Third or
fourth century as S. Salvatore della Corte (St. Savior of the Court)
alluding to the name of the nearby ancient EXCUBITORIUM
DELLA VII COORTE DEI VIGILI (Headquarters of the VII Firefighters
Brigade)
Renovated
in the twelfth century
Renovated
again in 1730 by Gabriele Valvassori
(1683/1761), who worked for free as a vow to the Virgin Mary for having been
healed from a serious illness
The DOME
was demolished in 1891 due to the damage caused by the explosion of a gunpowder
depot nearby
1821 in
simple stucco. Funds were never raised to properly complete Valvassori's work
The name of
the church is such for a series of miracles that occurred in 1730 related to an
image painted on the outside wall of a house nearby, which was seen to glow, after
having returned sight to a blind man
The image
was then transferred in the church, which changed its name from St. Savior
of the Court to St. Mary of Light
It is the church
of the Latin-American community in Rome and it is entrusted to the Minims
of St. Francis of Paola
It is the
seat since 2003 of the CAPPELLANIA LATINOAMERICANA (Latin-American
Chaiplaincy), founded by the Scalabrini Fathers in 2000
The mission
is made up of eighteen communities from different countries of Latin America
and here Mass is celebrated in both Spanish and Portuguese languages
INTERIOR
Restored in
1730 by Gabriele Valvassori
Stucco
decoration 1768
3rd
CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
Above the
altar “Death of St. Joseph” 1754 by Giovanni Conca
(about 1690/1771) cousin of the more famous Sebastiano Conca and often believed
his brother, so tight their bonds of friendship and work were. He was the
father of distinguished painter Tommaso Conca
4th
CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
Above the
altar “Virgin Mary with Sts. Anne and Joachim” 1753 by the Roman Pietro Labruzzi (1738/1805)
who was the court painter of King Stanislaus Augustus of Poland
“His first
documented work dates to 1753 with the Virgin Mary and Sts. Anne and Joachim
painted for the Roman church of S. Maria della Luce, as part of the decoration
works promoted by the Minims and assigned to a group of artists of Neapolitan
background, including Sebastiano and Giovanni Conca and Onofrio Avellino. This
would suggest, considering also the stylistic affinity with the adjacent works
by Sebastiano Conca and Avellino in the same church, a youth pictorial training
of Labruzzi among the Neapolitan community of artists operating in the papal
capital. Moreover, still together with artists from the southern area (again
Sebastiano Conca, but also Gaetano Sortini), Labruzzi was active in the
subsequent works in St. Stephen in Piscinula (destroyed in about 1862) for the
altar with The Stoning of St. Stephen” (Francesco Leone - Dizionario
Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
Frescoes in
the APSE “Eternal Father blessing”, “Savior” on the tabernacle and restoration
of the “Lady of Light” (originally dating back to the sixteenth century) by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)
LEFT
TRANSEPT
Above the
altar “St. Francis of Paola crossing the Strait of Messina” by Onofrio Avellino (about 1674/1741), a pupil of
Francesco Solimena
3rd
CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above
the altar “Sts. Francis of Paola, Francis de Sales and Jeanne de
Valois” 1752 by Giovanni Conca (about 1690/1771)
No comments:
Post a Comment