The church of the Madonna della Catena, or Santa Maria della Catena, is a church in Alcamo with a history of moving. The first church stood about a thousand paces from the town's eastern walls: its building date is unknown, but the records of the notary Pier Antonio Balduccio show it already existed in 1545. On 19 June 1619 it was attached to the church of the Santissima Trinità, which had just become a parish.
What to see
In 1633 the congregation of Santa Maria della Catena, made up of butchers, was founded there. Since the church was far away and the walk difficult, especially in winter, the brothers decided to rebuild it at their own expense closer to the town: in 1661 they bought from the convent of Santa Chiara the so-called case della Macina, with vaulted roofs, opposite the south-eastern walls, and founded the new church there.
The transfer of the old image of the Madonna was blocked by the parish priest of the old church, who in exchange demanded that the new one be entrusted to the parish of Santi Paolo e Bartolomeo rather than that of the Santissima Trinità; once agreement was reached, the image was carried to its new home on 26 June 1661. Inside today is a painting of the Madonna della Catena by the Alcamo painter Giuseppe Renda, of 1799, in a late seventeenth-century frame.
Visiting
In 1922 the priest Ignazio Corrao founded here the women's congregation of Maria Santissima della Catena. Mass and opening times should be checked with the diocese of Trapani.
Our editors' tip
Renda's painting was restored in 2009 with funding from the Rotary Club of Alcamo: it is worth looking at closely together with its seventeenth-century frame.
