1767/75 Clemente
Orlandi (1694/1775) Luigi Vanvitelli's pupil. It was built over a previous church of
mysterious origins
“The church
stands on the site of an older one, for which the only source is a manuscript
of Giovanni Antonio Bruzio. According to this manuscript some Hungarian and
Polish monks, following the rule of St. Paul the First Hermit, previously
settled in S. Salvatore in Onda and later in S. Stefano Rotondo, in 1669 bought
this site on Viminal Hill from the Cistercians of St. Pudentiana and erected
here a small church and a monastery” (Antonio Michelazzi -
www.sanfrumenzio.it/archivio/paolo_di_tebe.pdf)
“It was the
most important job, albeit late in his life, that Orlandi was ever given. His
career, although celebrated with important academic awards, had consisted
mainly in technical consulting, renovations and restorations. So he poured it
into what was to be his masterpiece, all of his architectural culture, deeply
rooted in the great tradition of the Roman Baroque” (Antonio Federico Caiola)
It is the
last example of a Baroque style building in Rome
It became
the new Hungarian church of the Order of the Pauline Monks after
the destruction in 1777 of the ancient church of the Hungarians near the
Basilica of St. Peter, for the construction of the new sacristy
It was also
dedicated to the St. Stephen I (about 970/1038), the first king of Hungary who
had promoted the conversion of the Hungarians to Christianity
Since 1801
it belonged to the Conservatory of the Most Holy Trinity
Deconsecrated
in 1870 when the Savoy crest on the FAÇADE replaced a palm tree. The coat of
arms is still however supported by two lions and a raven, symbol of the saint
as the palm
It is now
owned by the Ministry of Interior and it is the seat of the officers' club of
the Italian Police
INTERIOR
A Greek
cross with a dome with skylight windows. The original decorations is gone
St. PAUL OF
THEBES lived in the third century AD and, according to tradition, when he was
sixteen, during the persecution of Decius (249/251), fled into the wilderness
where he lived for almost ninety years sheltered in a cave with a palm tree and
a source of water, eating the bread that was brought to him by a raven
He would
have died at 113 years in the year 341 AD
At his
death, St. Anthony Abbot buried him in a pit dug, according to legend, by two
lions
In the
emblem of the Order of the Pauline Monks there are the symbols of St.
Paul of Thebes that relate to his life: a palm tree, two lions and a raven with
a piece of bread in its beak
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