The Church of Sant’Agostino

Saint Joseph Calasanctius

Besides the sculptures of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino and Saint Rita, the left transept contains two canvases representing Saint Joseph Calasanctius, or José de Calasanz, as he is called in Spanish, his native tongue. The first was painted by Giovanni Bruni in the middle of the nineteenth century, and the second by the Neapolitan painter Sebastiano Conca in 1763. Both canvases make clear the saint’s special bond with young people; he devoted his life to teaching the poorest boys, trying to save them from a life of criminality and ignorance by instructing them in the faith and the humanities.
  • Bruni G., Saint Joseph Calasanctius resuscitates a child, middle of the XIXth century.
  • Conca S., Saint Joseph Calasanctius shows the Virgin to the children, 1763.