Friday, June 12, 2015

CARAVITA ORATORY

ORATORIO DEL CARAVITA


1630/33, for the Jesuit Father Pietro Gravita

The oratory was dedicated to St. Francis Xavier co-founder, with S. Ignatius of Loyola, of the Jesuit Order

It was restructured in 1670/77 probably by Giovanni Antonio De Rossi (1616/95) and restored in the second half of 1800s

Father Gravita was authorized in 1618 to build an oratory in the Collegio Romano (Roman College) for meetings of the Congregation of the Most Holy General Communion of Urban Mission

The congregation was so successful that in 1630 Gravita was authorized to build a new oratory in the area of the destroyed church of S. Nicholas and Forbitoribus

The acoustic properties of the hall are perfect and it was used for concerts and religious plays

On the death of Father Gravita in 1658 the oratory took its current name “Caravita” due to his name being corrupted

ATRIUM

Vault with frescoes “Triumph of the Eucharist” and “Stories of St. Ignatius” about 1671/73 by the pupil of Pietro da Cortona Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703) with assistants. They were heavily repainted in the nineteenth century

On the left “Wooden cross” of the sixteenth century

Above the atrium SMALL ROOM OF THE ANGELS meeting room for students congregated in the College called “the angels”, with frescoes of “Saints” of the eighteenth century by Gaetano Sortini (1715/86) and Odoardo Vicinelli (1683/1755) and stucco reliefs “Allegories” 1745/46 by G.B. Maini (1690/1752)

ORATORY

Vault
“Jesus adored by Sts. Francis Xavier, G.B. De Rossi and Leonardo da Porto Maurizio”

Walls frescoed in the second half of the nineteenth century

Main Altar

Canvas: “Holy Trinity and St. Francis Xavier”, on the left “Archangel Michael” and on the right “Guardian Angel” painted in mid-1800 even if some incredibly attribute them to Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

“Madonna of Mercy” maybe by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536) from the church of S. Rocco

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