Work site at St. Catherine's Cathedral opens in Tolentino. Damage from the 2016 earthquake will be repaired

Work site at the cathedral of San Catervo in Tolentino (Macerata) has begun. The interventions will consist of repairing structural damage produced by the 2016 Central Italy earthquake and securing the decorative apparatus. Designed by architect Alessandro Nardi in collaboration engineer Henry Gullini, with the coordination of the Earthquake Office of the Diocese of Macerata, they will be carried out by the firm Fratelli Navarra srl. The intervention is financed through the Ordinance of the Extraordinary Commissioner for Post Earthquake Reconstruction of Central Italy 2016, No. 105 of Aug. 22, 2020. The work is scheduled to be completed in September 2026.

The current cathedral of St. Catherine is the third building erected on the same site over the centuries. The first shrine dedicated to the fourth-century martyr saint, the first evangelizer of these lands, was commissioned by his wife, Septimius Severina, to collect his mortal remains, which still rest in the monumental sarcophagus together with those of his son Bassus. Here in the 9th century the monks of St. Benedict founded an abbey, inside which the pre-existing building was incorporated. After 1256 the religious rebuilt the church, in Gothic style. In 1490 this passed in commendation to the local nobleman Giovanni Battista Rutiloni, who in 1507 gave it as a gift to Julius II; the pope then had the Lateran Canons settled there, who retained ownership until the Napoleonic suppressions. At the behest of St. Vincent Mary Strambi, bishop of Macerata and Tolentino, the temple was rebuilt in its present form beginning in 1822, to be canonically erected as a co-cathedral. Following the decree of the Dicastery for Bishops of June 5, 2022, which erected the collegiate church of St. John of Macerata as the sole cathedral of the united diocese, St. Catherine’s concurrently assumed the designation of cathedral, that is, the city’s most important church, in which its historical and spiritual memories are witnessed.

“The beginning of the restoration work on the cathedral of San Catervo in Tolentino,” says Bishop Nazzareno Marconi, “effectively opens the season of great reconstruction by our diocese. Already various churches, more or less significant, have been restored or are in the process of restoration, but with St. Catherine’s Cathedral a very significant leap forward is made. The pastoral and spiritual importance of this church is known to all, also because St. Catherine’s Cathedral preserves in the Chapel of St. Catherine the memory of him who was the first evangelizer of our lands. Who from Rome, along the Via Flaminia, brought the Christian faith among us. The Sarcophagus of St. Catherine is a unique work from the late fourth century. It is first and foremost a very famous testimony to early Christian art. Its images are found in so many books and also in catechisms or liturgical texts used by the church all over the world. And then its inscriptions provide us with a unique document of the history of evangelization of the Macerata land and how ancient and well-rooted the faith was here. To offer this through a restoration that will be done in the best way to our land really means to start again from the basics and also to give back at the beginning of the Jubilee of Hope a great sign of hope for our people.”

Commissioner for Earthquake Repair and Reconstruction 2016 Guido Castelli adds, “Days like this fuel in us the strength to continue in a complex but absolutely necessary reconstruction, because it is about protecting the origins of our land and our civilization. The central Apennines has been the cradle of faith, culture, art and the spirit of innovation, and today we are here to witness the resolve of a territory that has not given up even in the face of the earthquake. I thank the President of the Region, Francesco Acquaroli, with whom we shared important choices in the Coordination Cabin, Bishop Nazzareno Marconi, who interprets both the material and social reconstruction of his diocese with great sensitivity and responsibility, and Mayor Mauro Sclavi. We take note of the steps forward in a reconstruction that has finally been unblocked and we work with our heads down because we cannot lose a single minute.”

“It is with great pleasure that we participate on behalf of the entire Tolentino community in the handover ceremony of the works of our co-cathedral dedicated to the Patron Saint Catervo,” concludes Tolentino Mayor Mauro Sclavi. “Our City is affected by so many construction sites that ensure the renovation and restoration of public and private buildings as well as schools and churches. Finally after the Basilica of St. Nicholas we are starting work on St. Catherine’s another place of worship very dear to all Tolentino residents. We are grateful to Commissioner Guido Castelli and Bishop SE Nazzareno Marconi and the entire Diocese for working symbiotically, together with the technicians and the USR offices, to achieve this important result. Indeed, we believe that it is fundamental, in addition to rebuilding homes, schools, public buildings and the hospital, to also think about the spirituality inherent in our citizens and the maintenance of churches where they can grow, day after day, their faith.”

Work site at St. Catherine's Cathedral opens in Tolentino. Damage from the 2016 earthquake will be repaired

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