Monday, March 4, 2019

St. MARY WAILING

S. MARIA DEL PIANTO
1608/12 begun by Nicolò Sebregondi (1580-90/about 1652) for the Confraternita di S. Maria del Pianto (Brotherhood of St. Mary Wailing)
It was built on the site of the earlier church of S. Salvatore in Cacaberis, from the word caccabarii, i.e. calderari, boilers manufacturers, also known as caccabi
1642/44 continued by G.B. Mola (1585/1665) with the apse, the sacristy and the bell tower
G.B. Mola was the author of the first guide of Rome not exclusively for pilgrims in the two editions of 1660 and 1663. He was the younger brother of the architect Giacomo Mola and father of the painter Pier Francesco Mola
1690 side altars and interior decoration by Filippo Tittoni
1817/18 restoration by Peter Holl (1780/1855-56)

DOME
1735 Mario Bernardi
The façade and the main nave of the church were never built
The name comes from the miraculous image of Mary which, in front of a heinous crime, shed tears in 1546
“Two young men are playing in the street, even if an order of Monsignor Governor forbids it. The game ends in dispute and a fight begins. One of the youths wins over the other, pulls out a knife in anger, and he is about to kill him. This one asks for mercy in the name of the Virgin Mary depicted in a fresco with the Child in her arms on a wall of a building on that road. The winner, at the invocation of mercy done in the name of Our Lady, throws the knife on the ground and helps the rival to get up, but this one picks up the dagger and 'as a prize to have given him life, he wickedly killed him'. Faced with this fact 'The Holy Imagine cries abundant tears from the eyes' and a Spanish priest, who was at the scene, collects the tears in a handkerchief” (Francesco Arbitrio - www.ilfonendoscopio.it)
PORTAL
Rebuilt 1875 by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82) in a style that imitates the fifteenth century

INTERIOR
Interior decoration 1817 by Camillo Marini

AT THE ENTRANCE
“Fragment of gothic ciborium” from the destroyed church of S. Salvatore in Cacaberis

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NAVE
“Processional Banner: Virgin in Glory (recto) and Miracle of the Weeping Madonna (verso)” by Francesco Simoncelli, pupil of Lazzaro Baldi
“Important aspect of the career of Lazzaro Baldi and unique case in the seventeenth century, it was his work as a contractor in the manufacture of panels for the canonization of saints, reproduced almost in series and entrusted to his large workshop which translated, simplifying it and cleverly reducing it, his plain and compelling language suitable to grip the audience of the faithful” (Antonella Pampalone)

RIGHT TRANSEPT - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCES OF ROME
Above the altar “Madonna and Sts. Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua and Frances of Rome” about 1702 by Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703)

On the left “Funerary Monument of Pompeo Palmieri” 1646/50 by G.B. Mola

MAIN ALTAR

Designed by G.B. Mola

Venerated fresco of the “St. Mary Wailing” of the fifteenth century, protagonist of the miracle in 1546

On the walls of the choir two paintings with frames made in 1746 by Gabriele Valvassori (1683/1761):

On the right “Jesus appearing to St. Martin” 1605 by Agostino Ciampelli (1565/1630)

On the left “Jesus Among the Doctors” 1605 by an anonymous artist follower of Caravaggio perhaps close to Carlo Saraceni

Above the pediment two statues of “Angels” by Domenico Prestinari (active in Rome 1611/47)

LEFT TRANSEPT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS

“Painted Crucifix in papier-mâché” of the sixteenth century from the destroyed church of S. Salvatore in Cacaberis

In the frontal “Urn” with relics of St. Costantius martyr
On the left “Funerary Monument of Luigi Zannini” 1642 by Giovanni Pagni with portrait by Benigno Angiolini. Luigi Zannini was the guardian of the Brotherhood of St. Mary Wailing

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