mary'' and of an ''Immaculate Conception with St Francis'' are attributed to

Filippo Paladino Filippo Paladino (1544–1614) was an Italian painter. Biography He was born near Florence, in Tuscany, and remained there until , when he was imprisoned and subsequently exiled to Malta. From there he moved to Sicily, where he was active the rest ...

. The altarpieces of '' St Michael Archangel'', ''St Francis of Assisi'', and ''Sant'Antonio of Padua'' were painted by Rocco Di Martino. A celebration in honor of the Immaculate Conception is held with a bonfire on 8 December.entry in Buteraweb

References

Churches in the province of Caltanissetta 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Sicily {{Sicily-RC-church-stub