The right nave
Starting from the right side, there is a first altar with a painting of the Trinity and the Holy Souls in Purgatory by an anonymous 18th-century author.
Continuing on, there is a chapel built around 1750: an image of Saint Rita, patron saint of impossible causes, is placed at the entrance; it is decorated with stuccoes and the ceiling is dominated in the centre by an image of Christ’s heart; at the sides are the coats of arms of two noble families.
Inside, there are four altars. The first is decorated with a wooden statue (18th century) of Saint Blaise (as can be seen from the inscription above: sanabat oleo aegros).
In the other altar, Saint Liborius, Bishop of Le Mans, invoked against kidney stones with the patron saint of prisoners Saint Leonard (easily recognisable by the typical iconography of open chains), imploring Mary to free the slaves.
The third altar a few years ago was the focus of an important discovery. Under the canvas dedicated to the Patron Saints of Modica (now visible in the left aisle in one of the museum’s arcades), an 18th-century canvas was found depicting St. Nicholas of Bari (unfortunately with his face damaged by a lime drip) appearing in a dream to the Emperor Constantine to obtain the liberation of General Nepoziàno and his officers Urso and Erpiliòne, unjustly accused of organising some riots. The canvas underwent a quick restoration carried out by Dr. Gaetana Ascenzo, who made St. Nicholas’ face visible again and consolidated the entire canvas in several places that were now in tatters. The iconography that distinguishes St. Nicholas is also respected in this canvas: an angel with three golden spheres and another with a flame. Thanks to this finding, the chapel has acquired greater uniformity and it is evident that the same hand probably created the two canvases in this chapel in the second half of the 18th century.
The fourth altar in the chapel is dominated by a marble statue of the Madonna of Trapani, believed to have been made at least in part by Francesco Laurana in the late 15th century. The work was probably inspired by Giovanni Pisano’s statue preserved in the Church of Santa Maria Ericina in Trapani, which according to tradition was transported from Pisa on board a ship.
At the side exit of the church, opposite the door to the Sacristy, a canvas painted by local painter Stefano Ragazzi in 1767 depicting the hermit saint, founder of the Order of Minims, Francis of Paola, has been temporarily placed.
Continuing on the right side after the artistic and original stoup stands the altar of the Sacred Heart, in decorated stuccowork depicting Christ the Redeemer and St Margaret Alacoque, canonised by Benedict XV in 1920.
In the next altar we find the wooden group representing the healing of the paralytic by St. Peter (Acts chapter 3, verses 1 to 10), one of Benedetto Civiletti’s most precious works, created in 1893, and inaugurated in the presence of Bishop Blandini on 28 June of the same year with a series of celebrations that remained famous in Modica. Since then, the sculptural group has been carried in procession for the patron’s feast day every 29 June.
Next to the altar with the wooden sculpture of the Crucifix is the image of Don Pino Puglisi, a martyr of the mafia, killed in 1993 and beatified in 2013. Pope Francis understood with immediacy the spiritual greatness of a priest who lived and fought the mafia as a poor man among the poor, and dedicated his recent visit to Palermo, on the 25th anniversary of his martyrdom, to him.
The right side aisle closes with the admirable Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. A baroque baldachin supported by four gilded columns occupies the entire wall. On the tabernacle is the exposition trunk with two angels in the background lifting a gilded monstrance towards heaven where the adorable Sacrament shines. In the centre is painted the figure of Christ who gave us the Eucharist. High up on the back wall is painted the image of the pelican who nourishes her young with her blood, which is also found in a rich monstrance on display in the museum that can be visited in the left aisle. The rich tabernacle has an embossed silver door with the image of Jesus. The chapel is closed by an artistic polychrome marble balustrade with two genuflected angels in a devout act of adoration.
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