About
twelfth century. Formerly known as S. Salvatore de Ossibus (St. Saviour
of the Bones) with reference to the bones of the nearby cemetery of pilgrims or
as S. Salvatore in Terrione with reference to the nearby Turrionis Gate
of the Leonine Wall, later known as Porta Cavalleggeri
(Cavalry Gate) and then demolished with a section of the walls in 1904
It is now
also known as S. PIETRO AL BORGO (St. Peter in the Borgo District)
To the
oratory it was annexed the Schola Francorum, the hostel for French
pilgrims coming to Rome
It was
restored under Nicholas V Parentucelli (1447/55)
It was
reopened in 1923
It is part
of the State of Vatican City and it is not open to the public
Frescoes
and painting on wood of the fifteenth century “Virgin Mary and Child with
Saints” signed by an unidentified Maestro Francesco
On March 1,
1944, a plane most likely affiliated to the Fascist Republic of Salò was going
to bomb the Vatican Radio which used to broadcast news to the Anglo-American
military
The plane
lost control, dropped bombs near Porta Cavalleggeri and fell in Via del
Gelsomino, killing the pilot and an elderly woman
It came as
a surprise that the glass that protected the image of the Virgin Mary of the
Oratory of S. Peter remained intact although many chips had hit the wall
around, and almost all the windows of the Palazzo del S. Uffizio
had been shattered
It
was believed to be a miracle and in 1950 an artistically sculpted “Frame with angels equipped with shields” by the artist Silvio Silva (1890/1955) was built around the ancient shrine
image
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