S. BARTOLOMEO ALL'ISOLA
In the
SQUARE “Marble spire with
Sts. Bartholomew, Paulinus of Nola, Francis of Assisi and John of God” 1869 by Ignazio
Jacometti (1819/83) for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78) in place of a
column destroyed by a cart that hit it in 1867
All the
saints represented on the column have a connection with the Tiber Island
The church
was built in the year 998 by Emperor Otto III (980/1002) on the ruins of the
Temple of Aesculapius in honor of St. Adalbert, bishop of Prague martyred in
that year
The emperor
asked the city of Benevento for the body of St. Bartholomew but the people of
Benevento pretended to accept and sent instead the body of St. Paulinus of
Nola, wanting to keep the body of the apostle
Otto III
became aware of the deception, Benevento was conquered and the body of St.
Bartholomew brought by force to Rome
Because of
the relics of St. Bartholomew the church changed name in 1180. It was
originally known as Sts. Adalbert, Paulinus and Bartholomew
It was
restored in 1113 with a new bell tower by Paschal II (1099/1118) and in about
1180 by Alexander III Bandinelli (1159/81)
It was
destroyed by the flood of 1557, rebuilt in the years 1583/85 maybe by Martino Longhi the Elder (1534/91)
It was
completely renewed in 1623/24 by Orazio Torriani
(about 1601/about 1657)
Other
restorations in 1739, 1852 and 1973/76
The church
is connected to a Franciscan monastery
Maybe by Orazio Torriani or Martino
Longhi the Younger (1602/60) son of Onorio Longhi and grandson of
Martino Longhi the Elder
Paintings
by Bonaventura Loffredo from the time of Pius IX
Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78)
“Ancient
columns” maybe from the Temple of Aesculapius
“Medieval marble well” maybe by Nicolò
di Pietro Angelo or Vassalletto obtained
from the drum of an ancient column with figures of the Saviour, Otto III and
Sts. Adalbert and Bartholomew
Frescoes in
the apse and canvas behind the altar “Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew” by the
Sicilian Francesco Manno (1752/1831)
Under the
altar “Old porphyry basin” with relics of St.
Bartholomew
who was flayed alive
Over the
altar “Icon of the martyrs of the twentieth century” 2002
The church
was dedicated in 2002 to the Christian martyrs of the twentieth and
twenty-first century
In the six
side chapels these martyrs are honored divided into four worldwide geographical
areas (Africa, Spain and Mexico, Latin America and the fourth one including
Asia, Oceania and the Middle East) and two chapels dedicated respectively to
the martyrs killed under communist regimes and martyrs killed under the Nazi
regime
TO THE
RIGHT OF THE MAIN ALTAR – ORSINI CHAPEL
At the
bottom left is embedded in the wall a cannonball known as “miracle
ball” shot
here by the French during the siege of the Roman Republic in 1849, without
causing casualties, although the church was packed
In the
building next to the church is the CAPPELLA DELL'ADDOLORATA (Chapel of Our Lady
of Sorrow) headquarters of the Confraternita dei Sacconi Rossi
(Brotherhood of the Red Big Sacks) whose members would bury people drowned in
the Tiber and people abandoned unburied who had been killed by robbers
There is
still an underground cemetery and a room decorated with the skeletons of some
people buried here, like the Cemetery
of the Capuchin Fathers in Via Veneto
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