Church of Jesus and Mary
The Church of Jesus and Mary
We are in the heart of the town, within the territory of the Parish of Santa Lucia, to which the Church of Jesus and Mary originally belonged. This area is bordered to the north by the Gesù e Maria courtyard and to the west by Via Concezione. Here, at the end of the 17th century, the Confraternity of Jesus and Mary, composed of artisans, decided to build a place of worship where they could hold religious services.
The artworks that were once present
The nave, originally flanked by benches, once housed a canvas by Fra’ Felice da Sambuca on the main altar depicting the presentation of the insignia of the brotherhood to the Virgin by the confreres. In a lateral niche on the left, there was a wooden statue created in 1872 by the Trapanese artisan school, representing the Madonna Addolorata, which was venerated here with devotion.
A small stone building
The church is a small building made of dry stone masonry, constructed by Sicilian craftsmen using rough gypsum stone or exposed blocks of sandstone tuff. It features a simple façade, framed by sandstone pilasters and topped with a cornice, and a bell tower with a sail structure on the right.
Like a chapel
The building reflects the characteristics typical of a chapel. The rectangular plan features a single nave with a small apse, without side altars, and is covered by a barrel vault with lunettes. Externally, it has a double-pitched roof covered with Sicilian tiles. The decorative elements in stucco, with floral themes, are set in geometric fields that divide the vaults. The interior is bordered by a cornice supported by Corinthian capitals, lacking their respective pilasters: following maintenance work, the walls were stripped of decorations (pilasters and columns).
The Addolorata Confraternity
Today, the Oratory is entrusted to the Confraternity of the Addolorata, re-established in 1993, which oversees the religious services of Holy Week. During the Good Friday procession, they participate with the Madonna Addolorata, traveling down Corso Umberto I to the Church of S. Michele, where they meet Jesus Crucified. In the evening, another procession takes place through the usual streets of the town with the dead Jesus, placed in a glass urn, and the Madonna Addolorata following him, accompanying him to his burial at the Church of S. Michele, before being reverently returned by the Confraternity to the Church of Gesù e Maria.
For several years now, the church premises have been used for catechetical activities and worship, including religious services related to the activities of the confraternity.
