Santo Stefano in Via Latina

Santo Stefano in Via Latina, partially reconstructed remains, as it was in 1911

Santo Stefano in Via Latina was a 5th century basilica on the site of a Villa Suburbana on the third mile of Via Latina in front of the city walls of Rome , of which only foundations and a few columns remain today.

history

A church was built on the site of a Villa Suburbana in the 5th century under Pope Leo I (440–461). It was outside the city at the third milestone of Via Latina, today right next to the Parco archeologico delle Tombe di Via Latina , in the angle between the old Via Latina running through the park and the current Via Demetriade and Via Grottaferrata.

Basalt paving of the old Via Latina (2nd century) in today's Parco archeologico delle Tombe di Via Latina

From the Liber Pontificalis it can be seen that the church was founded by a Demetrias on her own property after she had professed Christianity. It is probably Demetrias, daughter of Flavius Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius , consul of the year 395. She fled to North Africa in 410 when Alaric I invaded Italy, where she was converted to Christianity and was in lively exchange with Augustine of Hippo , Pelagius and Jerome . A building inscription found during the excavation in 1858 gives its name as Amnia Demetrias. After their death, according to the inscription, Pope Leo I initiated the construction of the church and followed the last will of the founder. A presbyter Tigrinus supervised the building, which was carried out with the funds of the donor and was probably built on the property of the Roman aristocratic family of the Anicier , who were extremely influential in late antiquity .

Pope Leo III (ruled 795–816) had the roofs of the basilica renewed, Leo IV (ruled 847–855) equipped them with new liturgical vestments and antependums . After that there is no more mention of Santo Stefano in Via Latina. Since the basilica was far away from the settlement areas of what was then Rome, it may have fallen into disrepair and been abandoned in the late 9th century.

The ruins were rediscovered in 1857 and excavated and secured in 1858 under the direction of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology .

Building description

It was a three-aisled basilica (approx. 36 × 21 m) with the apse in the west and a narthex in the east. It was completed around 470 and dedicated to the martyr Stephen . The central nave was separated from the side aisles by eight columns with Corinthian capitals each, probably in an arcade construction. The building is comparable to the somewhat older Basilica of San Vitale in Rome.

In the western half of the central aisle, a Schola cantorum with ambon was found . The altar in the middle of the apse probably contained relics that were visible through a fenestella confessionis on the broad sides. From the right aisle one got into an extension that was set up as a baptistery with a baptismal font . The portico and some columns of the narthex are said to have been taken from the ancient villa buildings there.

mausoleum

As the excavations have shown, there was a mausoleum from pre-Christian times below the Schola cantorum , which was used as a burial chamber in the 5th century .

literature

Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, pp. 257f. 343.
Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum. Herder, Freiburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-451-31105-5 , pp. 317-319.

Individual evidence

↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum. Freiburg 2016, p. 317f.
^ Liber Pontificalis I, 238.
↑ Georg Jenal : Early forms of the feminine vita religiosa. In: Gert Melville , Anne Müller (Ed.): Female vita religiosa between Late Antiquity and the High Middle Ages (= Vita regularis. Abhandlungen 47). Lit, Berlin / Zurich 2011, pp. 46–49.
^ ILCV 1765 = Hermann Dessau , Inscriptiones Latinae selectae 8988 ; a German translation by Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum. Freiburg 2016, p. 319, as well as in the sacred dictionary .
^ Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century , Regensburg 2013, p. 257f.
^ ^A ^b Matilda Webb: The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome: A Comprehensive Guide . Brighton and Portland 2001, p. 285
↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum. Freiburg 2016, p. 317f. with floor plan Fig. 47.

Web links

Commons : Archeological park "Tombe della via Latina" - collection of images, videos and audio files

41.861652 12.537461Coordinates: 41 ° 51 ′ 41.9 ″ N , 12 ° 32 ′ 14.9 ″ E

[1] Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum. Freiburg 2016, p. 317f.

[2] Liber Pontificalis I, 238.

[3] Georg Jenal : Early forms of the feminine vita religiosa. In: Gert Melville , Anne Müller (Ed.): Female vita religiosa between Late Antiquity and the High Middle Ages (= Vita regularis. Abhandlungen 47). Lit, Berlin / Zurich 2011, pp. 46–49.

[4] ILCV 1765 = Hermann Dessau , Inscriptiones Latinae selectae 8988 ; a German translation by Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum. Freiburg 2016, p. 319, as well as in the sacred dictionary .

[5] Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century , Regensburg 2013, p. 257f.

[webb-6] A ^b Matilda Webb: The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome: A Comprehensive Guide . Brighton and Portland 2001, p. 285

[7] Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum. Freiburg 2016, p. 317f. with floor plan Fig. 47.