Saint Dominic in Soriano

Saint Dominic in Soriano (Italian: San Domenico in Soriano; Spanish: Santo Domingo en Soriano) refers to a portrait of Saint Dominic (1170-1221) which was from 1530 an important artefact in the Dominican friary at Soriano Calabro in southern Italy. It was believed to be of miraculous origin, and to be capable of working miracles. It was the subject of a Roman Catholic feast day celebrated on 15 September from 1644 to 1912. Its miraculous origin was the subject of several 17th-century paintings. Several ecclesiastical buildings have been named after it. It may no longer exist.

There seems to be no record that Dominic himself ventured further south in Italy than Rome. In 1510, members of the Dominican Order founded a friary at Soriano Calabro, Calabria, in the arch of the foot of the boot of Italy. A town grew up around it. In 1530, the friars began to display for public veneration a portrait of the founder of their Order. There are at least three different stories of its origin:

The portrait soon acquired a reputation for having marvellous properties. No fewer than 1,600 miracles were reliably attributed to it within a space of 78 years. In 1644, Pope Innocent XII ordained a feast day on 15 September to commemorate its origin and properties. The feast was suppressed in 1913, when Pope Pius X moved what had until then been the movable feast of Our Lady of Sorrows to the fixed date of 15 September.

The more recent history of the portrait is unknown. Soriano Friary was badly damaged by an earthquake in 1659 (). It was rebuilt; but was destroyed by another earthquake in 1783 (it was 3 km from the epicentre of a 6.6 magnitude shock). The friary was rebuilt for a second time, but never regained its earlier reputation. The portrait may have failed to survive one of those events.

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Wikipedia