San Luigi Gonzaga (Castiglione delle Stiviere)
The Basilica of San Luigi Gonzaga is a church in Castiglione delle Stiviere in Lombardy , Italy . The church of the diocese of Mantua is dedicated to the Jesuit Aloisius von Gonzaga , who was born and canonized in the city and bears the title of a minor basilica .
history
The church was built in 1608 by order of Count Francesco Gonzaga and completed in the following century according to designs by the Jesuit Luca Bienni di Salò. On the occasion of the canonization of the patron saint of the church, the church received a dome in 1727 according to plans by the architect Paolo Soratini.
In April 1964, Pope Paul VI raised the church in the rank of Basilica minor. Pope John Paul II prayed in 1991 on the occasion of his pastoral visit in the basilica.
architecture
The church was designed in the baroque style based on the church of Il Gesù in Rome. The facade with the marble veranda is designed with Ionic and Tuscan pilasters , enriched by two side medallions made of white marble, by a single lancet window with a central balustrade and finished off by the tympanum . The bell tower on the right side of the choir is also in the Baroque style.
In the spirit of the decrees of the Council of Trento, the interior has a single nave and is spanned by a barrel vault, with six side chapels added. The dome on the cylindrical drum bears a cross on a ball above the lantern .
Furnishing
Behind a marble balustrade stands the late Baroque high altar by Paolo Soratino from 1761, richly decorated with marble, sculptures and architectural elements. The saint's skull is kept in an urn on the high altar. Above it is the altarpiece by the Veronese painter Antonio Balestra from the 18th century depicting the saint praying in front of the Virgin Mary. On the right wall of the choir is the organ built by Gerolamo Bonato in 1794 .
In the middle of the barrel vault, a tempera by the painter Martinenghi from 1891 depicts the saint. A fresco by the Veronese painter Giorgio Anselmi from 1740 also depicts the saint's fame.
Other saints of the Jesuit order, Stanislaus Kostka , Franz Xaver and Ignatius von Loyola , among others , are venerated in the side altars . The corpses of Cynthia, Olimpia and Gridonia Gonzaga, nieces of the patron saint and founders of the Order of the Virgins of Jesus, rest in a side chapel.
Web links
- Sanctuary website (Italian)
Individual evidence
- ^ Basilica di S. Luigi Gonzaga on gcatholic.org
- ^ Di San Luigi Gonzaga (Italian)
- ↑ a b Basilica on santuariosanluigi.it (Italian)
Coordinates: 45 ° 23 '23.8 " N , 10 ° 29' 18.1" E