Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte (Rome)

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Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte

Santa Maria dell Orazione e Morte.jpg

Denomination : Roman Catholic
Patronage : Mary (mother of Jesus)
Consecration year : 1586
Order : Confraternità dell'Orazione e Morte
Parish : San Lorenzo in Damaso
Address: Via Giulia 262
00168 Roma

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 39.8 "  N , 12 ° 28 ′ 10.6"  E

Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte is a church belonging to the Arch-Brotherhood of Adoration and Death . It is located in the Roman district of Regola on Via Giulia , diagonally opposite the Palazzo Farnese and immediately next to the Palazzetto di Odoardo .

history

In 1538 an association of lay people with the name Compagnia della Morte was founded within the parish of San Lorenzo in Damaso . Its task was to dignify burial of the anonymous deceased and those who had drowned in the Tiber outside the city. In 1552 Pope Julius III. the union into a pious brotherhood. This was commissioned not only to bury the anonymous corpses, but also to pray for their souls. So he changed the name of the association to Confraternità dell'Orazione e Morte (Brotherhood of Prayer and Death). In 1572 the brotherhood acquired an area between the Palazzo Farnese and the banks of the Tiber and built a small church with burial rights there between 1575 and 1576, although it was not a parish church. The church no longer met the requirements in the 17th century. In 1732, the architect Ferdinando Fuga built the church building, an oratory and a large cemetery, partly underground and partly on the riverbank. During the French occupation of Rome from 1808, burials were banned within the city due to the health risk. After the restoration of the papal state, the ban was lifted again; a cholera epidemic in 1837, however, led to the definitive end of the previously common practice. The oratory and the cemetery disappeared almost completely from 1886 in the course of the Tiber regulation.

The construction

The plan of the church is in the shape of an elongated ellipse. There is neither a vestibule nor outside chapels. The church interior has a vaulted ceiling instead of a dome. The roof is only slightly arched on the outside; twelve triangular sectors covered with tiles converge in a low, elliptical lantern. The lantern illuminates the inside of the church through six arched windows and is closed with a cap covered with tiles. The campanile on the left side of the facade consists only of a bell housing covered with lead plates.

facade

The impressive Baroque facade facing Via Giulia is divided horizontally into two floors with a double tympanum and vertically with pilasters and columns. The multitude of differently shaped gables that close off the two floors as well as the main portal and the central window on the second floor is striking.

The lower floor is divided on both sides of the main portal by two pilasters and two Corinthian columns between them. The portal is surmounted by a multiple frieze and a round gable supported by corbels in the form of skulls. The frieze bears the inscription: IND • PLEN • QUOT • PERPETUA • PRO • VIVIS • ET • DEFUNCTIS. An openwork round gable forms the transition to the second floor. This is divided horizontally by pilasters and columns. The large central window is closed by an openwork triangular gable. A frieze separates the floor from the tympanum with another round gable. The upper end of the facade is a baroque structure with flaming urns and a table with a winged hourglass.

Two smaller structures with side portals and oval windows above are attached to the right and left of the lower floor. On the right of the facade, at the side entrance, there is a marble plaque depicting a skeleton with an hourglass and a dying man (Fig.) . It serves as an alms box for the burial of the dead.

The inner

The baroque main nave has an elliptical, southwest-facing floor plan. The interior walls are decorated with polychrome imitation marble and gold. The square side chapels form two niches on opposite sides. On the walls between the chapels there are some frescoes by Giovanni Lanfranco that have been detached from the neighboring palazzetto of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese . A rectangular apse closes the nave off at the front. The side chapels, the apse and the portal of the opposite facade are flanked by a total of twelve blue-gray columns with Corinthian capitals. The pillars support an entablature running around the nave. On each side, next to the choir, there is a gallery for the church choir. A large organ gallery is built into the opposite facade. A baroque plaque above the organ shows the inscription reminding of the dedication of the church.

The vault

The dome-like elliptical vault dominates the interior. It rests on a parapet over the cornice. Twelve ribs converge at the oculus of the elliptical lantern. The lunettes above the choir, the entrance and the side chapels have arched windows through which light penetrates into the interior. In the lantern the Holy Spirit is depicted as a dove between putti .

The choir

The entrance to the choir is flanked by two Corinthian pilasters in imitation yellow marble between two gray columns. Above the high altar is the altar panel Christ on the Cross by Ciro Ferri (1680).

The side chapels

Chapel of Saint Catherine

The first chapel on the right is dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria . The altar panel shows the mystical wedding of Saint Catherine . The work is attributed to Palma il Vecchio . The small circular portrait on the altar shows Saint Charles Borromeo .

  • On the wall between this chapel and the next one can see the fresco, saved from Cardinal Odoardo Farnese's palazzetto, Saint Anthony of Egypt meets Saint Paul of Thebes, the first hermit of Giovanni Lanfranco.

Chapel of the Archangel Michael

The second chapel on the right is dedicated to the Archangel Michael . The chapel was designed by Paolo Posi in 1751 . The altar panel is a copy of the famous painting Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini by Guido Reni .

Chapel of Saint Juliane

The second chapel on the left is dedicated to Saint Juliana de Falconieri , founder of the Order of the Servites . The altarpiece by Pier Leone Ghezzi (1737) shows Saint Juliana taking the veil .

  • On the wall between this and the next chapel is the fresco, also rescued from the Palazzetto Farnese, with the depiction of the pillar saint Simeon by Giovanni Lanfranco.

Chapel of the Holy Family

The first chapel on the left is dedicated to the Holy Family . In the aedicule, two alabaster pilasters frame the altar panel by Lorenzo Masucci .

sacristy

Some interesting paintings are kept in the sacristy: The Archangel Michael Defeats Satan , attributed to Raffaellino da Reggio as well as The Archangel Michael and Satan on a Death Bed and Saint Michael Saves a Soul from Purgatory by Giacinto Brandi .

Hypogeum

Of the underground burial chambers, in which around 8,000 dead were buried over the course of 300 years, only a hypogeum remained after the embankment work on the Tiber from 1886 . This is accessed through a door on the left in the choir via a staircase. It consists of an anteroom and a chapel. The decoration of the two rooms is reminiscent of their original purpose. Both the lamp holder in the vestibule and the candelabra in the chapel are made of bones. A marble relief shows half a skeleton above the holy water basin on the right at the entrance to the chapel (Fig.) . Skulls with the names of the deceased are kept in a showcase in the anteroom. Skulls and skeletal parts are also on the altar. The large cross on the wall opposite the entrance is also made of skulls. Two alms boxes (fig.) Invite the visitors to donate for masses or the eternal light of the cemetery.

gallery

  • facade

  • Tempesta; Prospectus detail (1645)

  • Interior

  • Crucifixion by Ciro Ferri

  • Main portal

  • Portal gable

  • Facade alms box

  • Facade alms box

  • Crypt, holy water font

  • Architectural drawing 1680–1730

swell

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Indulgetia plenaria quotidiana perpetua pro vivis et defunctis (Complete, daily indulgence for the living and the dead)
  2. ↑ ELEMOSIN (e per) I POVERI MORTI CHE SI PIGLIANO IN CAMPAGNA - MDCXCIV (Alms for the poor dead who are picked up in the country - 1694)
  3. ↑ Quando orabas cum lacrymis, et sepeliebas mortuos, et derelinquebas prandium tuum, ego obtuli orationem tuam Domino (When you prayed with tears, buried the dead and left your food, I brought your prayer before the Lord) Book Tobit 12: 12 ff.
  4. ↑ A winged skeleton shows the inscription: HODIE MIHI CRAS TIBI (Today me, tomorrow you). Including: ELEMOSINA PER LA LAMPADA PERPETUA DEL CIMITERO.