santuario, Ecce Homo

On the slopes of Monte Giove, in the comune of Mesoraca, stands a Franciscan convent. Juridically dedicated to the Madonna delle Grazie, it is better known as the Santuario del Santissimo Ecce Homo. The name derives from the wooden statue of Christ crowned with thorns, carved in 1630 by Fra’ Umile da Petralia, which is the focus of local devotion.

The church was built by Franciscans between 1419 and 1429, on the ruins of a much older structure. Some ten centuries earlier, Basilian monks had erected a church here, dedicated to Santa Maria della Misericordia. The interior holds a fine white Carrara marble Madonna delle Grazie, the work of Antonello Gagini (1504), and several 17th-century canvases by Cristoforo Santanna. The cell of the 16th-century novice, Sant’Umile da Bisignano, is preserved as a chapel. In 2010, a two-and-a-half-metre bronze statue of San Francesco d’Assisi, by Carlo Cistaro, was placed in the wooded grounds. Principal feast days fall in March, July and August.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.