Church of the Disciplines
The Oratory of the Disciplines was founded by St. Luigi's grandfather - Luigi Gonzaga with the same name - in favour of the Disciplini or Disciplinati movement that had been established in Castiglione since the early 1500s. The name derives from the penance practised by the followers, who submitted themselves. to 'discipline', i.e. they scourged themselves every Friday, in memory of the Passion of Christ. The confraternity consisted of laymen, almost all belonging to the middle class, tied to family tradition, loyal to the constituted authority and favoured by it because of their inclination towards moderation. The confraternity had its own patrimony; in addition to the rents from real estate, the confraternity's dues and the fines paid by the confraternity for infringements of moral and religious obligations imposed by the statute. Patrimony and annuities were reserved for works of charity and social value, as shown by pastoral visits in 1500.
In 1771, it was requested "that the Confraternity reduce its Choir, the Bell Tower, the Chamber for the Chancellery and Archives, with the covered and uncovered part of the grounds, as well as a good part of the Church itself, to a pile of stones; they demanded that all these grounds be occupied for the erection of a Capellone, which they had added to the first design of the said Fabbrica (the Duomo)". But the Congregation immediately recovered from the merciless decision of the "Lords deputed to the Fabbrica della Chiesa Collegiata" asked and obtained to rebuild "the destroyed". It was granted 'the marble plinths of the Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament that was demolished in the Collegiate Church, so that these may be used to adorn the new Church, which the Confraternity itself must erect at its own expense'.
An inscription on the portal of the Renaissance façade commemorates the sermon on the Eucharist that St. Louis, at his mother's insistence, preached in this church from the altar of St. Anne on 3 March 1590, during his last stay in Castiglione. The biographers Valtrino and Cepari speak of it, stating that the preaching took place on the Saturday before the last Sunday of carnival. 'Great was the turnout of faithful and such was the effect of the Saint's words that priests and friars heard confessions all night, and the following morning as many as 700 people approached the Eucharist'. The 2004 earthquake created quite a bit of damage to this church. Interventions were timely, with the help of qualified technicians. Two years of work with the involvement of restorers of plaster, masonry, paintings, electrical system temicians, floor polishers and mami cleaners, painters and lighting and sound temicians returned the church of Santa Maria dei Disciplini, "a true architectural jewel", to Castiglione. December 2006 saw the inauguration of the renovated church of Santa Maria dei Disciplini della Pace. The valuable work carried out and the commitment to historical research also resulted in the above-mentioned information. All the cultural contributions have been diligently collected in the volume: Luigi Gonzaga and the Church of the Discipline in Castiglione delle Stiviere.