An eagle. Detail of St. John the Evangelist's lunette. Left transept

In the small lunette an ecstatic John for the visions received, is about to write the Gospel: the eagle, here in its first appearance in the church, closed in silent meditation, supports the book to the Evangelist. In this passage, the thematic cohesion between the different cycles carried out by Correggio is revealed, the result of the common theological message shared with the monks at the beginning of the entire decoration. The young Evangelist seems to welcome the message, typically Benedictine, witnessed by the prophet Isaìa, protagonist of the fresco of the first span on the right brought back to new life thanks to the recently concluded restoration (Castrichini, autumn 2020) delivers the apocalyptic prophecy ‘Primus et novissimus' In other words, a unitary project that moves up into the dome to enhance the heart of Cassinese reflection.