December 2010 Print

The Pilgrim's Guide to Rome's Principal Churches

Angelus Press is pleased to provide a sample chapter of our newest title. Every chapter in this book appears as this one, with a map, pictures, and detailed historical and artistic descriptions of the church. Whether or not you actually plan on visiting the Eternal City, this book helps one understand the importance of Rome to the Catholic Faith, the Romanitas of which Archbishop Lefebvre insisted on.

Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Piazza della Minerva

History The first church on this site was built by Pope Zacharias (741-752), on or near the ruins of a temple to Minerva that Pompey the Great (106-48 B.C.) had built (ca. 50 B.C.) in thanksgiving for his Asian victories. The church, thus, became known as “St. Mary on Minerva.” In 1256 Alexander IV (1254-1261) gave the monastery next to the church to the Dominican Friars, and in 1275 they received the church. In 1280 the Dominicans, who still serve the church, began the present Gothic structure; the architects were probably Friars Sisto and Ristoro, who had earlier worked on the Dominican church of S. Maria Novella in Florence. The church was completed about 1370 and was dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation. It was the first Gothic church built in Rome. In the sixteenth century its Gothic interior was transformed into a Renaissance edifice with later baroque additions, but in the nineteenth century Fra Girolamo Bianchedi restored (1848-1855) it to its former Gothic state.

Exterior The present facade is from the seventeenth century, the gift of Cardinal Antonio Barberini (1569-1646). The three doorways are from the earlier facade (1453); the central doorway bears the inscription that it was restored in 1610 by Andrea Capranica Domenici. The side doorways have lunettes, whose frescoes are now almost totally obliterated. Above the main doorway’s triangular pediment is the coat of arms of the Dominican Pope St. Pius V (1566-1572). The upper portion of the facade has three circular windows placed directly above the doorways. The several plaques on the facade to the right indicate the level the water reached during various floods in Rome from 1422 to 1870.

Interior (1) The church is in the form of a Latin cross, with nave and aisles, transept, apse, and lateral altars. The nondescript decorations in the vault date from the nineteenth-century restoration; the medallions in the nave’s upper portion portray Dominican saints. The inscription over the main door records that the restorations of 1848-1855 were done during the pontificate of Pius IX (1846-1878). Left of the main entrance is the Renaissance tomb of the Florentine lawyer Diotisalvi Neroni (ca. 1401-1482).

(2) The altar has Baciccia’s “St. Louis Bertrand in Ecstasy” (1671). St. Louis (1526-1581) was a sixteenth-century Dominican missionary in South America, and was canonized in 1671.

(3) Lazzaro Baldi’s painting (1671) of St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617) is on the altar. He likewise did the paintings on the side walls with scenes from the saint’s life, as well as the attractive “St. Rose in Glory” in the vault. St. Rose was also canonized in 1671.

(4) “Martyrdom of St. Peter of Verona” by Bonaventura Lamberti is the altarpiece (1688). St. Peter of Verona (d. 1252) is more commonly known as St. Peter Martyr. The wall paintings, “Nativity of Christ” (left) and “Resurrection” (right), with prophets and sibyls in the lunettes are by Giovanni Battista Franco. Girolamo Muziano did the vault frescoes.

(5) The chapel is dedicated to the Annunciation, and its patron was the Confraternity of the Annunciation, founded (1460) by the Spanish Cardinal Juan de Torquemada (1388-1468), to provide dowries for poor girls. The altar has Antoniazzo Romano’s charming painting (ca. 1500) of the “Annunciation,” in which the Virgin gives purses (dowries) to three girls. Kneeling with the girls is Cardinal Torquemada. The cardinal is buried left of the altar. To the altar’s right is the tomb of Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani (d. 1621), also a confraternity benefactor. The paintings on the altar’s sides, St. Dominic (left) and St. Hyacinth (right), are attributed to Niccolò Stabbia. The lunettes, with scenes from the life of the Virgin, are by Cesare Nebbia, perhaps his last works. The niche in the left wall has a statue of Urban VII by Ambrogio Buonvicino. Urban, who was pope for only twelve days (September 15-27, 1590), left his patrimony to the confraternity. His remains were brought here from the Vatican in 1606.

(6) Clement VIII (1592-1605) had the chapel decorated for the tombs of his parents. Lazzaro Baldi’s “Institution of the Eucharist” (1594) is on the altar, with Camillo Mariani’s statues of Sts. Peter (left) and Paul (right) on the sides. Clement VIII’s statue, in the niche on the left, is by Ippolito Buzzi; the pope, however, is buried in S. Maria Maggiore. St. Sebastian in the right niche is attributed to Cordier. The tomb of Clement’s mother, Lesa Deti (d. 1557), is on the left, that of his father, Silvestro Aldobrandini (d. 1558), is on the right. These were designed by Giacomo Della Porta and Girolamo Rainaldi; the statues (1605) of the pope’s parents are by Nicolas Cordier. The decorations in the lunettes and vault are by Cherubino Alberti.

(7) The altar has Niccolò Magni’s painting of Sts. Paul and Raymond of Penyafort. St. Raymond (ca. 1180-1275) was the third Master-General of the Dominicans. The chapel has two Renaissance tombs: in the center of the left wall is the tomb of Benedetto Sopranzi (1447-1495), Archbishop of Nicosia, and on the opposite wall that of Diego Diaz de Coca (ca. 1390-1477), Bishop of Calahorra, by Andrea Bregno. Above the bishop’s figure is the fresco “Christ the Judge,” perhaps by Melozzo di Forlì. Outside the chapel, on the left wall, is a fresco of Sts. Lucy and Agatha by Sermoneta.

(8) The chapel has a medieval Gothic entrance and within is a fifteenth-century carved crucifix. On the left wall, the tomb of Cardinal Clemente Micara (1879-1965), who was titular (1946-1965).

(9) Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas. This magnificent chapel, built by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa (1430-1511), is dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation and to St. Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225-1274), a Dominican and one of the Catholic Church’s greatest theologians. The frescoes (1488-1492) are among Filippino Lippi’s best work. The altar has his “Annunciation” in which St. Thomas presents Cardinal Carafa to the Virgin. The wall behind the altar has the “Assumption,” in which the Virgin is encircled by angels, while the apostles (on either side of the altar) gaze upward. The right wall has “St. Thomas’s Teaching Triumphs over Error”; the saint holds a book and points to error that has been defeated. In the lunette above, the saint, praying before a crucifix, hears the Savior say: “Thomas, you have written well of me.” The angels and sibyls in the vault are by Lippi’s pupil, Raffaellino del Garbo. The niche in the left wall has the tomb of Paul IV (1555-1559), designed by Pirro Ligorio; the columns flanking the tomb are verde antico, and the statue of the pontiff, in various marbles, is by Giacomo and Tommaso Cassignola.

(10) The medieval Gothic tomb of the Dominican Guillaume Durand, Bishop of Mende (d. 1296), is by Giovanni di Cosma. The mosaic in the upper portion is of the Virgin and Child, between St. Privatus (left) and St. Dominic (right). St. Privatus, an early bishop of Mende, presents the kneeling Bishop Durand to the Virgin. Below the tomb and right of the small door is the well-executed bust of Onofrio Camaiani (d. 1574) of Arezzo.

(11) Clement X (1670-1676) had this chapel decorated in 1672. The altar has Carlo Maratta’s painting (1675) of “Virgin with Saints”; the saints depicted are the five that Clement X had canonized in 1671, among them the two Dominicans, St. Louis Bertrand and St. Rose of Lima. Above the altar is Baciccia’s “Trinity” (1671-1672). The left wall has the bust of Clement X’s brother, Cardinal Giambattista Altieri (d. 1654), and the right his father, Lorenzo (d. 1638). Both busts (1672) are by Cosimo Fancelli. Outside, on the wall above and between the two chapels, is one of the two organ lofts given the church by Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1576-1633), Cardinal Protector of the Dominican order.

(12) In this chapel, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, the body of St. Catherine of Siena (ca. 1347-1380), Dominican mystic, was venerated from 1430 to 1855, when it was transferred to the main altar. The sarcophagus that contained the body is in the left wall. The altar has “Virgin with Sts. Dominic and Catherine of Siena.” Giovanni De Vecchi’s frescoes on the walls depict scenes from St. Catherine’s life; the panels in the vault represent the mysteries of the rosary and are by Marcello Venusti, except “Crowning with Thorns” (right side), which is by Carlo Saraceni. On the right wall is the splendid tomb of Cardinal Domenico Capranica (1400-1458), sculpted by Bregno.

(13) Statue of St. John the Baptist (1858) by Giuseppe Obici.

(14) Beneath the main altar are the relics of St. Catherine of Siena. The saint’s figure (1430) is by Isaia da Pisa. In 1939 St. Catherine and St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) were proclaimed principal patrons of Italy. In 1970 she was also proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. The paintings on the altar’s sides are the cardinal virtues, by Francesco Podesti.

(15) The tombs of two Medici popes are in the choir area behind the altar. On the left is that of Leo X (1513-1521) and on the right Clement VII (1523-1534). The matching tombs are by Baccio Bandinelli; the statue of Leo (Giovanni de’ Medici) is by Raffaello da Montelupo and that of Clement (Giulio de’ Medici) is by Nanni di Baccio Bigio. The prophets (apostles?) in the side niches and the reliefs above (1536-1541) are by Baccio Bandinelli. In the floor, in front of the choir stalls on the left, is the stone marking the burial place of the great Renaissance humanist Cardinal Pietro Bembo (1470-1547).

(16) Michelangelo’s statue of “Christ the Risen Redeemer.” It was begun in 1519 and sent unfinished from Florence to Rome in 1521; it was completed by one of his students. The bronze drape is of a later period.

(17) To the left is the tomb of one of the great medieval artists, Fra Angelico; a better view is had from #18. Further down the vestibule are three baroque tombs: in the center of the left wall is the tomb of the Dominican Cardinal Michele Bonelli (d. 1598); above the door is the tomb of Cardinal Carlo Bonelli (d. 1676); in the center of the right wall is that of the Dominican Cardinal Domenico Pimentel (d. 1653).

(18) On the right is the tomb of Beato Angelico (1387-1455), known in the Dominican order as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, who died in the adjacent monastery on February 18, 1455. The tombstone is perhaps by Isaia da Pisa. The altar has a fifteenth-century Virgin and Child, once thought to be by Angelico; after restoration (1966) it is said to have been only touched up by him. The paintings on the altar’s sides are of St. Francis of Assisi (left) and St. Frances of Rome (right). Both are attributed to Francesco Parone. The floor has three interesting fourteenth-century tombstones; the two on the left are of the Frangipane family and that on the right of the Capodiferro family, former patrons of this chapel. On the left wall is the tomb of Giovanni Arberini (ca. 1398-1473); the sarcophagus with a vigorous “Hercules Fights the Nemean Lion” is a Roman copy of a fifth-century B.C. Greek work.

(19) Chapel of St. Dominic. This chapel, decorated (1725) by the Dominican Pope Benedict XIII (1724-1730), is rich with black and white (colors of the Dominican order) marble and is dedicated to St. Dominic (1170-1221), founder of the Order of Preachers. The painting on the altar, “Our Lady Displays an Image of St. Dominic,” is by Paolo de Matteis; the painting of St. Dominic, however, is a modern copy of Angelico’s painting of the saint. The vault frescoes are by Cristoforo Roncalli. The statues of four Dominican bishops (St. Albert the Great [ca. 1200-1280], St. Antoninus [1389-1459], Bl. Andrew Franchi [1335-1401], and Bl. Augustine Kazotic [ca. 1260-1323]) are by unidentified sculptors. Benedict XIII’s tomb, designed by Carlo Marchionni, is on the right, as one enters. Marchionni also did the relief, “Benedict Presides at a Roman Council,” on the sarcophagus. The statues of the pope and Purity (right) are by Pietro Bracci, that of Humility (left) is by Bartolomeo Pincellotti. Opposite the tomb is the alabaster group, “Virgin and Child with John the Baptist and John the Evangelist” (1670) by Francesco Grassia. The pedestal has an eighteenth-century sculpture of the “Nativity.” The carved marble balustrade at the chapel’s entrance is also worthy of inspection.

(20) The altarpiece is Ottavio Lioni’s “Virgin Appears to St. Hyacinth.” To the left is the tomb (1506) of the great Renaissance sculptor Andrea Bregno (1418-1503).

(21) The chapel is dedicated to the Dominican Pope St. Pius V (1566-1572). Andrea Proccacini’s “Pius V Raises the Crucifix over the Conquered Turks” is on the altar; the Christian victory (October 7, 1571) at Lepanto took place during Pius V’s pontificate. Baldi’s “Assumption” (left) and “Pius V at Prayer” (right) decorate the walls; beneath these are mementoes of the saint. The vault frescoes are by Michelangelo Cerruti.

(22) The altar has Venusti’s “St. James.” The tomb on the left is of Carlotta and Livia Lante della Rovere (d. 1870), surmounted by a statue of the Savior. A relief of the two sisters with their father Giulio is at the bottom. The tomb on the right is of Maria Colonna (d. 1840) and Margaret of Savoy, with the Angel of the Resurrection above. Tombs and statues (1865) are by Pietro Tenerani.

(23) Bernardo Castello’s painting (1605) of “St. Vincent Ferrer Preaching at the Council of Constance” is on the altar. St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419) was known for his fiery sermons. The tomb on the left is of Cardinal Vincenzo Giustiniani (d. 1582), Master General of the Dominicans, and on the right the tomb of Giuseppe Giustiniani (d. 1600).

(24) The small portrait of the Savior, done in the style of Perugino, was given to the church by Clement VIII. The statue (1603) of St. John the Baptist (left) is by Buonvicino, and that of St. Sebastian (right) is attributed to Michele Marini. The lunette above the altar with “Adoration of Shepherds” is by an anonymous artist of the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century The walls have two beautiful Renaissance tombs: on the left that of the Venetian man of letters Benedetto Maffei (d. 1494) and on the right that of Bishop Agostino Maffei (d. 1490).

(25) The altar painting of St. John the Baptist and the lunettes and dome frescoes are by Francesco Nappi. The several monuments on the walls are to members of the Naro family; on the left is the tomb of Cardinal Gregorio Naro (d. 1634).

(26) The modern painting (1922) of “Sacred Heart with Sts. Catherine of Siena and Margaret Mary Alacoque” is by Corrado Mezzana. The frescoes of “Resurrection” in the lunette and of “Triumph of the Lamb” in the vault are also modern.

(27) Handsome Renaissance tomb of the young Florentine merchant Francesco Tornabuoni (d. 1480), by Mino da Fiesole. Above is the tomb of Cardinal Giacomo Tebaldi (d. 1465), attributed to Bregno and Giovanni Dalmata.

(28) Sacristy and St. Catherine of Siena’s room. The hall leading to the sacristy has on the left wall two reclining statues that were once part of the monument to Paul IV. Within the sacristy, the painting (1640) over the altar is “Crucifixion with Saints” by Andrea Sacchi. The vault’s center has Giuseppe Puglia’s “St. Dominic in Glory.” Over the door is a fresco by Giovanni Battista Speranza recalling the celebration of two papal conclaves in this church: the first was in 1431 at which Eugenius IV (1431-1447) was elected, and the second in 1447 for the election of Nicholas V (1447-1455). Portraits of Dominican saints are on the walls; the walnut wardrobes are from the seventeenth century. The coat of arms with the bees is that of Cardinal Antonio Barberini (1569-1646), who had been a benefactor to the church.

Entrance to St. Catherine’s room is to the altar’s right. In 1630 Cardinal Barberini had the wall frescoes from the room where the saint died (April 29, 1380) on Via S. Chiara No. 14 moved here. The nine frescoes (1482) are by Antoniazzo Romano and pupils; a “Crucifixion with Saints” is the altarpiece. The oval painting of “St. Catherine of Siena” is a copy of a painting attributed to Bronzino.