

In the chapel that separates the Sweetness of the Marital Yoke from Modesty is the statue representing Saint Rosalia. Raimondo di Sangro wanted to commemorate the most famous saint in the family. Rosalia was in fact the daughter of Sinibaldo of the counts dei Marsi and di Sangro. The twelfth-century Rosalia became patron saint of Palermo, having saved the city from the plague which descended in 1624. It was in these circumstances that her bones, found on Monte Pellegrino, were transported to Palermo.
A successful work by Queirolo, the statue exhibits a composed and refined taste, a far cry from baroque exaggeration. It is no coincidence that with its chaste tone and its formal balance it attracted the attention of a rather special observer, Antonio Canova. Rosalia is in prayer, kneeling on a cushion, her head circled by her characteristic crown of roses. Two angels and an ancient red marble memorial plaque complete the funeral monument.

Saint Rosalia
