St. Onuphrius

Abstract

This statue of St. Onuphrius by an unknown artist is placed beside the statue of St. John in the Chapel of St. John, in the Cathedral of Lecce. The patron of the chapel was the Abbot Onofrio Manesi, a wealthy member of the local nobility and a canon of the cathedral, who provided for the decoration of the chapel in his will in 1676. He included a statue of his name saint, St. Onophrius. St.Onuphrius, an Egyptian hermit who lived in the 4th or 5th centuries, is shown wearing nothing but some foliage draped around his hips. His hair is almost cape-like, and falls to his feet. In his hand he holds a rosary. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.