CLOSED FOR THE EARTHQUAKE of 30 October 2016
Life of the Church of San Catervo can be distinguished into three different periods. The first, started before the XI century, lasted until 1256 when Benedectine monks of San Catervo asked to Pope Alexander IV the authorization to restore the church. The second stage started after 1256. The new church, built on south-east axis, with a nave and two aisles in Romanesque style, ogival with cruciform pilaster pillars and presbytery located in the area of the present portal, ended with the “Panteum cum Tricoro”. Of this construction, the Chapel of San Catervo, at that moment called Chapel of SS Trinità remains still today. In 1820 a complete refurbishing of the old building was decided. At the beginning, Tolentino native painter Giuseppe Lucatelli was charged with this job and after, the task was commissioned to Macerata native architect Earl Filippo Spada. Following neo-classical arrangement, he changed the orientation of the church, setting the entrance where formerly was the presbytery of the monastic church of 1256, whose impressive portal at its left side still remains. The church, with a nave and two aisles, was realised following the Latin cross plan with the transept ending with two radial chapels. Church keeps remarkable pieces among which a “Pietà” stone sculpture of Nordic origins.
The sarcophagus – the Cappella of San Catervo (Chapel of San Catervo) stands at the end of the left aisle and houses its impressive Sarcophagus, one of the most important of all the Marches. Carved in a unique marble block, it is part of the so-called “city gate sarcophagus”. Front is divided into five parts, three of whom are illustrated and two with corrugated fluting decorations; at the rear, there are Catervo and his wife Settimia Severina’s busts. From an inscription on the Sarcophagus, we know that Flavio Giulio Catervio was a nobleman of a senatorial family, that he has been prefect of the praetorium, that he dead at the age of 56 and that this monument was commissioned by his wife for the couple. Tradition wants that Catervo was the first to bring the principles of the Christian faith in Tolentino. Sarcophagus was opened, for the first time, in 1455 and the head of San Catervo was taken to a reliquary for worship. Besides the remains of the Saint, there are also bodies of his wife Settimia Severina and his son Basso. Among the very important sculptures that adorn sides of the sarcophagus, there are busts of the couple and the figure of the Good Shepherd.
Frescoes – The Chapel where is the Sarcophagus of San Catervo is one of the few remains of the old monastic Benedictine complex and still today contains, on vaults and walls, frescoes attributed to Francesco da Tolentino, realized at the of the XV cent. or at the beginning of the following one. This is the only work remained in Tolentino of the painter because all the others, attributed to him or with his signature, are in Campania or in Puglia. In the triangular areas of the vault, the Evangelists and the Sibille are represented; on the wall at the end, there is the Madonna in trono con il bambino tra San Catervo e San Sebastiano. On the left wall, there is the Adorazione dei Magi and on the right one, the Crocifissione.
