One of the Augustinians’ most beloved figures was Blessed Agostino Novello. Sicilian by birth, he spent the last years of his life in the Sienese hermitage of San Leonardo al Lago, where he died in 1309. His relics, taken into the church of Sant’Agostino in Siena, were venerated by many people who came to ask Blessed Agostino for protection and miracles, some of which are illustrated in the altarpiece painted by the Sienese artist Simone Martini (c. 1328), which is now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena. The subject matter of this work fits into the project promulgated by the Augustinians in the first half of the fourteenth century aimed at making known the hermitic origins of the order and promoting Blessed Agostino Novello as the new patron saint of Siena.
There is also a statue of the saint in the church, made by Giuseppe Silini and set into a niche in the right wall of the nave.