San Giovanni della Pigna is a small

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 located on Traversa Vicolo della Minerva in the rione Pigna of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy. The church was made a cardinalate deaconry by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 1985.

Description

Initially a church dedicated to ''Saints Eleuterio and Ginnasi Martyrs'' was located here. In ruinous state, it was granted by Pope

Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

to the 'Archconfraternity of the ''Pietà verso il carcerati'', led by the Jesuit Giovanni Talier. The lay organization made outreach to prisoners, including galley prisoners. Pope Sixtus V granted them the right to pardon one prisoner under the death sentence. In 1624, the church was refurbished under the designs of

Angelo Torroni Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name *Angelo Accattino (born 1966), Italian prelate of the Catholic Church *Angelo Acciaioli (bishop) (1298–1357), Italian Rom ...

. The main altarpiece depicts ''St John the Baptist'' by

Baldassare Croce Baldassare Croce (Bologna, 1558–November 8, 1628) was an Italian painter, active during the late-Mannerist period, active mainly in and around Rome. Biography He trained in Bologna, and moved to Rome by 1581. Known as a prolific academic paint ...

; a ''Pieta'' by

Luigi Garzi Luigi Garzi (1638 – 1721) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, whose work displayed heavy influences of the Bolognese painter, Guido Reni. Biography Born in Pistoia. He started learning from a poorly known landscape painter, Salomo ...

; and a ''St Eleuterio'' by

Giacomo Zoboli Giacomo is an Italian name. It is the Italian version of the Hebrew name Jacob. People * Giacomo (name), including a list of people with the name Other uses * Giacomo (horse), a race horse, winner of the 2005 Kentucky Derby * ''Giácomo'' (film) ...

.Accurata, E Succinta Descrizione Topografica, E Istorica Di Roma
Volume 1, by Ridolfino Venturini, published by Carlo Barbellieni, Rome (1768); page 277. SanGiovanniPigna-Interno01-SteO153

List of Cardinal Deacons

Francis Arinze Francis Arinze (born 1 November 1932) is a Nigerian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2002 to 2008 and before that led the Secretariat for Non-Christ ...

(1985 - 2005) *

Raffaele Farina Raffaele Farina SDB (born 24 September 1933) is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives, Librarian of the Vatican Library, and president (''Consiglio di Presidenza'') of Scuola Vaticana di Pale ...

, SDB (2007 - )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giovanni della Pigna, Rome Titular churches Churches of Rome (rione Pigna) 1624 establishments in Italy