ROME
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ROME
Monet a, and is approached by a flight of 124 steps.
The facade is still of brick, and the church contains
antique columns and capitals; in the Buffalini chajiel
are frescoes (Life of St. Bernardino) by Pinturicchio,
and on the high altar is a Madonna attributed to
8t. Luke, where was formerly the Madonna of
Foligno. To the left a small building, known as the
Cai)pella Santa di Sant' Elena (Holy Chajiel of St.
Helena), marks the spot where, at-cortling to a legend
which can be traced to the ninth century, the Emperor
Augustus saw the Blessed Virgin upon an altar of
heaven (Lat. ara call). To this legend something
was contributed by A'irgil's fourth eclogue, in which
he speaks of the nova progenies" descending from
heaven, and which was interpreted in Christian
antiquity as a prophecy' of the coming of Christ
(thus Ccnstantine in the sermon "Ad sanctorum
coetum"). In the sacristy is venerated the "Santo
Bambino", a little figure of olive wood from the
Mount of Olives (sixteenth century) for which the
Romans have a great devotion. The sepulchral
monuments of this church are numerous and im-
jiortant, including those of Cardinal Louis d' Albert,
with figures of St. Michael and St. Francis; Michel-
angelo Marche.se di Saluzzo, by Dosio; Pietro de'
\'incenti, by Sansovino; Honorius IV and others of
the Savelli family in the Savelli chapel, which dates
from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; Card-
inal Matthew of Acquasparta; Catherine, Queen of
Bosnia (1478). The Crib, built every year in the
second chapel on the left, is famous; at Christmas
and Epiphany children recite dialogues and little
discourses near it.
.S'. Maria in Traspontina, in the Borgo, Calced Carmelites, was erected by Sixtus IV on the site of a chapel that had been built there, in 1099, to drive away the demons which haunted the ashes of Nero. The" architect was Meo del Caprina; Bramante and Bernini modified the building. It is one of the most beautiful monuments of the Renaissance, its cupola being the first of its kind buih in Rome. It contains paintings by Pinturicchio — the Adoration of the Shepherds, all the paintings of the Lady Chapel and the chapel of St. Augu.stine, the frescoes of the vault, etc. — Raphael designed the mosaics of the Chigi chapel, and there are paintings by Caracci, Caravaggio and Sebastiano del Piombo (the Birth of the Blessed \irKin). The sepulchral monuments are costly, including tho.se of Giovanni della Rovere, Cardinal Costa, Cardinal Podocatharo, Cardinal Girolamo Basso, by San.sovino, and Cardinal Sforza, by the same sculptor, Agostnio Chigi, in the Chigi chapel, afl<'r suggestions, and decorated, by Raphael, and Cardinal Pallavicino. The painted windows, the most beautiful in Rome, are by Guillaume de Mar- cillot (15(W) . S. Maria del Priorato, Knights of Malta, on the Aventine, was built in 939, when Alberic II gave his pala^;e to St. Odo of Cluny. The present form of the church, however, is due to Piranesi (17fK>). Some of the tombs of the grand masters of the Order of Malta — Caraffa, Caracciolo, and others — are interesting. The a<ljoining residence commands a syjlendid panorama. .S. Maria del Rosario, on Monte Mario, belongs to the Dominicans. »S'. Marifi ddla SmUi, Discalced Carmelites, built by Francesco da Volterra, is so callcfl from an image of the Madonna found under the stairs of a neighbour- ing house, and contains paintings by Saraceni and Gerhard Honlhorst. In the a<ljoining convent, a great part of which is o<;cupied by the Guardie di Pubbhca Sicurezza, the friars have a pharmacy where they make the "Acqua della Scala". S. Maria della ViUoria, Carmelilf*, was erected by Paul V in memory oi the victory of the Imperialists over the Protestants at Prague (102.'i), and contains pictures by Domenichino, Guercino, and Serra (1884), also a famous group by Bernini, of St. Teresa transfixed
by an angel, and Turkish standards captured at the
siege of Vienna (1683). S. Maria in Aquiro, the
ancient diaconate titulus Equitii, was restored in
1590. It was formerly' an asylum for the destitute;
Clement VIII gave it to the Somaschi Brothei-s, who
still have an orphanage there under the supervision
of the municipality. S. Maria in Campitdli wiis built
in 160.5 to receive the image of S. Maria in Portica
(now S. Galla) in thanksgiving for Rome's deliverance
from the plague (1658). It contains a picture of St.
Anne, by Luca Giordano, and the tomb of Cardinal
Pacca. It is served by the Clerics Regular of the
Mother of God.
S. Maria in Vallicella (the Chiesa Nuova, or "New Church"), Oratorians of St. Philip Neri, is associated with the spiritual renewal of the City by the labours of St. Philip, who founded it. The frescoes of the vaulting and of the cupola are by Pietro da Cortona, the three pictures of the high altar by Rubens, and others by Scipione Gaetano, Cavaliere d'Arpino, Maratta, Guido Reni (St. Philip), Ronocelli, and Baroccio. The chapel of the saint is rich in votive offerings; in the adjoining house, until now almost entirely occupied by the Assize Court, is his cell, with relics and souvenirs of him. The library (Vallicelliana) now belongs to the State. S. Maria in Via, Servites, is a fine church of the late Renais- sance (1549). (S. Maria M(Hld<dena, Servants of the Sick (formerlj- their gencialate), is now occupied by the elementary communal schools. Here the cell of St. Camillus of Lellis is preserved, with the cruci- fix which encouraged him to found his order. S. Maria Sopra Minerva, the only authentic Gothic church in Rome, belongs to the Dominicans, who had their general staff and their higher schools in the adjoining convent, now the Ministry of Instruction, as well as the Casanatense Library, now in the hands of the State. This was the titular church of the Cardinal of Norfolk (see Howard, Thomas Philip), Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York, and Cardinal Taschereau, Archbishop of Que- bec (see McCloskey John; Taschereau, Elz^ar Alexandre); its title is now (1911) held by Cardinal Farley, .\rchbi.shop of New York. The church stands on the ruins of a temple of Miner\-a, one of those built by Pompey. In the eighth century there was a Greek monastery here. In 1280 Fra Sisto and Fra RLstoro, Dominicans, began the new church by order of Nicholas III, and with the aid of the Caetani, Savelli, and Orsini. It was completed in 1453. The pillars of the nave are clustered columns; the side chapels are in Renaissance or baroque style. Beneath the high altar rests the body of St. Catherine of Siena, The chapel of the Annunziata has a con- fraternity, founded by Cardinal Torquemada, which every year distributes dowries to 400 poor young women, and there is a picture by Antoniazzo Romano dealing with the subject. The Caraffa family chapel of St. Thomas contains frescoes by Pllippo Lippi (1487-93); that of St. Dominic, pictures by Maratta; of the Rosary, by Venusti. There are also paintings by Baronio and others. The statue of the Risen Christ is by Michelangelo. Here, also, are the tombs of Giovanni Alberini (1490), Urban VII, by Buon- vicino, the Aldobrandini family, by Giacomo della Porta, Paul IV, by Sigorio and Casignola, Gulielmus Durandus, by Giovanni di Cosma (1296), Cardinal Domenico Capranica (1458), Clement VII and Leo X, by Baccio Bandienelli, Bles.sed Angelico of Fiesole, with an epitaph by Nicholas V, and Cardinal Schonberg (1.5.37).
S. Marlino ai Monti, Carmelites, probably dates from the time of Constantine, when the priest Equitius built an orator>' on his own land. Sym- machus rebuilt it, dedicating it to St. Silvester and St. Martin of Tours, and then again to St. Martin, Pope. In 1559 it was given to the Carmelites, who
