A few kilometers from Casacalenda, along State Road 87 leading to Campobasso, stands the striking Convent of Sant’Onofrio. Founded in 1407 by the will of Blessed Giovanni da Stroncone, Commissary General of the Friars Minor, the convent still represents a point of reference for Franciscan spirituality and a precious treasure chest of art and history.
Despite centuries of decay and 19th-century suppressions, the convent was restored in the 1990s and is now inhabited by the Friars Minor. Inside the attached church, built in the 18th century, numerous works of art are preserved that testify to the rich spiritual and artistic tradition of the place.
Prominent among them is the majestic Polyptych of the Annunciation, attributed to the school of Flemish painter Dirck, active in Naples since 1574. The work, recently restored, occupies an entire wall and depicts the scene of the Annunciation with the Virgin, Archangel Gabriel, the dove of the Holy Spirit, St. Onofrio and St. Bonaventure. Also of interest is a 1658 Baroque canvas by painter Benedetto Brunetti, depicting the Portiuncula of St. Francis, inspired by Federico Barocci’s engraving of the Pardon of Assisi.
The church also houses two Franciscan emblems dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, an altar dedicated to St. Anthony, decorated with small paintings of the hermit’s life, and a wooden statue of St. Onofrio, patron saint of the village. The latter is depicted with long hair covering his body and accompanied by a doe, a symbol of his ascetic life in the desert. Interestingly, exorcisms were also practiced in the church from the 16th to the 18th century.
The convent houses other wooden works from the 17th and 18th centuries, including a “Madonna and Child,” the Immaculate Conception, and statues of St. Paschal Baylon and St. Pardo. Suggestive is the porticoed cloister, frescoed with ancient wall paintings, which leads to a refectory and twenty-five cells on the upper floor.
Today the convent is also a place of welcome for men eager to experience moments of prayer and sharing with the friars. Three Masses are celebrated on Sundays while St. Francis is solemnly celebrated on October 4.