The Basilica of Santa Aurea is a church situated in the

Ostia Antica Ostia Antica ("Ancient Ostia") is a large archaeological site, close to the modern town of Ostia (Rome), Ostia, that is the location of the harbour city of ancient Rome, 25 kilometres (15 miles) southwest of Rome. "Ostia" (plur. of "ostium") is a ...

district of Ostia,

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 ...

. Ostia became an

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

as early as the 3rd century AD. The present-day church, completed in 1483, it was the seat of the

suburbicarian The seven suburbicarian dioceses are Roman Catholic dioceses located in the vicinity of Rome, whose (titular) bishops are the (now six) ordinary members of the highest-ranking order of cardinals, the cardinal bishops (to which the cardinal-patriar ...

diocese of Ostia until 1966, when Ostia became part of the

diocese of Rome The Diocese of Rome ( la, Dioecesis Urbis seu Romana; it, Diocesi di Roma) is the ecclesiastical district under the direct jurisdiction of the Pope, who is Bishop of Rome and hence the supreme pontiff and head of the worldwide Catholic Church. ...

History

The church was built at the end of the 15th century by order of the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

cardinal

Guillaume d'Estouteville Guillaume d'Estouteville, OSB (c. 1412–1483) was a French aristocrat of royal blood who became a leading bishop and cardinal. He held a number of Church offices simultaneously. He conducted the reexamination of the case of Jeanne d'Arc and ...

, and was completed by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (the future

Pope Julius II Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or th ...

). The actual construction was entrusted to

Baccio Pontelli Baccio Pontelli (c. 1450 – 1492) was an Italian architect, who designed the Sistine Chapel in The Vatican City. Baccio is an abbreviation of Bartolomeo. Pontelli was born in Florence. Passing the phase of artistic formation with Giuliano and Be ...

, who had also built the neighboring fortress. It is uncertain whether the church was built over a pre-existing

Paleochristian The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teache ...

church, but according to tradition, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Ostia, the martyr Saint Aurea, was buried near the present-day location of the church. According to tradition, the relics of

Saint Monica Monica ( – 387) was an early North African Christian saint and the mother of Augustine of Hippo. She is remembered and honored in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, albeit on different feast days, for her outstanding Christian virtues, partic ...

, mother of

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

, rested at this early church of Santa Aurea before being

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

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 ...

to the church of

San Trifone in Posterula San Trifone in Posterula was an ancient titular church of Rome, now lost. It was located at the corner of Via dei Portoghesi and Via della Scrofa, in the Campo Marzio ''rione'' of the city. Name The church's dedication was to the martyr St. Tr ...

and finally to the

Basilica di Sant'Agostino it, Basilica di Sant'Agostino in Campo Marzio , image = Sant Agostino Fassade.jpg , caption = Façade from the Piazza di Sant’Agostino , coordinates = , image_size=270 , mapframe-frame-width=270 , m ...

. The relics of St.

Asterius of Ostia Saint Asterius of Ostia (d. 3rd century AD) was a martyred priest. Information on this saint is based on the apocryphal ''Acts of Saint Callixtus''.Sabine Baring-Gould, ''The Lives of the Saints''. Vol. 2. (J. Hodges, 1877). Digitized June 6, ...

are enshrined at Santa Aurea.Sabine Baring-Gould, ''The Lives of the Saints''. Vol. 2. (J. Hodges, 1877). Digitized June 6, 2007. Page 506.

Description

The inside of the basilica contains a single

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, and the church is illuminated by a

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...

and double lancet windows dating from the 15th century. The church contains a chapel dedicated to Saint Monica, which contains a sepulchral stone re-discovered in the summer of 1945 that contains a funerary epigraph written by Anicius Bassus. The fragment was discovered after two boys were digging a hole to plant a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

post in the courtyard beside Santa Aurea.Peter Brown, ''Augustine of Hippo: A Biography, Revised Edition with a New Epilogue'' (University of California Press, 2000), 124. The chapel contains a painting by

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

called the ''Ecstasy of Saint Monica'' (''Estasi di santa Monica''). The apse is dedicated with frescoes of the 16th century. The basilica, center of a parish dating from the Paleochristian age, has been a '' titulus'' since the 12th century.

References

{{Reflist

Sources

* C. Rendina, ''Le Chiese di Roma'', Newton & Compton Editori, Milano 2000, 41 * AA.VV., ''Il borgo di Ostia da Sisto IV a Giulio II''. in "Il ’400 a Roma e nel Lazio", Roma, 1981 * M. Floriani Squarciapino, ''Considerazioni su Ostia cristiana'', in "Studi romani" 27 (1979) 15-24. A, Santa Aurea

Aurea Aurea, golden in Latin, may refer to: * Aurea (car), a former Italian automobile manufactured in Turin from 1921 to 1930 * Aurea (singer) (born 1987), Portuguese singer * Aurea Alexandrina, a kind of opiate or antidote * Áurea, a municipality ...

Roman Catholic churches completed in 1483