Cagliari - The Sanctuary of St. Ignazio of Laconi

Inside the church located in Cagliari, Stampace area, 

Viale Sant’ignazio da Laconi 94, the Sanctuary can be accessed at the end of the left nave, some steps down. 

The first stone of the Sanctuary was laid on December 1948. The friary was completed and inaugurated on May 1949.

The Sanctuary is dedicated to Fra’ Ignazio of Laconi, a Franciscna friar who lived and died in Sardinia in the XVIII century. The sanctuary was designed by architect Antonio Barluzzi and its style is inspired by Romanic and Byzantine art. It is a central plan located where the cloister of the ancient friary used to be. When you enter, a nice wrought iron gate made by the master Luigi Geraro of Pirri encloses the small Sanctuary. The glass urn with the saint’s body is located in the centre of the place. The urn is held by two groups of white marble angels. Lower down the front of the urn, there is a Pakistani onyx altar. The tabernacle itself made of white marble features a bas-relief with Eucharist symbols: the lamb, the pelican and two deer. Six columns in black marble sustain small simple arches which in turn enclose a circular ambulatory leading to the inner sanctum sanctorum. Above, in the middle of the ceiling, a small dome elongates the sanctuary. All of the sanctuary’s walls are covered with mosaics. In the basin they show the Virgin with two Sardinian people in traditional dress and some ornamental Biblical friezes underneath. In the dome, St. Ignazio glorified with three symbolic figures representing three beatitudes. In the two large side windows there are some episodes of St. Ignazio’s life. In the pendentives: we see the portraits of St. Francesco and three doctors of Catholic Church (St. Lorenzo of Brindisi, St. Bonaventura and St. Antonio of Padova). On the back wall, behind the urn, there are three small polychrome windows with three angel musicians.