Sant'Ambrogio della Massima
| Sant'Ambrogio della Massima | |
|---|---|
| Patronage : | St. Ambrose |
| Consecration day : | |
| Parish: | Santa Maria in Campitelli |
| Address: |
Via di Sant'Ambrogio, 3 00186 Roma |
Sant'Ambrogio della Massima ( Latin : Sancti Ambrosi de maxima ) is a small church in Rome . It is the monastery church and seat of the General Curia of the Benedictine Congregation of Subiaco . In its current form, it dates from the early 17th century, but stands on the remains of an ancient building. It contains some important works of art.
location
The church is in the XI. Roman Rione Sant'Angelo , on the Via di Sant'Ambrogio named after her, about 80 meters southeast of the turtle fountain .
Surname
The name of the church refers to St. Ambrose of Milan . The origin of the nickname della Massima or de maxima is not clear, possibly one of the founders of the monastery carried the name Maxima. A connection to the Cloaca Maxima , which flows into the Tiber nearby, or to a Porticus Maxima is also possible .
history
The church is located on the site that belonged to Porticus Philippi in ancient times . The church and the adjoining monastery building stand above the temple of Hercules Musarum , which was in the porticus.
According to tradition, the house where St. Ambrose of Milan lived before he moved to Milan to take office in his prefecture stood here . He is said to have grown up here with his sister, Saint Marcellina , who later founded a monastic community in this house. Whether the mention in the Liber Pontificalis from the time of Pope Leo III. monasterium S. Mariae quae appellatur Ambrosii refers to this church is unclear. It is more likely that a first church was built on this site in the 12th century. Romanesque masonry can still be seen inside the campanile . It fits that in the church catalog of the later Pope Honorius III. from 1192 a monastery maxim is mentioned. The Turin catalog from around 1320 has an entry: Monasterium sancte Mariae de Maxima and reports on twelve religious. Today's building was commissioned by Abbess Beatrice de Torres with the help of her brother Cardinal Ludovico de Torres from 1606 to 1634 by Carlo Maderno . From the 13th century to 1809, the church and monastery belonged to the Benedictine nuns . Then these were replaced by the Franciscan Sisters . After the inquisition process (see below) the Franciscan convent was dissolved; the complex came into the possession of the Benedictines of Subiaco in 1861. After the seizure by the Italian state in 1870, the buildings were later returned. Restorations took place from 1959 to 1964 and 1992 to 1994.
Inquisition process
The church historian Hubert Wolf of the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster was one of the first scientists to research the inquisition archive of the Vatican in Rome, which had been closed for over 400 years. In 2013, after 14 years of research, he clarified a chapter in church history in which the Franciscans were involved with a detailed analysis, reconstruction and presentation. The trial against the convent of nuns of the regulated Third Order of St. Francis in Sant'Ambrogio della Massima began in 1859 as a case of "feigned holiness" (it. "Affettata santità" ), which came under the classical jurisdiction of the Roman Inquisition fell.
The convent was founded by Agnese Firrao , an abbess who divided the Vatican: there were clerics who believed her apparitions, wounds, revelations, raptures, and miracles and believed her to be a living saint and venerated her as such, such as Pope Leo XII. But there were also clergy who questioned the alleged sanctity of Agnese Firrao. The monastery was closed by the Roman Inquisition in 1816 and the “false saint” was banished to another monastery. But her sisters remained loyal to her and allowed her to steer them from afar through letters - the convent continued to exist. In a previously unique process, Pope Leo XII. 1829 the judgment of the Inquisition again. It is not known that any other judgment of the Inquisition was ever overturned.
Until 1859, the subsequent young master novice of the convent, Maria Luisa, who was also venerated like a saint in her monastery, appealed to apparitions and the devil's ghost . Obscure practices, sexual abuse, lesbian initiation rites and sexual intercourse with priests continued to take place under the protection of the church and monastery . Children were conceived and driven to the Holy Spirit in the hospital because supposedly conceived by the devil; there was also failure to provide assistance , assassinations and two murders . When the educated German novice Princess Katharina von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1817-1893), born. von Hohenlohe-Waldburg-Schillingsfürst, 1848-1853 married to Karl von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , later the founder of the Beuron Archabbey , her confessor Peters ( Kleutgen ) reported in confession about her observations of another admirer of the novice master Maria Luisa and thus everything threatened to be exposed , Kleutgen broke the secret of confession . Katharina von Hohenzollern was too influential and prominent to be released from the monastery. A murder attempt was made on Katharina, in which various nuns of the monastery were involved, allegedly on the orders of the Blessed Mother , in order to be able to continue undisturbed. She barely survived the poison attacks; her remarkable corpulence and size benefited her. With luck, her cousin Archbishop Hohenlohe , who later became a cardinal, managed to free her from the monastery. Katharina von Hohenzollern reported the activities to the papal inquisition authority .
The Holy Tribunal of the Sanctum Officium, as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was still called at that time, filed the case after preliminary investigations by Pope Pius IX. for a decision. The Inquisition stepped in and the process lasted two and a half years. In 1859 the love affair between the novice master Maria Luisa and Kleutgen became known. Although 40 nuns testified under oath in individual interrogations and all of their statements, which were written down verbatim, burdened Maria Luisa just as heavily as Joseph Kleutgen , Kleutgen was condemned for "formal heresy", but quickly pardoned because he was very dialectically adept had been able to defend. Maria Luisa was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Pope Pius IX. did everything possible to keep the Sant'Ambrogio case a secret. Cardinals Costantino Patrizi Naro and Karl August von Reisach played special roles in connection with the events .
facade
The facade faces a small courtyard, which a visitor enters through a portal with narrow pilasters and capitals in Tuscan order . As a sign of episcopal dignity, two tassels are placed above the capitals . The facade has a vestibule with three arcade arches , the pillars are also designed according to the Tuscan order. The middle part of the facade is structured with only three arched windows, of which the middle is inserted as a blind window. The façade is completed by a simple triangular gable above the cornice .
Interior and outfit
The church has a single nave , with two side chapels flanking the nave. A dome rises above the crossing . This does not have a dome drum and is crowned by a lantern . The choir of the church is rectangular and ends straight. In the nave, the walls between the chapels are structured with pilasters, the capitals follow Ionic order with festoons . The interior is richly decorated with gold stucco following the taste of the Baroque . The church is covered by barrel vaults, with stitch caps in the nave . The pendentives of the crossing are frescoed, they are four representations of virtues , created by Francesco Cozza in the 17th century.
The first chapel on the right in the direction of the choir used to contain an altarpiece ascribed to Pietro da Cortona , today there is a depiction of Ambrosius and Marcellina from the 19th century. In the second chapel on the right, dedicated to St. Benedict , there is a statue of the saint by Orfeo Boselli in the style of François Duquesnoy from the first half of the 17th century. In the arch there is a fresco Escape into Egypt from the 17th century.
The upper picture above the high altar in the choir depicts Mary with the child, Joseph and another saint , also a work from the 17th century. On the cafeteria of the high altar is a reliquary box with relics of St. Polycarp of Smyrna , a cosmatic work . The header image of the left transept depicts Mary with the child , it is a panel painting and was created in the 15th century. Opposite is a copy of the Crucifixion by Francesco Trevisani . The first chapel on the left contains a representation of Mary on the altar with uncertain attribution to Giuseppe Cesari in a marble surface . The chapel is also frescoed with scenes from the life of Mary . In the second chapel on the left, dedicated to Saint Maurus , hangs a painting by Ciro Ferri depicting the saint healing a paralyzed man.
The sacristy can be reached from the left transept ; the pilasters here are designed according to the Corinthian order . The altarpiece contains a depiction of Christ on the cross , a work of the 17th century.
Some important works of art can also be found in the refectory of the monastery. For example Antoniazzo Romano's Descent from the Cross .
literature
- Walter Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome. 1st volume, Brothers Hollinek publishing house, Vienna 1967.
- Mariano Armellini: Le Chiese di Roma. Roma 1891.
- Christian Hülsen : Le Chiese di Roma nel Medio Evo. Firenze 1927.
- Francesca Cappelletti, Paolo Galeotti (Eds.): Roma Sacra, 15th Itinerario. Elio de Rosa Editore, Pozzuoli 1999.
- Hubert Wolf : The nuns of Sant'Ambrogio. A true story. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-64522-8 ( review of the Süddeutsche Zeitung ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Diocese of Rome
- ↑ a b sleeves: Le Chiese di Roma nel Medio Evo , p. 344.
- ↑ a b c Francesca Cappelletti: Roma Sacra , p. 6.
- ↑ Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome , p. 308.
- ↑ Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome , pp. 308/309.
- ↑ Francesca Cappelletti: Roma Sacra , p. 7.
- ^ Extract from Hubert Wolf: The nuns of Sant'Ambrogio. A true story ( memento of the original from October 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 649 kB)
- ↑ DFG research projects by Hubert Wolf - ongoing research project No. 4 (PDF; 34 kB). Retrieved December 8, 2010
- ↑ a b Rudolf Neumaier: Deep insight into the world of hypocrites . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . February 16, 2013
- ↑ City map with the location of the church
- ↑ Francesca Cappelletti: Roma Sacra , p. 8.
- ↑ Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome , p. 310.
- ↑ Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome , p. 311.
- ↑ Francesca Cappelletti: Roma Sacra , p. 9.
- ↑ Francesca Cappelletti: Roma Sacra , p. 10.
Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 35.3 " N , 12 ° 28 ′ 41.7" E