A small
church was built on the site where, according to tradition, St. Jerome on the
year 382, was a guest in the house of the saint matron Paola
Known since
1492
Assigned in
1524 to the Arciconfraternita della Carità (Archconfraternity of
Charity)
The church
is linked to the figure of S. Filippo Neri (1515/95), known as St.
Philip Neri in English
He lived
for 33 years in the adjacent convent, in a room where there used to take place
frequent meetings between four saints: Filippo Neri, Charles Borromeo, Ignatius
of Loyola and Felice da Cantalice
In a barn
adjoining the church S. Filippo Neri established the institution of the oratory
A fire in
1631 damaged the church
Rebuilt in
the years 1632/37 by Francesco Peparelli (active
since 1626/d. 1641)
Restored in
the years 1652/60 by Domenico Castelli
(1582/1657)
1660
completed by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) after the
death in 1657 of Domenico Castelli who had already designed in 1647
FLOOR
Made of
marble, 1660 by Alessandro Sarti
CEILING
1587 by the
master carpenter Andrea Tozzi
1st
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY or SPADA CHAPEL
1654 Giovanni Somazzi for Virgilio Spada
It is
traditionally attributed to Francesco Borromini
(1599/1667), of whom in fact there is only one project for the front of the
altar and nothing else
Above the altar
“Madonna
and Child” by an anonymous Sienese painter of the fifteenth century
At the sides of the altar
“Two
medallions embossed with Sts. Francis and Bonaventure” by Pietro Paolo Naldini (1619/91)
On the right wall
“Tomb of Giovanni Spada” by Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88)
On the left wall
“Tomb of
Lorenzo Bernardino Spada” by Ercole Ferrata
(1610/86)
“Ferrata
proved to be a faithful executor of the drawings supplied to him, showing a
remarkable ability to adapt his style to the task requested. It is however
acknowledged in him a tendency to tone down excessively dramatic and pathetic images
in the name of that idea of Classicism of which he was then the main
representative in Rome” (Gerardo Casale - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
Treccani)
Above the graves
“Six
medallions embossed with illustrious ancestors of the Spada family”, three on
each side:
“Amadore I with his brother Aleramo Spada” and
“Pietro di Cecco and Serrone di Pietro Spada” by Pietro
Paolo Naldini
“Amadore
with his son Mengo Sword” by Ercole Antonio Raggi
(1624/86)
“Amadore II
Spada” by Francesco Baratta (about 1590/about
1663)
“Mutio with
his nephew Antonello Spada” by Ercole Ferrata
“Ghino di Mengo Spada” by Giuseppe Perone
On the threshold of the chapel
Sculptural
group in bloodstone with “Angels kneeling and tending tablecloth for the
Eucharist” by Antonio Giorgetti (known from
1660/d. 1669), a pupil of Alessandro Algardi
The angel
on the left has movable wooden wings in faux marble used as small door of the
chapel
“Borromini
had little to do with the project (...) and anything with its execution. The
lavish style of the chapel is very different anyway from the one of the
architect from Canton Ticino in his late period. It remains a masterpiece of
Baroque Roman for the highly theatrical effect and the use of pictorial
marquetry and marble slabs with fake damasks” (Olga Melasecchi)
2nd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS
It was
remodeled in 1717, the year to which frescos and stuccos date back to
Above the
altar “Wooden crucifix” mid-1400s in front of which tradition has it that S.
Filippo Neri used to celebrate Mass
RIGHT
TRANSEPT
“Tomb of
the Earl Asdrubale from Montauto” 1629 Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)
“The baroque
style is detectable in the original cyma around the portrait, with the ends
curled and the hanging festoons, imitated by Carlo Maratta for his own grave at
S. Maria degli Angeli” (Olga Melasecchi)
TO THE
RIGHT OF THE MAIN ALTAR
CHAPEL OF
St. JOHN THE BAPTIST formerly CASALI CHAPEL and later MARESCOTTI CHAPEL
Altarpiece “Madonna
and Child with Sts. Joseph, John the Evangelist and John the Baptist” by Durante Alberti (1538/1616) who also painted the
frescoes with “Stories of Jesus” damaged by a fire in 1630 and by some bad
restorations in the eighteenth century
MAIN ALTAR
1645/47 Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) for Fantino Renzi and his
nephew Scipione Gisleni who are buried here and whose “Busts” by the school of Algardi are inserted in the walls
“Communion
of St. Jerome” 1797 copy by Antonio Corsi from
the famous 1614 original by Domenichino which was originally here and is now in
the Pinacoteca Vaticana
TO THE LEFT
OF THE MAIN ALTAR
ANTAMORO
CHAPEL
1707 by the
great architect Filippo Juvarra (1678/1736)
“He solved
the narrowness of the available space creating movement with the ellipsoidal
shape of the plan, opening a large oval window at the end and expanding the
stucco decoration in the lantern where it ends in a glory of cherubims. The
concave shape of the altar is a counterpoint of the convex part of the steps”
(Olga Melasecchi)
Statue of “S.
Filippo Neri” by Pierre Legros (1666/1719)
perhaps also the author of the reliefs with “S. Filippo Neri in the Catacomb of
St. Sebastian” and “S. Filippo Neri sees the souls of his penitents going to
heaven” also attributed to Camillo Rusconi
(1658/1728)
2nd
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. CHARLES BORROMEO or MALAGOTTI CHAPEL
“Madonna
and Child appearing to Sts. Carlo Borromeo and Filippo Neri” by an unknown artist of the first half of the seventeenth century
On the
sides “Fake perspectives” and “Annunciation” about 1748 by Girolamo Mengozzi aka Colonna (1688/1774) from Ferrara
1st
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. PETER
“Handing of
the keys” maybe by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)
Prospective frescoes by Girolamo Mengozzi aka
Colonna
SACRISTY
Walnut
furniture attributed to Filippo Juvarra
(1678/1736)
“S. Filippo
Neri in adoration of the Madonna and Child” about 1639 maybe by Pietro Barbieri (1684/1730) pupil of Carlo Maratta
CONVENT
In Via S. Girolamo della Carità 63
Rebuilt in
the years 1632/37 by Francesco Peparelli (active
since 1626/d. 1641)
Paintings
with connections to S. Filippo Neri including “S. Filippo Neri in adoration of
the Madonna and Child” about 1640 by Emilio Savonanzi
(1580/1660) from Bologna
