1675/79 Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) with the financing of
Cardinal Girolamo Gastaldi for the Reformed of the Third Order of St.
Francis of the Congregation of France
It was
built on the site of the destroyed church of S. Orsola (St. Ursula)
Continued
by Carlo Fontana (1634/1714), completed in 1681
Twin church
of the nearby S. Maria di Montesanto that still was not finished when this was
begun
As in S.
Maria di Montesanto the project of Rainaldi was constrained by the measures of
the columns recycled from the destroyed bell towers of Bernini for St. Peter
“The church
has a façade that repeats identical certain elements of its twin but with a
larger body that forced Bernini - during the resumption of the work of S. Maria
di Montesanto - to design the high side of the drum of that church, facing the
square, of exactly the same size to mask the different shapes of the dome (here
octagonal) and of the plant, circular in shape with only two chapels on each
side, focusing therefore the visual attention toward the top of the buildings,
rebalanced for symmetrical intent” (Stefano Petrocchi)
Restored in
1825 when the DOME was covered with shards of slate
BELL TOWER
1760/65 by Giovanni Domenico Navone (known since 1706/d. 1770)
UPPER PART
OF THE PORCH
“Ten
statues of saints of the Franciscan Order” about 1677 by various artists
including Ercole Ferrata (1610/86), Lazzaro Morelli (1608/90), Filippo
Carcani (active 1670/91), Michel Maille aka Michele Maglia (active in Rome in the second
half of the seventeenth century), Lorenzo Tedesco and Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88)
INTERIOR
Statues on
the walls including “Fame of Cardinal Girolamo Gastaldi” by Ercole Antonio Raggi (1624/86)
1st
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE ASSUMPTION AND St. GREGORY THAUMATURGUS
Above the
altar “Assumption and St. Gregory Thaumaturgus” by an anonymous
artist of the nineteenth-century from the ruined church of S. Chiara
To the
right of the altar “Funerary monument of the Marquis Guglielmi di Castro and of
his wife” with “Hope” in the upper part 1868 by Cesare
Benaglia (?/d. 1884)
2nd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. JOSEPH
Above the
altar “St. Joseph with the Child and Angels” and two ovals with “Christ and
Mary Magdalene in the house of Simon the Pharisee” and “Jesus in the House of
Martha and Mary” by an anonymous eighteenth-century
Roman artist
In front of
the altar copy of the “Virgin of Betharram” 1916. The original is in the
sanctuary near Lourdes
“Bronze
Crucifix” by Pericle Fazzini (1913/87)
TO THE
RIGHT OF THE PRESBYTERY
“Funerary
monument of Benedetto Gastaldi brother of the Cardinal” by Carlo Fontana with statues “Faith” and “Hope” by Girolamo Lucenti (?/1698)
MAIN ALTAR
1677 Carlo Fontana (1634/1714)
On the
altar copy of 1599 of the venerated “Our Lady of Miracles”
from the original now in S. Giacomo in Augusta, originally kept in the Chapel
of Our Lady of Miracles housed in a tower of the Aurelian Walls in the stretch
along the Tiber
According
to tradition, a woman with the same appearance of Our Lady in 1525 would have
saved a child who was drowning in the River Tiber
“Angels” in stucco by Ercole
Antonio Raggi (1624/86)
“In St. Mary
of the Miracles Fontana was left to direct the works after Rainaldi in 1677 and
he did not fail to decorate the chapel of the choir according to his intentions
and, as far as possible, following a unifying criterion. The main altar, with
the columns that fall toward the center, is designed as a scene (...).
Coordinated with this set are the two tombs for Cardinal Girolamo Gastaldi and
his brother Benedict. Following the maxims of Bernini, Fontana was able to use
a tight site, a dead space between the side doors and the balconies of the
choruses, to the benefit of the monuments that became elements of connection” (Helmut Hager - Dizionario
Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
TO THE LEFT
OF THE PRESBYTERY
“Funerary
monument of Cardinal Girolamo Gastaldi” by Carlo Fontana
with statues “Prudence” and “Temperance” by Ercole
Antonio Raggi
2nd
LEFT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY
Above the
altar nineteenth century copy of “Our Lady of the Rosary” by G.B. Salvi aka
Sassoferrato (1609/85) in the Basilica
of St. Sabina
On the
sides ovals “Stories of the True Cross” by an anonymous
Roman artist of the late eighteenth century
1st
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. ANTHONY
Above the
altar “Virgin and Child with Sts. Anthony of Padua and Antonio Abate” the only
recognized work by the Frenchman Henri Gascard
(1634/1701)
Under the
altar relics of St. Candida from the Catacomb
of S. Priscilla
On the wall
“Funerary monument of the sculptor Antonio d'Este” m.1837
He was
a pupil of Antonio Canova and he succeeded him in the post of director of the
Vatican Museums
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