The Church of the Gesù ( it, Chiesa del Gesù, ), known also as the Saint Mary of Jesus (''Santa Maria di Gesù'') or the Casa Professa, is a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

-style,

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church established under the patronage of the

Jesuit order , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

, and located at Piazza Casa Professa 21 in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, region of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

The Jesuits arrived in Palermo in 1549, and by the late 16th century began building a church adjacent to their

professed house In the Society of Jesus, a professed house was a residence where - in a spirit of radical poverty - no member had a stable income. The Jesuit priests who lived there, all of whom have made the profession of the four vows, undertake their spiritual ...

(''casa professa'') based on a design by the Jesuit architect Giovanni Tristano. The original design called for a single nave with large transepts and several side chapels, but the building was refurbished in starting in the early 17th century, to a more grandiose layout typical of Jesuit architecture. Natale Masuccio removed the chapels' dividing walls to add two side naves to the central one. The dome was completed in 1686. The interior also received new decorations, starting in 1658 but continuing well into the next century. This baroque decor included marble bas-reliefs on the tribuna depicting the ''Adoration of the Shepherds'' (1710–14) and ''Adoration of the Magi'' (1719–21), by

Gioacchino Vitagliano Gioacchino Vitagliano (1669 – 27 April 1739) was a Sicilian Baroque sculptor. He was born and died in Palermo. He trained under Giacomo Serpotta, and married Serpotta's daughter. He sculpted the Fontana del Garraffo in Palermo. He also cr ...

, after designs attributed to

Giacomo Serpotta Giacomo Serpotta (10 March 1656 – 27 February 1732) was an Italian sculptor, active in a Rococo style and mainly working in stucco. Biography Serpotta was born and died in Palermo; and may have never left Sicily. His skill and facility with st ...

- both reliefs survive. A fresco of the ''Adoration of the Magi'' was also added to the walls of the second side-chapel to the right by

Antonino Grano Antonino Grano (1660–1718) was an Italian painter and engraver, principally active in Sicily. Putatively, he was from Palermo.Ignazio Marabitti Ignazio Marabitti (6 September 1719La Sicilia nel secolo XVIII e la poesia satiricoburlesca By Giuseppe Leanti, page 163. in Palermo – 1797 in Palermo) was a Sicilian sculptor of the late Baroque period. He trained in Rome in the studio of Fil ...

. Much of the interior stucco decoration was completed by Procopio Serpotta, son of Giacomo. In 1892, cavaliere Salvatore Di Pietro, philanthropist, former rector of the Casa Professa, prefect of studies at the seminary, and member of the Theological College, of the Academy of Sciences, letters and arts and of the Accademia di storia patria, convinced in 1888 the minister of public education, Paolo Boselli, to decree the church a national monument. In 1943, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a bomb collapsed the church's dome, destroying most of the surrounding walls and most of the wall paintings in the chancel and transepts. These frescoes were replaced during two years' restoration work, after which the church reopened on 24 February 2009 with a solemn mass presided over by

Paolo Romeo Paolo Romeo (born 20 February 1938) is a cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Palermo. He was appointed to the see of Palermo by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 December 2006. Romeo was the fifth of nine children. After primary school he entered the sem ...

archbishop of Palermo The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Palermo ( la, Archidioecesis Panormitana) was founded as the Diocese of Palermo in the first century and raised to the status of archdiocese in the 11th century.St Ignatius of Loyola, a Madonna with Child and

Francis Xavier Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December 1 ...

. The upper section is divided by pilasters and framed on both sides with corbels and statues of saints. The facade is surmounted by a curved-segmented gable and the Jesuit emblem. Masucci originally planned belfries, but these were not completed, and the current 18th-century campanile was built on the adjacent Palazzo Marchesi. Behind the church, the Jesuit chapter houses the collection of rare books of the Biblioteca comunale di Palermo. The layout is in the shape of a Latin cross. The nave is 72.10 m long, 42.65 m wide and 70 m high and is decorated with polychrome marbles, stucco and frescoes. In particular, the marble reliefs with their figural and ornamental motifs on the pillars and the marble mosaics are unique. The rebuilt structure has a double dome and stained glass windows.

Decorations (selected)

Decorations by: *

Pietro Novelli Pietro Novelli (March 2, 1603 – August 27, 1647) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Palermo. Also known as ''il Monrealese'' or ''Pietro "Malta" Novelli'' to distinguish him from his father, Pietro Antonio Novelli I ...

Vito D'Anna Vito D'Anna (14 October 1718 – 13 October 1769) was an Italian painter, considered the most prominent painter of Palermitan rococo and one of the most important artists of Sicily. Biography He was the father of Alessandro D'Anna, the brother- ...

(fresco depicting scenes from the life of

Saint Rosalia Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "''The Little Saint''", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playon. She is es ...

)

Gallery

File:ChiesaGesu stained glass.JPG, Stained glass and frescoes above main entrance. File:ChiesaGesu entrance.JPG, Main entrance surrounded by marble carvings. File:ChiesaGesu ceiling nave.JPG, Ceiling of nave, interior of dome with stained glasse, ceiling of chancel/

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

, daylight through

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

windows File:ChiesaGesu ceiling.JPG, Ceiling frescoes seen straight upwards. File:Sicilia Palermo8 tango7174.jpg, Lateral chapel File:ChiesaGesu Confessional.JPG, Confessional number 5 File:ChiesaGesu pulpit.JPG, Pulpit File:ChiesaGesu Marble detail.JPG, Marble carving, detail

Bibliography

* G. Filiti S.J., ''La Chiesa della Casa Professa della Compagnia di Gesù in Palermo'', Bondì Palermo, 1906. * D. Garstang, ''Giacomo Serpotta and the Stuccatori of Palermo, 1560-1790'', A.Zwemmer Ltd. London 1984. * S. Barcellona, ''Gli scultori del Cassaro'', Ingrana, Palermo 1971, riedito in ''Scritti d’arte: studi e interventi sulla cultura artistica in Sicilia'', edited by G. Bongiovanni, Brotto, Palermo 1992. * S. Piazza, ''I marmi mischi delle chiese di Palermo'', Sellerio, Palermo 1992, (in part. pp. 37–44). * Maria Carla Ruggieri Tricoli, ''Costruire Gerusalemme. Il complesso gesuitico della Casa Professa di Palermo dalla storia al museo'', Ed. Lybra, Milano 2001. * Luca Mansueto, ''I pilastri absidali della Chiesa del Gesù di Casa Professa in Palermo'', in Karta, anno I (2006), num.4, pp. 10–11.

External links

* https://archive.today/20130202035621/http://www.siciliantimes.com/search/label/Casa%20Professa *https://web.archive.org/web/20061221075327/http://www.palermoweb.com/cittadelsole/monumenti/chiesa_casa_professa.htm * http://www.palermoviva.it/chiesa-del-gesu-casa-professa/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Gesu, Church Of The Roman Catholic churches in Palermo Baroque church buildings in Palermo Jesuit churches in Italy 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy