San Giovanni in Oleo is a chapel adjacent to the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

San Giovanni a Porta Latina San Giovanni a Porta Latina (Italian: "Saint John Before the Latin Gate") is a Basilica church in Rome, Italy, near the Porta Latina (on the Via Latina) of the Aurelian Wall. History According to Tertullian, as quoted by Saint Jerome, in the y ...

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 ...

. It commemorates the place where, according to legend, in 92 CE, at the hands of the emperor

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...

, the apostle

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

was immersed in a vat of boiling oil from which he emerged unharmed. Tradition relates that, having failed to execute the apostle, Domitian exiled him to the island of

Patmos Patmos ( el, Πάτμος, ) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where John of Patmos received the visions found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. One of the northernmos ...

where John wrote the biblical

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

. It is supposed that John later died and was buried in

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

where a large

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

was built to house his

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

. He is held to be the only one of the

Twelve Disciples In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and ministr ...

to have been spared from

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

. Although the current building is not ancient, the small centralized form - customarily employed by the Romans for martyria,

mausolea A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or Chamber tomb, burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum ...

and other memorial purposes - may have been inspired by an earlier structure. Documentary sources seem to indicate that San Giovanni a Porta Latina was in existence by the end of the

5th century The 5th century is the time period from 401 ( CDI) through 500 ( D) ''Anno Domini'' (AD) or Common Era (CE) in the Julian calendar. The 5th century is noted for being a period of migration and political instability throughout Eurasia. It saw the ...

. The present octagonal chapel was built circa 1509. The design was commonly ascribed to the architect

Donato Bramante Donato Bramante ( , , ; 1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style ...

, although it is now thought to have been the work either of

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger 250px, A model of the Apostolic Palace, which was the main project of Bramante during Sangallo's apprenticeship. 250px, The church of Santa Maria di Loreto near the Rome.html"_;"title="Trajan's_Market_in_Rome">Trajan's_Market_in_Rome. image: ...

Baldassare Peruzzi Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (7 March 1481 – 6 January 1536) was an Italian architect and painter, born in a small town near Siena (in Ancaiano, ''frazione'' of Sovicille) and died in Rome. He worked for many years with Bramante, Raphael, and la ...

. In 1658, it was remodeled by Borromini who added the frieze and the elaborate finial (the original of which is now preserved in the portico of the church nearby). . Renzulli, "Borromini restauratore: S. Giovanni in Oleo e S. Salvatore a Ponte Rotto", in ''Annali di architettura'', n. 10-11, 1999 (Italian). On the door is the coat of arms of the French prelate Benoît Adam, with the motto "Au plaisir de Dieu". The frescos depicting Saint John's attempted execution were painted by

Lazzaro Baldi Lazzaro Baldi ( – 30 March 1703) was an Italian painter and engraver of the Baroque period active mainly in Rome.

in 1716.

Notes

{{architecture-stub 5th-century churches 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Donato Bramante church buildings Francesco Borromini buildings Giovanni Oleo Renaissance architecture in Rome Giovanni Oleo Giovanni Oleo