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Chapel of St Francis Borgia

Central altar
The retable bears an 18th-century canvas by Salvador Maella showing the conversion of the Duke of Gandía, shown dressed as a knight of the order of St James, raising the cloth which covers the face of the dead Empress Isabel. Seeing her body inspired him to become a Christian so that he could serve a master who would not die.

The chapel of St Francis Borgia is one of the most important one from an artistic point of view. Like all the side chapels, it was built in the 18th-century neoclassical style. It’s square in shape, with a circular dome.

On either side, on the retables embedded into the wall, are two large, richly coloured and powerfully religious canvases by Goya.

On the left
St. Francis Borgia saying goodbye to his family,
oil by Francisco Goya.

On the right
St. Francis Borgia assisting a dying man,
oil by Francisco Goya (1746-1828)

Pediment of the retable
On the pediment of the retable are two allegorical figures representing prayer and penitence, and at the base of the dome there are four reliefs showing little angels holding the attributes of St Francis Borgia’s virtues: temperance, fortitude, decorum and wise justice.

Francis Borgia (Gandia 1510 - Rome 1572), Duke of Gandia and Marquis of Llombay. He belonged to the family of Valencian Popes: Callixtus III (Alfonso Borgia) and Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia), Charles V asked him to take the body of the Empress Elizabeth to Granada. When he saw the cadaver, he decided to “never again serve a mortal master”. Upon his wife's death (1546), managed to join the newly formed Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignacio de Loyola. Ordained priest in Rome (1551) and as Third General of the Jesuits (1565), encouraged missions and educational institutions, such as the Gregorian University of Rome. His feast day is on 3 October.

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