Sanctuary of Madonna di Giosafat

The church of Santa Maria di Giosafat dates back to the fourteenth century. The friars arrived in San Marco La Catola in 1585, called by the Marquis Giovanni Battista Gaetano Pignatelli who strongly wanted the church dedicated to Santa Maria di Giosafat to be "officiated and maintained with decorum". The Capuchin Friars Minor built the convent that over time "absorbed" the pre-existing church of the Madonna di Giosafat, of which the wooden sculpture is preserved which, according to tradition, was brought to San Marco La Catola by the Christians freed by Frederick II of Swabia. in Jerusalem. In the hypogeum of the church is buried Father Giovanni da San Severo who died on April 5, 1631 in the concept of holiness.

The Church was consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary on 12 July 1713 by Cardinal Vincenzo Maria Orsini (born Pietro Francesco, Gravina di Puglia, 2 February 1649 - Rome, 21 February 1730), pope in 1724 with the name of Benedict XIII. A plaque commemorates the event. The Convent also hosted a very young Padre Pio, at that time still a student of theology, from 1905 to 1906 and in the period from April to May 1918. In 1893 the Madonna of Giosafat would have appeared, not here but even in the United States, to some miners who emigrated from the nearby town of Celenza Valfortore intent on working in the bowels of the earth. The Madonna, appearing to them, would have warned them of the imminent collapse and when the last miner saved himself, reaching the surface, the tunnel disastrously collapsed. The Convent of the Capuchins, dating back to 1585, preserves the chapel dedicated to the cult of the Madonna di Giosafat.

Source: Provincia.foggia.it