Blessed Bernard Tolomei Interceding for the Cessation of the Plague in Siena, about 1735. Additional Info: During the Black Death of 1348, the Blessed Bernard Tolomei left the safety of his Benedictine monastery in Monte Oliveto and returned to his native Siena to attend to the sick and dying. He succumbed to the plague that same year and soon became the object of religious devotion. An abbot from Bernards monastic order commissioned this painting in 1736, when Bernard was being considered for sainthood. Wearing a white robe and holding a crucifix, Bernard and a fellow monk attend to plague victims in an open-air encampment outside the walls of Siena.