Cagliari, Oratory of the Souls of Purgatory

Located between the parish church of San Giacomo and the oratory of the Crucifix, it stands on the longest side of Piazza San Giacomo in the Villanova district.
The oratory was built between 1699 and 1709 on the site of the cemetery loggia adjacent to the parish church by the Brotherhood of the Blessed Souls of Purgatory, founded in 1695 for mutual aid purposes and affiliated with the Archconfraternity of Blessed Mary of Suffrage, based in Rome in the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata. For the new construction, it was necessary to obtain, in 1699, the communion of the wall of the adjoining oratory of the Crucifix, compared to which the oratory of the Souls has a smaller longitudinal extension. The building was not subject to modifications until 1782, when the interior was remodeled under the influence of the Savoy engineer La Marchia active in the parish church of San Giacomo; finally, the construction suffered considerable damage during the bombing of 1943.
The building, with a rectangular plan, is single-aisle, with a barrel roof set on a frame; the roof consists of tiles and tiles. The back wall of the hall allows, through two symmetric openings, access to the sacristy built in 1715. The sober façade is terminated with a flat, biparted end by a strongly framed frame, which delimits a mirror on which an oculus opens in the upper part; the lower mirror, punctuated by an additional frame, houses two arched portals with a broken curvilinear tympanum surmounted by octagonal openings, which on the counterfaçade corresponds to the environment of the choir, illuminated by these. Between the two portals, there is a rather corrosive plaque, which bears the title of the oratory and on which, even in the Sixties, the date of completion of the work and the names of the three obreres were legible. The presence of the double entrance, probably determined by cult requirements, is common to other oratories, including the adjoining one dedicated to the Crucifix.
The oratory houses the Brotherhood whose members, exclusively junk dealers in the 19th century, wore a red dress with a hood and a cord of the same color; they also had a canvas sign on their chest, on which the effigy of the Virgin of Suffrage was painted, whose simulacrum, according to the testimony of the Spano and the Crown, was carried in procession by the congregants on September 8. The Brotherhood had a financial fund to draw on for the celebrations of the Virgin, Souls and Saint Aventine and for the salary of a chaplain. Since the post-war period, the oratory has no longer been in use.

Bibliography
G. Spano, Guide to the city and surroundings of Cagliari, Cagliari, Timon, 1861;
F. Corona, Guide to Cagliari and its surroundings, Bergamo, Italian Institute of Graphic Arts, 1894;
M. Cabras, “The speakers of the 'Holy Christ' and the 'Souls' in the Villanova district of Cagliari”, in Technical Bulletin of Sardinian Engineers and Architects, XVI, 1966, fasc. 3-4; J. Arce, Spain in Sardinia.
Cultural contributions and testimonies of his influence, Cagliari, T.E.A., 1982;
M. Pintus, “Architecture”, in F. Masala - D. Mureddu - M. Pintus, Cagliari Historical Districts. Villanova, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 1991;
M.C. Cannas, “The parish church of San Giacomo di Villanova in Cagliari. Construction events from the 15th to the 17th century”, in XIV Congress on the History of the Crown of Aragon. The Crown of Aragon in Italy (sec. XIII-XIV): 4. Meeting of cultures in the Catalan-Aragonese domain in Italy, V, Communications, Pisa, ETS, 1998.