San Defendente, Catholic parish church in Cassinelle, Italy.

San Defendente is a parish church in Cassinelle featuring marble altars, carved wooden trim, and a central sanctuary space. The interior is focused on a representation of the Black Madonna of Loreto positioned above the main altar.

The church was formerly a sanctuary of the Madonna di Loreto. It became the parish church in the 1960s after the old church of Santa Margherita was abandoned; the parish is still named after that saint. According to legend, in 1742 Captain Giuseppe Maria Scaiola, a native of Cassinelle, donated the relics of Saint Defendente, which were brought by ship from Rome to Genoa Voltri and then carried overland to the town.

The parish is still named after Santa Margherita, the saint of the old church abandoned in the 1960s. The wooden ciborium above the urn of San Defendente, shaped like a temple with late-16th-century sculptures, is attributed to Ceretti and came from that earlier parish church.

The church stands in Cassinelle, in the province of Alessandria and the diocese of Acqui, within the Ovadese-Genovese pastoral zone. The presbytery is raised by two steps, and the relics of San Defendente lie in a glass urn at the end of the right nave. Look for the stucco decoration on the arch of the right vault near the presbytery.

A local story tells that when carriers attempted to transport the relics of Saint Defendente, the urn became mysteriously heavy whenever they veered from the direct path to Cassinelle. This tale ultimately led to the relics remaining in the town.