Corpus Domini, Bologna, Clarissan monastery in Bologna, Italy

Corpus Domini is a Clarissan convent and church in Bologna, entered from Via Tagliapietre. The single-nave church has a Latin-cross plan, side chapels and a Renaissance facade with a terracotta portal attributed to Sperandio da Mantova, reassembled by Giovanni Vicini over sixteen months. The interior was rebuilt after 1943 bombing destroyed the vaults and Baroque frescoes.

Caterina de' Vigri founded the Clarissan monastery on 22 July 1456, the first of the order in Bologna, on the site of the earlier San Cristoforo delle Muratelle, given by Cardinal Bessarion. The sanctuary was built between 1477 and 1480 by Nicolò Marchionne da Firenze and Francesco Fucci da Dozza. Giovanni Giacomo Monti enlarged the church in 1687; French troops suppressed the order, and the nuns returned in 1816.

The monastery preserves the memory of Saint Catherine of Bologna, a 15th-century religious figure whose life shaped local devotion. Her presence in the space continues to draw pilgrims and visitors seeking spiritual connection.

The monastery suspended its monastic function in 2023, when the last cloistered nuns were transferred elsewhere, so check current access before planning a visit. The complex stands on Via Tagliapietre, beside the Santuario della Santa, whose museum is reached from the second chapel on the left of the nave.

The church holds the preserved remains of Saint Catherine of Bologna displayed in a seated position, a funerary practice with almost no parallel in Christian tradition. She died in 1463, and after her body was exhumed, it was placed upright, a decision that has drawn pilgrims and curious visitors ever since.