Santa Maria in Campitelli

Santa Maria in Campitelli.

interior

Santa Maria in Campitelli or Santa Maria in Portico is a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary on the Piazza di Campitelli in Rione Sant'Angelo, Rome, Italy.

History

Tradition holds that a primitive oratory or church was founded at the site during the years 523-526, under the papacy of John I. This structure was located near the Porticus Octaviae (giving the church and icon its name of "Madonna of the Portico"). The structure putatively was meant to house a venerated 25 cm-high icon of the Virgin Mary and Saints Peter and Paul. Tradition claimed the icon appeared miraculously in 524 at the table of Galla, a Roman woman who was helping the poor, and it was said to be carried in processions since 590. The initial church structure was the no longer extant Oratory of Santa Gala, located across the piazza from the present church. More recent analysis of the style and dendrochronology of the icon date it to the 11th century.

Circa 1656, the city of Rome was ravaged by plague, and it was felt that the prayers to this icon, which had been carried in procession through the streets, had played a role in stopping the epidemic. This putative miraculous intervention prompted Pope Alexander VII to erect a grander church, instead of the ancient oratory, to house the icon. He commissioned the high Baroque design from Carlo Rainaldi, and construction took place between 1659 and 1667. The church was kept under the maintanence by the order of Clerics Regular of the Mother of God, that had been founded in Lucca.

Rainaldi's facade has a complex stacking of two levels of travertine Corinthian columns, detached from the facade, and emphasizing a strong vertical lines. The original design included statues which were however never executed.

Santa Maria in Portico is a diaconate; it has no Cardinal-Deacon since the death of the former holder Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo.

Interior

The interior shrine of Our Lady was created to contain the icon at the same date (to a design by the Maltese artist Melchiorre Caffà, or by Giovanni Antonio de Rossi), with a "gloria" (an architectural use of light for dramatic effect as used in Bernini's statue of St. Peter in the Basilica of St Peter of 1666). There is a staircase behind the 'gloria' allowing a better view of the icon, open by request only.

The first chapel on the right has an altarpiece depicting St Michael Archangel by Sebastiano Conca. The second chapel, designed by Rainaldi, has an altarpiece depicting Saints Anne, Joseph, and Mary by Luca Giordano. The angels are by Michel Maille, Francesco Cavallini, and Francesco Baratta. The third chapel on the right displays an ancient roman alabaster column, previously part of the old oratory.

In the right crossing is the funerary monument of Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca (died 1863), sculpted by Ferdinando Pettrich. The main altar (of 1667), designed by Rainaldi, was completed by Antonio De Rossi, Ferrata and Giovanni Paolo Schor. The main altar enshrines the small icon of the Virgin mentioned above.

In the third chapel to the left is an altarpiece depicting the Conversion of St Paul by Ludovico Gimignani. The ceiling was frescoed by Ricciolini. This chapel was commissioned by a member of the Capizucchi family, and designed by Mattia de Rossi.

The second chapel on the left was commissioned by Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni, and designed by Giovanni Battista Contini. The angels in the cardinal's funerary monument here were sculpted by Giuseppe Mazzuoli. The main altarpiece was painted by Il Baciccia, while the ceiling frescoes were painted by Giacinto Calandrucci.

In the first chapel on the left, was refurbished by commission of Prince Angelo Altieri, and designed by Sebastiano Cipriani. The bas-relief altarpiece depicts a Holy Family and Beata Ludovica Albertoni by Lorenzo Ottoni.

In front of the church is a fountain by Giacomo della Porta.

Since the time of the James Francis Edward Stuart, the church has been a center of devotion praying for the conversion of England back to Catholicism.

List of Cardinal-Deacons

• Ippolito de' Rossi (1586–1587)
• Vincenzo Costaguti (1643–1652)
• Benedetto Pamphilj (1681–1685)
• Melchior de Polignac (1724)
• Giacomo Lanfredini (1734–1741)
• Henry Stuart (1747–1759)
• Flavio Chigi (1759–1771)
• Filippo Carandini (1787–1794)
• Charles Erskine (1803–1811)
• Stanislao Sanseverino (1816–1825)
• Belisario Cristaldi (1828–1831)
• Adriano Fieschi (1838–1843)
• Lodovico Altieri (1845–1860)
• Francesco Pentini (1863–1869)
• Bartolomeo Pacca, Jr. (1875–1880)
• Francesco Ricci Paracciani (1882–1891)
• Francesco Segna (1894–1911)
• Giovanni Lugari (1911–1914)
• Francis Aidan Gasquet, OSB (1915–1924; Cardinal priest: 1924–1929)
• Massimo Massimi (1935–1946; Cardinal priest: 1946–1954)
• Carlo Chiarlo (Cardinal priest: 1958–1964)
• Charles Journet (1965–1973; Cardinal priest: 1973–1975)
• Corrado Bafile (1976–1987; Cardinal priest: 1987–2005)
• Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo (2006–2017)
• Vacant