Address: 06034 Pale, Foligno
Contact: 370 365 4916
The sanctuary of Santa Maria Giacobbe (St. Mary Jacobi) is a small church with an adjoining hermitage built in the second half of the 13th century in a cave halfway up the mountainside of Pale, where tradition has it that the saint stopped in penance.
The church is entirely frescoed, while both the figure of the tunicated Christ – here depicted with his feet immersed in two differently shaped chalices – and the scene of the Nativity in a rugged landscape reminiscent of the place are rather unusual. It is characterised by the presence of a kneeling saint dressed in green with a white apron (St. Mary Jacob) holding the Child Jesus above a chalice-shaped basin.
A partition wall, built at the beginning of the 16th century, separates the church space from the apsidal part, carved into the rock face and decorated with a frescoed image of St. Mary Jacob, depicted with a jar of aromas in her hand, hence the name “mirri/ora”. The frescos on the apsidal wall of the sanctuary are very deteriorated due to the continuous removal of plaster fragments used to prepare potions for healing purposes.
A door on the right side of the apse gives access to a small courtyard with a cistern for collecting rainwater used by hermits for domestic purposes and by devotees for medicinal purposes. In the room adjoining the church are numerous ex-votos, mostly painted tablets, testifying to the graces received by the faithful.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.umbriatourism.it/chiesa-di-santa-maria-giacobbe
