Saint Francis recieves the Stigmata

Abstract

This chapel sits on the highest point of the hilltop at Orta and illustrates the best-known miracle of Saint Francis's life. His biographers record that Francis had gone to the mountain at La Verna to pray and fast before the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel. At dawn on the feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14, while Francis was meditating on the Crucifixion, he had a vision of a flaming Seraph emitting five rays of light that marked him with the five wounds Christ received on the Cross. There are four metal rods projecting from the painted surface in the vault where the painted angel appears to Francis. They suggest that originally there may have been a three-dimensional angel suspended from the ceiling. This miracle is believed to have occurred in 1224, two years before Francis died. Early guidebooks from Orta emphasize that Francis showed his wounds to the pope, who confirmed that they were miraculous. A number of sculpted animals surround Francis and Brother Elia, including a rabbit, leopard, boar, and large lizard or crocodile. It is unclear why these particular animals were chosen. Chapel Fifteen was one of the first to be built at Orta according to the designs by Father Cleto da Castelletto Ticino. Construction was largely complete by 1594, but the decorations were not finished until 1617. The chapel's patron was Giulio Maffioli, a financier from Orta who lived and worked in Rome. Scholars have long recognized a resemblance between the architecture of this chapel and the Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio in Rome (c. 1502) by Donato Bramante (1444 - 1514). The sculptures were made by Cristoforo Prestinari (1573 - 1623) and his workshop. Originally, the chapel was probably painted by Giovanni Mauro della Rovere (1575 - 1640) and Giovanni Battista della Rovere (1561 - c. 1633), i Fiammenghini, or Giacomo Filippo Monti (dates unknown), who were all active at Orta in the first decades of the Seicento. In 1783, the frescoes were completely repainted by Riccardo Donino (dates unknown). / Orta is the second oldest Sacro Monte. Construction began on the chapels there in 1591, just over a hundred years after the first Sacro Monte site was established at nearby Varallo. A community of Capuchin friars lived on the mountain, oversaw construction, and guided visitors on their pilgrimages once the chapels were finished. One of the brothers, Cleto da Castelletto Ticino (1556 - 1619) designed a series of thirty-six mysteries for the site, although only twenty chapels were ever completed. Before joining the Capuchin Order, Cleto had trained as an architect and engineer. After construction began at Orta, he also worked alongside Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527 - 1596), one of Carlo Borromeo's favorite architects. Amico Canobio (1532 - 1592), a Benedictine Abbot and Commissioner of the secular lands within the diocese of Novara, oversaw Cleto's work and was the first major patron of the chapels at Orta. Carlo Bascapè (1550 - 1615) took charge of directing the progress at Orta as soon he was named Bishop of Novara in 1593, the year after Canobio's death.