San Saba (Rome)
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Patronage : | St. Sabas , St. Ansanus |
| Consecration day : | around 650 |
| Rank: | Basilica minor |
| Medal: | Jesuit |
| Cardinal priest : |
Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez Pro hac vice |
| Address: | Piazza Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 20 00153 Roma |
San Saba ( Latin Sancti Sabae ), also Santi Saba ed Ansano , is a church in Rome . It originated in the 7th century. It owes its present appearance to the new building in the 12th century and renovations in the 15th century. It is a parish church , since 1959 also titled deaconry of the Roman Catholic Church and has the rank of a minor basilica .
location
The church is located in the XXI. Roman Rione San Saba on the Little Aventine . Its south-eastern back borders on the Piazza Gian Lorenzo Bernini .
History and building history
The Basilica of San Saba rests on walls made of Opus reticulatum , which probably belonged to the barracks of the 4th cohort of the vigiles (fire brigade). In this complex, an ancient house with an apsid hall ( aula absidiata ) of about 13 × 10 m was built in the late 4th or early 5th century . According to legendary tradition, the mother of the Church Father and Pope Gregory the Great , Saint Silvia , is said to have set up an oratory in this house ; In fact, the remains of a small apsidal hall were uncovered during the excavations after 1909. Around 650 Greek monks came to Rome from the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem ; they had to flee from the Muslims from their monastery founded by Abbot Sabas in 491. On the Aventine they were assigned the apsidic hall described, which they set up as the oratory of their new Saba monastery and named it Nea Laura (“Cella nova”) in memory of their old monastery . Access was via a staircase in the vestibule of today's church. The building was dedicated to St. Sabas (Italian: San Saba). It served as a base for the Eastern Church in Rome until the Great Schism . From 1054 the church and monastery passed to the Benedictines and in 1145 to the Cluniacians under Pope Lucius II . They built today's three-aisled basilica. In the middle of the 15th century, Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, as abbot in Commendam, made fundamental changes to the exterior of the monastery; especially the striking facade dates from this time. He also consecrated the church to the martyr Ansanus, the patron saint of his hometown Siena . Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585) gave the monastery and church to the newly founded Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum . With the end of the monastery, the San Saba complex was almost completely abandoned and fell into disrepair. It was not until 1909 to 1911 that the church was restored under the direction of the architect Cannizzaro. Excavations also took place. Further restorations followed in 1932, 1943 and 1956. When San Saba was established as a parish church in 1932, it was taken over by the Jesuits .
Exterior
The three-aisled basilica (without transept) has three south-east facing windowless apses as well as a ring crypt and a confessio . What is striking is the wide, palatial panel facade facing northwest, which does not reveal the basic structure of the church behind it. It originated in the middle of the 15th century. On the lower storey, sturdy pillars support an architrave , above is a wall surface that is only pierced by small windows. A loggia forms the upper part of the facade . Small columns with capitals , the acanthus indicate -leaves carrying arcades . The low campanile and the gable of the central nave are almost completely covered by the facade. In the basement, numerous spolia are walled up, as well as an ancient sarcophagus . The inscription of a Magister Iacobus from 1205 has been preserved on the lintel of the church portal ; he was the father of Cosmas I from the important clan of marble artists working in Rome.
Interior
Inside, seven pairs of pillars with arcades support the top arcade with the arched windows above the intercolumns . The capitals and bases of the columns are made of ancient spoils. The open roof structure and the flooring made by Kosmaten date back to the time it was built. The mosaic furnishings from the 12th century have not been preserved. The function of the further aisle next to the left nave, which was added in the 13th century (with remains of paintings from that time) has not yet been clarified.
Furnishing
Parts of the floor in the church have been preserved in cosmatic work , as is the bishop's chair and two choir screens in this technique; they are walled up in the right aisle. The choir screens were created by the Vassalletti , masters of the cloisters of the Lateran Basilica and the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura . The church contains larger remains of wall paintings from the 8th to 13th centuries. In place of the old marble furnishings, the apse was painted with frescoes in the 13th and 14th centuries , on which not only Christ but also Saba and Andreas are represented. Baroque ingredients were removed during the restorations at the beginning of the 20th century.
Oratory of St. Silvia
From 1909 to 1911 the oratory of St. Silvia was exposed in the sacristy ; the small room contains an apse . It comes from the late 4th or early 5th century and has frescoes from the 7th to 10th centuries. Valuable frescoes from the oratory are exhibited in the adjacent corridor of the municipal office: heads of Sebastian, Laurentius, Stephanus, Peter von Alexandrien etc. a. (after 660); in addition, a christological cycle from the early 8th century, including the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, Jesus walking over the waves, healing of the gouty. One of the exhibited Roman sarcophagi with a continuous curry pattern has a high quality and well-preserved depiction of a wedding scene (4th century AD) on the front.
Cardinal deacons
- Augustin Bea (1959–1968)
- Jean Daniélou (1969–1974)
- Joseph Schröffer (1976-1983)
- Jean Jérôme Hamer (1985-1996)
- Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez (since 1998)
opening hours
The church is open on weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., on Sundays and public holidays from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
literature
- Walther Buchowiecki : Handbook of the Churches of Rome , Hollinek, Vienna 1974, Bd. 3, 748ff.
- Anton Henze u. a .: Art guide Rome . Reclam, Stuttgart 1994, 260f.
- Stefan Grundmann (Ed.): Architectural Guide Rome. Menges, Stuttgart / London 1997, ISBN 3-930698-59-5 .
- Marco Bussagli (Ed.): Rome - Art & Architecture . Könemann, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-8290-2258-1 .
- Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum . Herder, Freiburg 2016, 326ff. ISBN 978-3-451-31105-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Diocese of Rome
- ↑ Walther Buchowiecki : Handbuch der Kirchen Roms , Vienna 1974, Vol. 3, P. 748ff.
- ↑ Lexicon for Theology and Church (LThK), Freiburg 2006, vol. 8, p. 1400, as well as Lexikon der Christian Ikonographie (LCI), Freiburg 2004, vol. 8, 296ff.
- ↑ Anton Henze u. a .: Art guide Rome . Stuttgart 1994, pp. 260f.
- ^ Luigi Devoti, Roma per noi, San Saba, p. 21, pdf.
- ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum . Freiburg 2016, p. 327f. with floor plan Fig. 50.1.
- ^ Stefan Grundmann (ed.): Architectural Guide Rome . Stuttgart / London 1997, p. 93.
- ↑ Marco Bussagli (Ed.): Rome - Art & Architecture . Cologne 1999, p. 232
Coordinates: 41 ° 52 ′ 42.9 ″ N , 12 ° 29 ′ 7.9 ″ E