Santa Maria della Vittoria ( en, Saint Mary of Victory, la, S. Mariae de Victoria) is a Catholic

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 ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

. The church is known for the masterpiece of

Gian Lorenzo Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...

in the Cornaro Chapel, the '' Ecstasy of Saint Teresa''. The church is in the Rione

Sallustiano Sallustiano is the 17th ''rione'' of Rome, identified by the initials R. XVII. It is located within the Municipio I and the name refers to the ancient Gardens of Sallust (''Horti Sallustiani''), which were located here. History During the Augus ...

, on number 98 via XX Settembre, where this street intersects with Largo Santa Susanna. It stands to the side of the

Fontana dell'Acqua Felice The Fontana dell'Acqua Felice, also called the Fountain of Moses, is a monumental fountain located in the Quirinale District of Rome, Italy. It marked the terminus of the Acqua Felice aqueduct restored by Pope Sixtus V. It was designed by Domen ...

. The church mirrors the Church of

Santa Susanna The Church of Saint Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian ( it, Chiesa di Santa Susanna alle Terme di Diocleziano) is a Roman Catholic parish church located on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, Italy. There has been a titular church associated to its site ...

across the Largo. It is about two blocks northwest of the Piazza della Repubblica and Teatro dell'Opera metro stop.

History

The land for the church was purchased on April 20, 1607, and built from 1608 to 1620, as a chapel dedicated to

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

for the

Discalced Carmelites The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...

. After the Catholic victory at the

battle of White Mountain ), near Prague, Bohemian Confederation(present-day Czech Republic) , coordinates = , territory = , result = Imperial-Spanish victory , status = , combatants_header = , combatant1 = Catholic L ...

in 1620, which reversed the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

, the church was rededicated to the Virgin Mary. Turkish standards captured at the 1683 siege of Vienna hang in the church, adding to the theme of the Virgin helping to lead Catholic armies to victory. The order itself funded the building work until the discovery of the

Borghese Hermaphroditus The ''Sleeping Hermaphroditus'' is an ancient marble sculpture depicting Hermaphroditus life size. In 1620, Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini sculpted the mattress upon which the statue now lies. The form is partly derived from ancient portray ...

in the excavations.

Scipione Borghese Scipione Borghese (; 1 September 1577 – 2 October 1633) was an Italian Cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the artist Bernini. His legacy is the establ ...

, nephew of

Pope Paul V Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...

, appropriated this sculpture but, in return, funded the rest of work on the façade and granted the order his architect

Giovanni Battista Soria 220px, Façade of Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli in Rome, with the Torre delle Milizie">Rome.html" ;"title="Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli in Rome">Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli in Rome, with the Torre delle Milizie behind. Giovanni Battista Soria (1 ...

. These grants only came into effect in 1624, and work was completed two years later.

Exterior

The church is the only structure entirely designed and completed by the early

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 ...

architect

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 Vall ...

, though the interior suffered a fire in 1833 and required restoration. Its façade, however, was erected by

during Maderno's lifetime, 1624-1626, showing the unmistakable influence of Maderno's

nearby.

Interior

Pipe organ in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome HDR

Its interior has a single wide nave under a low segmental vault, with three interconnecting side chapels behind arches separated by colossal corinthian pilasters with gilded capitals that support an enriched

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

. Contrasting marble revetments are enriched with white and gilded stucco angels and

putti A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...

in full relief. The interior was sequentially enriched after Maderno's death; its vault was frescoed in 1675 with triumphant themes within shaped compartments with feigned frames: ''The Virgin Mary Triumphing over Heresy'' and ''Fall of the Rebel Angels'' executed by

Giovanni Domenico Cerrini Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (1609–1681), also called ''Gian Domenico Cerrini'' or ''il Cavalier Perugino'', was a painter of the Baroque period, born in Perugia and active mainly in Rome and influenced in large part by painters of the Bolognese ...

in 1675.

Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome - Interior

Other sculptural detail abounds: ''The Dream of Joseph'' (left transept,

Domenico Guidi Domenico Guidi (1625 – 28 March 1701) was a prominent Italian Baroque sculptor. Born in Carrara, Guidi followed his uncle, Giuliano Finelli, a prominent sculptor noted for his feud with Bernini, to Naples. When he fled Naples in 1647 dur ...

, flanked by relief panels by Pierre Etienne Monnot) and the funeral monument to Cardinal

Berlinghiero Gessi Berlinghiero Gessi (28 October 1563 – 6 April 1639) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal. Early life Gessi was born in Bologna on 28 October 1563, the son of Giulio Cesare Gessi, doctor of philosophy and medicine, and Valeria Segni. He was a re ...

. There are paintings by

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as Guercino, or il Guercino , was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vig ...

, Nicolas Lorrain, and

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 sho ...

. The church is also the final resting place of Saint Victoria, whose preserved remains are on display inside.

Cornaro Chapel

The masterpiece in the Cornaro Chapel, to the left of the altar, is '' Ecstasy of St. Teresa'' by Scipione's favored sculptor, Bernini. The statues depict a moment as described by Saint

Teresa of Avila Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...

in her autobiography, where she had the vivid vision of a

Seraph A seraph (, "burning one"; plural seraphim ) is a type of celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Tradition places seraphim in the highest rank in Chr ...

piercing her heart with a golden shaft, causing her both immense joy and pain. The flowing robes and contorted posture abandon classical restraint and repose to depict a more passionate, almost voluptuous trance. Although artistically a tour de force, nonetheless, during Bernini's lifetime and in the centuries following till this very day, Bernini's ''Saint Teresa'' has been accused of crossing a line of decency by sexualizing the visual depiction of the saint's experience, to a degree that no artist, before or after Bernini, dared to do: in depicting her at an impossibly young chronological age, as an idealized delicate beauty, in a semi-prostrate position with her mouth open and her legs splayed-apart, her wimple coming undone, with prominently displayed bare feet (Discalced Carmelites, for modesty, always wore sandals with heavy stockings) and with the seraph "undressing" her by (unnecessarily) parting her mantle to penetrate her heart with his arrow.

Titulus

Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome - Ceiling

Santa Maria della Vittoria was established as a

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

on 23 December 1801. The following is a list of its

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 ...

s:David M. Cheyney, ''Catholic-Hierarchy:'
''S. Maria della Vittoria''
Retrieved: 2016-03-14. * Michelangelo Luchi (1801–1802) *

Joseph Fesch Joseph Fesch, Prince of France (3 January 1763 – 13 May 1839) was a French priest and diplomat, who was the maternal half-uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte (half-brother of Napoleon's mother Laetitia). In the wake of his nephew, he became Archbishop ...

(1803–1822); ''

in commendam In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...

'' (1822–1839) * Ferdinando Maria Pignatelli (1839–1853) * Adriano Fieschi (1853–1858) * Joseph Othmar von Rauscher (1858–1875) * Godefroy Brossais-Saint-Marc (1876–1878) * Louis-Edouard-François-Desiré Pie (1879–1880) *

Luigi Jacobini Luigi Jacobini (6 January 1832 – 28 February 1887) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Vatican Secretary of State from 1880 until his death; he was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1879. Biography Bo ...

(1880–1887) *

Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau (February 17, 1820 – April 12, 1898) was a Canadian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 1871 until his death in 1898. The first Canadian cardinal, he was elevated to the Coll ...

(1887–1898) * Giovanni Battista Casali del Drago (1899–1908) * François-Marie-Anatole de Rovérié de Cabrières (1911–1921) *

Alexis-Armand Charost Alexis-Armand Charost (14 November 1860 – 7 November 1930) was a French cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Rennes from 1921 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1922. Biography Alexis Charost ...

(1922–1930) *

Angelo Maria Dolci Angelo Maria Dolci (12 July 1867 – 13 September 1939) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was made a cardinal in 1933. He was Bishop of Gubbio from 1900 to 1906, Archbishop of Amalfi from 1911 to 1914, and Apostolic Vicar o ...

(1933–1936) *

Federico Tedeschini Federico Tedeschini (12 October 1873 – 2 November 1959) was an Italian cardinal of the Holy Roman Church who served as papal datary in the Roman Curia from 1938 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1933 '' in pectore'' (p ...

(1936–1951) *

Giuseppe Siri Giuseppe Siri (20 May 1906 – 2 May 1989) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Genoa from 1946 to 1987, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1953. He was a protege of Pope Pius XII. He was considered ...

(1953–1989) *

Giuseppe Caprio Giuseppe Caprio (15 November 1914 – 15 October 2005), was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He held the post of President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See before he retired in 1990. He had been the ...

(1990–2005) *

Seán Patrick O'Malley Seán Patrick O'Malley (born June 29, 1944) is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church serving as the archbishop of Boston. He is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2006. Since its ...

, OFM Cap (2006–incumbent) File:Santa maria della vittoria 07.JPG File:Cornaro SM della Vittoria.jpg File:Cornaro chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome HDR.jpg File:Santa Maria della Vittoria - 1.jpg File:Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome - pipe organ HDR.jpg

References

Sources

* * * Sturm, Saverio (2015). ''L’architettura dei Carmelitani Scalzi in età barocca: La ‘Provincia Romana’. Lazio, Umbria e Marche (1597-1705).'' Roma: Gangemi Editore. * Hibbert, Howard (1965). ''Bernini''. New York: Pelican-Penguin. * Susanne Juliane Warma (1981). ''A Study of the Iconography of Bernini's Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria Della Vittoria'' Athens: University of Georgia. * G. Matthiae (1965). ''S. Maria della Vittoria''. Rome.

External links

Chris Nyborg, "Churches of Rome: Santa Maria della Vittoria"
* ttp://www.romecity.it/Santamariadellavittoria.htm "Santa Maria della Vittoria"(in Italian)
Roma SPQR: "Santa Maria della Vittoria"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Maria Della Vittoria Maria Vittoria Maria Vittoria Baroque architecture in Rome Roman Catholic churches completed in 1626 1626 establishments in Italy Maria Vittoria 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Carlo Maderno buildings