San Giacomo in Augusta (also known as San Giacomo degli Incurabili) 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 ...

church in

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. It was the church of the Hospital of

San Giacomo degli Incurabili The hospital of ''San Giacomo in Augusta'' (Saint James in Augusta), also known as San Giacomo degli Incurabili (Saint James of the Incurables) was a historic hospital located in Rome. History The Hospital was built for the first time in 1349 by ...

Location and name

Located on

Via del Corso The Via del Corso is a main street in the historical centre of Rome. It is straight in an area otherwise characterized by narrow meandering alleys and small piazzas. Considered a wide street in ancient times, the Corso is approximately 10 metres w ...

, roughly three blocks south of the

Piazza del Popolo Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the poplars (''populus'' in Latin, ''pioppo'' in Italian) after which the church of Santa Maria del ...

in the

rione A (; plural: ) is a neighbourhood in several Italian cities. A is a territorial subdivision. The larger administrative subdivisions in Rome are the , with the being used only in the historic centre. The word derives from the Latin , the 14 su ...

Campo Marzio Campo Marzio is the 4th ''rione'' of Rome, identified by the initials R. IV. It belongs to the Municipio I and covers a smaller section of the area of the ancient ''Campus Martius''. The logo of this rione is a silver crescent on a blue backgroun ...

, nearly opposite to the church of

Gesù e Maria Gesù or Gesu may refer to: * Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the Society of Jesus ** Church of the Gesù (disambiguation), other churches with the name * Jesus in the Italian language * Gesù Nuovo Gesù Nuovo ( it, New Jesus) is the ...

. A Church at this site was originally built in the 14th century adjacent to the hospital for the incurables (Incurabili), and thus is also known as San Giacomo degli Incurabili. The suffix "in Augusta" refers to the neighboring

Mausoleum of Augustus The Mausoleum of Augustus ( it, Mausoleo di Augusto, italic=no) is a large tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The mausoleum is located on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, near the corner with Via ...

History

A church at the location was founded along with a hospital by Cardinal Giovanni Colonna in 1339. By 1515, the hospital was in a state of abandon but within a few decades reopened under the supervision of two religious orders with the aim of curing those affected by

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

Pope Nicholas V Pope Nicholas V ( la, Nicholaus V; it, Niccolò V; 13 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene IV, Po ...

placed it under the control of the Company of

Santa Maria del Popolo it, Basilica Parrocchiale Santa Maria del Popolo , image = 20140803 Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo Rome 0191.jpg , caption = The church from Piazza del Popolo , coordinates = , image_size ...

. This order was under the patronage of the Florentine Cardinal Antonio Maria Salviati who commissioned the reconstruction of the church. The church was built from 1592 by Francesco Capriani and completed after his death by

Carlo Maderno Carlo Maderno (Maderna) (1556 – 30 January 1629) was an Italian architect, born in today's Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peter's Basilica and Sant'Andrea della Valle ...

in 1604-1609.

Interior

Within the oval shape of the interior a cross shape of two axes from entrance to main altar and the central chapels of the sides establishes a dominance of the second chapel of each side with respect to the two other subordinate ones. For the central second chapel on the right, the sculptor

Pierre Le Gros the Younger Pierre Le Gros (12 April 1666 Paris – 3 May 1719 Rome) was a French sculptor, active almost exclusively in Baroque Rome where he was the pre-eminent sculptor for nearly two decades.Gerhard Bissell, ''Pierre le Gros, 1666–1719'', Reading ...

is also documented as the architect - which basically means he was in charge of all its decoration from 1711–14. The chapel was originally dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

but received a second

dedication Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church, or other sacred building. Feast of Dedication The Feast of Dedication, today Hanukkah, once also called "Feast of the Maccabees," is a Jewish festival observed for eight days fr ...

to St.

Francis of Paola Francis of Paola, O.M., (or: Francesco di Paola or Francis the Fire Handler; 27 March 1416 – 2 April 1507) was an Italian mendicant friar and the founder of the Roman Catholic Order of Minims. Unlike the majority of founders of men's religiou ...

when it was transformed into the funeral chapel of a former governor of the church, Antonio de Filippi. The centre piece is a large marble

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

by Le Gros showing the saint in adoration of an old venerated image of the

Madonna and child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in ...

, intervening to cure the sick. On the side walls are large paintings by

Giuseppe Passeri Giuseppe Passeri (12 March 1654 – 2 November 1714) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in his native city of Rome. Born the nephew of the painter Giovanni Battista Passeri, Giuseppe trained in the studio of Carlo Maratta. A ...

also showing episodes of the life of Francis of Paola. (in German) On the altar in the first chapel on the right is a ''Resurrection'' by the mannerist painter

Cristoforo Roncalli Cristoforo Roncalli (c. 1552–1626) was an Italian mannerist painter. He was one of the three painters known as ''Pomarancio'' or ''Il Pomarancio''. Life Roncalli was born in Pomarance, a town near Volterra. His training occurred in ...

. In the third chapel is a ''Baptism of Christ'' by

Domenico Passignano Domenico Passignano (1559 – 17 May 1638), born Domenico Cresti or Crespi, was an Italian painter of a late- Renaissance or Counter-''Maniera'' (Counter-Mannerism) style that emerged in Florence towards the end of the 16th century. Biography ...

, the ''Last Supper'' by

Giovanni Battista Ricci Giovanni Battista Ricci (Novara, circa 1537 – Rome, 1627) nicknamed Il Novara after his birth town, was an Italian painter of the late-Mannerist and early- Baroque period, active mainly in Rome. Biography Ricci moved to Rome from his native Pi ...

and also the ''History of Melchisedec'' and the ''Story of Manna in the Desert'' by Vespasiano Strada. The central chapel on the left features the statue of ''San Giacomo'' by Ippolito Buzzi, the first chapel on the left a ''Nativity'' painted by

Antiveduto Grammatica Antiveduto Grammatica (1571 – April 1626) was a proto- Baroque Italian painter, active near Rome. Grammatica was born in either Siena or Rome. According to Giovanni Baglione the artist was given the name Antiveduto ("foreseen") because his ...

and the third a number of paintings by Francesco Zucchi.

Cardinal titular church

On 22 February 2014

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

established San Giacomo in Augusta as a new

titular church In the Catholic Church, a titular church is a church in Rome that is assigned to a member of the clergy who is created a cardinal. These are Catholic churches in the city, within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rome, that serve as honorary de ...

. He appointed as its first

Cardinal Priest A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

the Haitian Cardinal Chibly Langlois. * Chibly Langlois 22 February 2014 – present

References

Sources

*Rome: A tour of many days : in three volumes, Volume 1. By George Head, p 106. London 1849. *

Anton Maria Salviati Antonio Maria Salviati (January 21, 1537 – April 26, 1602) was a Republic of Florence, Florentine Roman Catholic cardinal. Biography Salviati was born in Florence, son of Lorenzo Salviati and Costanza Conti, the nephew of cardinals Bernardo ...