San Cataldo, Erice

Church of San Cataldo
Chiesa di San Cataldo
The façade of the church
38°2′17.099″N12°35′21.001″E / 38.03808306°N 12.58916694°E / 38.03808306; 12.58916694
Location	Erice, Sicily, Italy
Country	Italy
Denomination	Roman Catholic
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	Saint Catald
Architecture
Architectural type	Church

San Cataldo (Italian: Chiesa di San Cataldo) is a Roman Catholic church in the historic centre of Erice, Sicily. It is one of four parish churches in the town, alongside the Chiesa Matrice (Mother Church), the Church of San Giuliano, and the Church of Sant'Antonio Abate. ^[1]

History

The church is dedicated to Saint Catald, a 7th-century Irish bishop who died on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was buried in Taranto. ^[1] Of Norman foundation and documented as early as 1339, the original church was built in the Gothic style with three naves. From 1740 to 1786 it was rebuilt in its present form, characterised by a single spacious nave, later decorated with stucco ornamentation between 1850 and 1852. ^[2]

Restoration work on the outer walls revealed embedded apsidal structures that suggest the original church had a different orientation, aligned on a north–south axis. In this interpretation, the current secondary doorway would have been the main entrance, which may explain why the episcopal insignia of the church’s patron are carved above that portal rather than on the present façade. ^[2]

References

1. Erice la Montagna del Signore, “La Chiesa di San Cataldo”, accessed 21 August 2025, San Cataldo – Church of San Cataldo
2. Tusa, Matteo (2017). Erice: Planning for Life. Erice: Self-published. ISBN   9788892667327.

External links

• La Chiesa di San Cataldo on Erice la Montagna del Signore (in Italian)