Santa Susanna (Rome)

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Santa Susanna alle Terme di Diocleziano

Santa Susanna (Rome) - Front.jpg

Patronage : St. Susanna
Consecration day : 1603
Medal: Cistercian Sisters , Paulists
Cardinal priest : vacant
National Church: United States of America (until 2012)
Parish: San Camillo de Lellis
Address: Via XX Settembre 14
(Largo Santa Susanna)

00187 Roma

Santa Susanna Abbey
location Italy
Rome
Lies in the diocese Rome
Coordinates: 41 ° 54 '15.3 "  N , 12 ° 29' 37.1"  E Coordinates: 41 ° 54 '15.3 "  N , 12 ° 29' 37.1"  E
Congregation subordinate to the local bishop

Santa Susanna ( Latin Sancta Susanna ), fully Santa Susanna alle Terme di Diocleziano , is a church in Rome consecrated to St. Susanna of Rome . It is one of the oldest titular churches .

The church in its current form was built from 1585 to 1603 for a Cistercian abbey that has existed on site since 1587. Since 1922, Santa Susanna has also been the congregational church of the missionary priests of St. Paul , an order of priests from New York. When Santa Susanna was handed over to the Paulists, the church was temporarily used as the national church of the United States . After clashes between the Cistercian women and the American community, the latter moved to San Patrizio in 2012 and 2017 .

location

The church is located in the II. Roman Rione Trevi on Via XX Settembre, about 250 meters northwest of the Piazza della Repubblica and the Baths of Diocletian . In late ancient Rome this was a preferred place on the inner-city extension of the Via Nomentana to the Quirinal Hill .

History and building history

The legendary According to tradition, was an early Christian after the death of St. Susanna Statio built, through the remains of the house where Susanna under Emperor Diocletian the martyrdom to have suffered. Both in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum and in the Martyrologium Romanum their feast is recorded on August 11th.

In the Roman council acts of 499, the first church is initially referred to by the name of the founder as titulus Gai , while in the council signatures of 595 it already bears the name titulus sanctae Susannae . For reasons of time, the founder Gaius cannot be identical with Pope Cajus (283–296), as is reported in the Susan legend of the 6th century.

Pope Leo III (795–816) had a new three-aisled basilica (approx. 35 m long) with a semicircular apse in the northwest built in place of the first church, which had become dilapidated and too small . The central nave and side aisles were separated from each other by twelve pairs of pillars with arcades ; Above the flat-roofed side aisles there were galleries with arched openings towards the central nave.

That of Pope Leo III. Donated apse mosaic was destroyed in 1595, but has been handed down through historical engravings and descriptions. It showed Christ and Mary with Peter and Paul as well as the original donors Gaius and Gabinus with the martyr Susanna, as well as Pope Leo III. as the founder of the new building (with model of the church) and Charlemagne with helmet and sword in acclamation posture , both marked as living by a square nimbus . What is unique about this depiction is that Charlemagne is depicted here as the bearer of secular power and at the same time as the patron of the Church in the same way as the Pope . Under the mosaic was the dedication inscription by Leo III.

Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484) had the Carolingian basilica rebuilt on the occasion of the Holy Year 1475 into a single-nave church room the width of the previous central nave; the previous apse was retained and side chapels were added. From 1590 to 1603, under Cardinal Vicar Girolamo Rusticucci, the church was redesigned in the transition style from Renaissance to Baroque by Domenico Fontana and Carlo Maderno , with the old furnishings being largely lost. The famous facade by Carlo Maderno was newly created . In addition, the Cistercian monastery was built on the left side of the church facade and a house on the right.

architecture

Basic structure

Today the building has a single nave with a wide apse and has several side chapels and a crypt .

facade

Church facade with adjacent buildings

The church facade is the first independent work by the architect Carlo Maderno (around 1597). With the wing structures adjoining on both sides, the facade forms a structural group of three. "Space and surface, calm and movement, pathos and rigor are combined here in a happy balance to create a masterpiece that is one of the archetypes of the Roman baroque facades" and became a model for numerous later facades.

The facade of Santa Susanna is similar to that of Il Gesu in Rome, but it is significantly steeper and more three-dimensional. The “crescendo” effect of an increase in plasticity appears new, namely from the outside to the inside on both floors and from top to bottom in the relationship between the floors. On the lower floor, the horizontal structure begins at the corners with a wide and a halved pilaster and continues over a half-column to the double three-quarter columns next to the portal . This emphasis on the center is reinforced by the depth effect that increases from the outside to the inside, from the relief decoration (outside) to the figures (in the niches) to the large portal. In contrast, the less plastic pilasters are used on the upper floor instead of the columns - only the loggia has a slightly protruding aedicula . Although the gable is strongly contoured by a balustrade , it is still comparatively simple.

The figures of the martyrs Susanna and Felicitas in the niches below and of Pope Gaius and the martyr Gabinus above were created by Giovanni Antonio Paracca and Flaminio Vacca between 1597 and 1599.

Interior

Interior of the church with a view of the high altar and coffered ceiling

Nave

In its Carolingian form, the church was a basilica ; since the changes from 1593 onwards, it has been a single-nave hall building with side chapels. The model for this design was Il Gesu in Rome. The important mosaics of the 9th century in the choir have been replaced by frescos by Cesare Nebbia and Paris Nogari. Saints Benedict and Scholastica (on the left) and Bernhard and Susanna (on the right) are depicted on the doors of the choir niches containing reliquaries . The depictions were created by the Umbrian painter Avanzino Nucci in 1599.

On the nave walls and in the side chapels, Baldassare Croce created scenes from the lives of the titular saints, depicted in fictitious tapestries and framed by pseudo-architecture . A splendid coffered ceiling has been located above the nave since the end of the 16th century .

organ

View of the organ

The organ in the podium was built in 1965 by the organ builder Fratelli Ruffatti . The instrument has 22 stops on two manual works and a pedal . The actions are electric. The game table is located in the church.

I Grand'Organo C – c 4
Principals 8th'
Flauto 8th'
Bordone 8th'
Ottava 4 ′
Flauto 4 ′
Decimaquinta 2 ′
Ripieno V
Voce umana 8th'
II Espressivo C – c 4
Bordone 8th'
Viola da gamba 8th'
Principalino 4 ′
Flauto a camino 4 ′
Sesquialtera II
Ottavino 2 ′
Ripienino III
Voce celeste 8th'
Tromba armonica 8th'
tremolo
Pedals C – g 1
Subbasso 16 ′
Principals 8th'
Bordone 8th'
Flauto 8th'
Tromba 8th'

crypt

The Carolingian crypt was redesigned by Carlo Maderno into a baroque confessio as “one of the first examples of the martyr cult that arose in the wake of the Counter-Reformation”. Maderno chose the ellipse as the basic structure and consequently designed the room as an oval rotunda with a flat dome . The two focal points of the ellipse form on the one hand the altar of the saints and on the other hand the tomb of the client Cardinal Girolamo Rusticucci who is buried here. The relics of St. Gabinius and a St. Felicitas are said to be under the altar.

Excavations and frescoes

During excavations under the former left aisle of the Carolingian basilica, i.e. under today's sacristy , a Roman sarcophagus and around 7,000 pieces of wall paintings from the late 8th century were found in 1992 . As a result of the restoration work and the assembly of the parts, the mural (approx. 120 × 190 cm) was handed over to the custody of the Cistercian monastery in 2000, where it is exhibited in the sacristy.

It is the remains of a mural from the tympanum of the Carolingian basilica and a group of saints. The tympanum shows the apocalyptic lamb , next to it John the Baptist and John Evangelista . The group includes an enthroned Theotokos , flanked by the martyr Agatha of Catania and the church patroness Susanna. The richly dressed women wear crowns set with gemstones and have a golden nimbus. Mary holds a staff in her right hand. The baby Jesus - with a nimbus - raised his right hand in a blessing. The resemblance of this depiction to Maria Regina I on the apse wall of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome is striking .

Station Church

Santa Susanna is the station church on the Saturday after the third Sunday of Lent .

Cardinal priest

The office of Cardinal Priest of San Susanna has been vacant since 2017. The last holder of the office was Bernard Francis Law († 2017).

literature

  • Alessandro Bonanni: Scavi e ricerche in Santa Susanna in Roma. Le fasi paleochristiane e altomedievali. In: Eugenio Russo (ed.): 1983–1993: dieci anni di archelogia cristiana in Italia. Atti del VII Congresso nazionale di Archeologia Cristiana. Cassino, 20.-24. September 1993. Volume 1. Università degli Studi di Casino, Cassino 2003, pp. 359-376 ( online ).
  • Hugo Brandenburg : The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, pp. 177ff.
  • Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum . Herder, Freiburg 2016, pp. 240–244.
  • Giuseppe Basile: Dipinti murali in frammenti del Monastero di Santa Susanna a Roma. Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Istituto centrale per il resauro, Rome, 2004, pp. 8-27 with colored images
  • Ursula Nilgen: A newly found Maria Regina in Santa Susanna, Rome. A Roman theme with variations. In: Meaning in the pictures, Festschrift for the 60th birthday of Jörg Traeger, Schnell & Steiner 2002, pp. 231–246.
  • Anton Henze : Art Guide Rome. Reclam, Stuttgart 1994, p. 269.
  • Anna Maria Affani u. a .: Santa Susanna e San Bernardo alle Terme. Fratelli Palombi, Rome 1993, pp. 13-57.
  • Walther Buchowiecki : Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present. Volume 3, Hollinek Vienna 1974, pp. 994-1015.
  • Marco Bussagli (Ed.): Rome - Art & Architecture. Könemann, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-8290-2258-1 .
  • Stefan Grundmann (Ed.): Architectural Guide Rome. Menges, Stuttgart / London 1997, ISBN 3-930698-59-5 , pp. 192f.

Web links

Commons : Santa Susanna (Rome)  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Diocese of Rome
  2. ^ American community finds a new home in Rome , Catholic News Service, August 7, 2017, accessed August 9, 2017
  3. ↑ Walther Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present. Volume 3, Vienna 1974, p. 996.
  4. ^ Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century. Regensburg 2013, p. 177ff.
  5. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum . Freiburg 2016, p. 240 with floor plan development in Fig. 31.2.
  6. ^ Franz Alto Bauer : The image of the city of Rome in the early Middle Ages. Papal foundations as reflected in the Liber Pontificalis of Gregory III. up to Leo III. (= Palilia. Volume 14). Reichert, Wiesbaden 2004, pp. 106-109 ( online ).
  7. ↑ Walther Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present. Volume 3, Vienna 1974, pp. 999f.
  8. ^ Anton Henze: Art Guide Rome. Stuttgart 194, p. 269.
  9. ^ Stefan Grundmann (ed.): Architectural Guide Rome. Stuttgart / London 1997, p. 192.
  10. ↑ Bussagli: Rome - Art and Architecture , p. 439.
  11. ↑ Among other things with the alleged blood relic of Susanna; see in detail on the relic problem of St. Susanna: Elisabeth Priedl: The Making of Santa Susanna. Medium, discourse and ritual of the post-Tridentine generation of evidence. In: Carolin Behrmann, Elisabeth Priedl: AUTOPSIA: blood and eye witnesses. Extreme images of Christian martyrdom. Finck, Munich 2014, pp. 145–166 ( online ; PDF without page numbers ).
  12. ↑ http://www.arte.it/guida-arte/roma/da-vedere/monumento/monastero-di-santa-susanna-4824
  13. ^ Anton Henze: Art Guide Rome. Stuttgart p. 269.
  14. ↑ Anna Maria Affani u. a .: Santa Susanna e San Bernardo alle Terme. Rome 1993, p. 28ff. with illustrations
  15. ↑ More information about the organ (Italian)
  16. ^ Stefan Grundmann (ed.): Architectural Guide Rome. Stuttgart / London 1997, p. 192f.
  17. ↑ Pompeo Ugonio : Historia delle stationi di Roma che si la Celebrano Lent. B. Bonfadino, Rome 1588, f. 194r ( digitized at the Arachne image database ); see. also Jörg Martin Merz: Le Sante Vergini novels. The representation of early Christian virgins and martyrs in their restored title churches in Rome in the late 16th and 17th centuries. In: Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte. Volume 57, 2008, pp. 133-164, here: p. 140.
  18. ^ Giuseppe Basile: Dipinti murali in frammenti del Monastero di Santa Susanna a Roma. Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Istituto centrale per il resauro, Rome, 2004, pp. 8–27 with illustrations; Picture gallery on the website giuseppebasile.org.
  19. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum . Freiburg 2016, p. 243.