The Church of St. Louis of the French ( it, San Luigi dei Francesi, french: Saint Louis des Français, la, S. Ludovici Francorum de Urbe) is a

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 let ...

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 ...

, not far from Piazza Navona. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to St. Denis the Areopagite and St. Louis IX, king of France. The church was designed by

Giacomo della Porta Giacomo della Porta (1532–1602) was an Italian architect and sculptor, who worked on many important buildings in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica. He was born at Porlezza, Lombardy and died in Rome. Biography Giacomo Della Porta was ...

and built by

Domenico Fontana Domenico Fontana (154328 June 1607) was an Italian architect of the late Renaissance, born in today's Ticino. He worked primarily in Italy, at Rome and Naples. Biography He was born at Melide, a village on the Lake Lugano, at that time join ...

between 1518 and 1589, and completed through the personal intervention of

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...

, who donated to it some property in the area. It is the national church in Rome of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

.Les pieux établissements de la France à Rome et à Lorette (in French)
It is a

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 des ...

. The current

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 ...

of the title is

André Vingt-Trois André Armand Vingt-Trois (; born 7 November 1942) is a French cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Paris from 2005 to 2017, having previously served as Archbishop of Tours from 1999 to 2005. He was elevated to the cardi ...

, former Archbishop of Paris.

History

When the

Saracens upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia ...

burned the

Abbey of Farfa Farfa Abbey ( it, Abbazia di Farfa) is a territorial abbey in northern Lazio, central Italy. In the Middle Ages it was one of the richest and most famous abbeys in Italy. It belongs to the Benedictine Order and is located about from Rome, in t ...

in 898, a group of refugees settled in Rome. Some monks remained in Rome even after their abbot Ratfredus (934–936) rebuilt the abbey. By the end of the tenth century, the Abbey of Farfa owned in Rome churches, houses, windmills and vineyards. A bull of Holy Roman Emperor

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

in 998 confirms the property of three churches: Santa Maria, San Benedetto and the oratorio of San Salvatore. When they ceded their property to the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

family in 1480, the church of Santa Maria became the church of Saint Louis of the French. Cardinal

Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

commissioned Jean de Chenevières to build a church for the French community in 1518. Chenevières' design was for an octagonal, centrally planned edifice. Building was halted when Rome was sacked in 1527, and the church was finally completed in 1589 by

and Giacomo della Porta, who designed the façade, according to an entirely different design. The church was consecrated by the Cardinal François de Joyeuse, Protector of France before the Holy See, on 8 October 1589. The interior was restored by Antoine Dérizet between 1749 and 1756. The foundation ' is responsible for the five French churches in Rome and apartment buildings in Rome and in Loreto. The foundation is governed by an "administrative deputy" named by the French Ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

Exterior

made the façade as a piece of decorative work entirely independent of the body of the structure, a method much copied later. The French character is evident from the façade itself, which has several statues recalling national history: these include

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

, St. Louis, St. Clothilde and St. Jeanne of Valois. The interior also has frescoes by

Charles-Joseph Natoire Charles-Joseph Natoire (3 March 1700 – 23 August 1777) was a French painter in the Rococo manner, a pupil of François Lemoyne and director of the French Academy in Rome, 1751–1775. Considered during his lifetime the equal of François Bouch ...

recounting stories of

Saint Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the House of Capet, Direct Capetians. He was Coronation of the French monarch, c ...

, Saint Denis and Clovis. San Luigi dei Francesi (Rome) - Ceiling HDR

Interior

Contarelli Chapel

Contarelli Chapel contains a cycle of paintings by the

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 ...

master

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of h ...

in 1599–1600 about the life of St. Matthew. This includes the three world-renowned canvases of '' The Calling of St Matthew'' (on the left wall), '' The Inspiration of Saint Matthew'' (above the altar), and '' The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew'' (on the right wall).

Polet Chapel

The Polet Chapel contains frescoes by

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoem ...

portraying the '' Histories of Saint Cecilia''.

Other works

Other works in the church include pieces by

Cavalier D'Arpino Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patroniz ...

, Francesco Bassano il Giovane, Muziano, Giovanni Baglione, Siciolante da Sermoneta,

Jacopino del Conte Jacopino del Conte (1510–1598; also spelled ''Iacopino'') was an Italian Mannerist painter, active in both Rome and Florence. A native of Florence, Jacopino del Conte was born the same year as another Florentine master Cecchino del Salvi ...

, Tibaldi and

Antoine Derizet Antoine Dérizet (16 November 1685 – 6 October 1768), of Lyon, was an experimentally classicizing French Late Baroque architect who spent much of his career in Rome, where he designed the churches of Church of SS. Claudius and Andrew of the Bu ...

. File:Michelangelo Caravaggio 040.jpg, '' The Calling of St. Matthew'' File:The Inspiration of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio.jpg, '' The Inspiration of Saint Matthew'' File:Michelangelo Caravaggio 047.jpg, ''The Martyrdom of St. Matthew'' File:San Luigi dei Francesi (Rome) - Interior.jpg, Interior File:Lazio Roma SLuigiFrancesi2 tango7174.jpg, Merklin organ File:Cappella Polet inside the Chiesa di San Luigi dei Francesi (Rome, Italy) P001.jpg, Polet Chapel PlanLuigiFrancesi

Burials

The church was chosen as the burial place for a number of higher prelates and members of the French community of Rome: these include the classic liberal economist

Frédéric Bastiat Claude-Frédéric Bastiat (; ; 30 June 1801 – 24 December 1850) was a French economist, writer and a prominent member of the French Liberal School. A member of the French National Assembly, Bastiat developed the economic concept of opportu ...

, Cardinal

François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, comte de Lyonnais (22 May 1715 – 3 November 1794) was a French cardinal and diplomat. He was the sixth member elected to occupy Seat 3 of the Académie française in 1744. Bernis was one of the most promin ...

, ambassador in Rome for

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

and

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

, and

Henri Cleutin Henri Cleutin, seigneur d'Oisel et de Villeparisis (1515 – 20 June 1566), was the representative of France in Scotland from 1546 to 1560, a Gentleman of the Chamber of the King of France, and a diplomat in Rome 1564-1566 during the French Wars o ...

, the French Lieutenant in 16th-century Scotland. There is also the tomb of Pauline de Beaumont, who died of consumption in Rome in 1805, erected by her lover Chateaubriand. 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 buried here in an unmarked grave. The inscriptions found in San Luigi dei Francesi, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella.

Ospizio San Luigi dei Francesi

Adjacent to the church is the late-Baroque Ospizio San Luigi dei Francesi. It was built in 1709–1716 as a place to stay for the French religious community and pilgrims without resources. Its porch has a bust of Christ whose face is traditionally identified as

Cesare Borgia Cesare Borgia (; ca-valencia, Cèsar Borja ; es, link=no, César Borja ; 13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was an Italian ex-cardinal and ''condottiero'' (mercenary leader) of Aragonese (Spanish) origin, whose fight for power was a major i ...

's. The interior houses a gallery with portraits of the

French kings France was ruled by Monarch, monarchs from the establishment of the West Francia, Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Cl ...

and a notable Music Hall.

Cardinal-Priests of S. Luigi dei Francesi

The Church of S. Louis was designated as a cardinalatial titulus on 7 June 1967, by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

.David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarch
San Luigi dei Francesi
Retrieved 3 November 2016. Its titulars have to date all been archbishops of Paris: * Pierre Veuillot (29 June 196714 February 1968) *

François Marty Gabriel Auguste François Marty (18 May 1904 – 16 February 1994) was a French Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Paris. Early years He was born in Vaureilles, Pachins, in France. His family were farmers. His first baptismal forename was ...

(30 April 196916 February 1994) * Jean-Marie Lustiger (26 November 19945 August 2007) * André Armand Vingt-Trois (24 November 2007Present)

Notes

Sources

* Patrizia Tosini, Natalia Gozzano (editors), ''La Cappella Contarelli in San Luigi dei Francesi'' (Roma: Gangemi Editore, 2012). * Calogero Bellanca, Oliva Muratore, O. Muratore, ''Una didattica per il restauro II: esperienze a San Luigi dei Francesi e San Nicola dei Lorenesi'' (Firenze: Alinea, 2009). * Sebastiano Roberto, ''San Luigi dei Francesi: la fabbrica di una chiesa nazionale nella Roma del '500'' (Roma: Gangemi, 2005). * Claudio Rendina, ''Enciclopedia di Roma''. Newton Compton, Rome, 1999. * Francesco Quinterio,

Franco Borsi Franco Borsi (1925-2008) was an Italian architect and architectural historian. He was professor of history of architecture at the University of Florence, and wrote on Giovanni Michelucci, Leon Battista Alberti, Gian Lorenzo Bernini Gian Loren ...

, Luciano Tubello, ''Il palazzo dei senatori a San Luigi de' Francesi'' (Roma: Editalia, 1990). * Albert Armailhacq, ''L' église nationale de Saint Louis des Français a Rome: notes historiques et descriptives'' (Rome: Philip Cuggiani 1894). * Jean Arnaud, ''Mémoire historique sur les Institutions de la France à Rome'', 2nd edition (Rome: Editrice Romana 1892).

External links

* Official website of the Diocese of Rome
Chiesa Rettoria San Luigi dei Francesi in Campo MarzioOfficial website of the Church
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:San Luigi Dei Francesi

Luigi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

Roman Catholic churches completed in 1589 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Luigi dei Francesi