The Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini (''Church of the Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims'') 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 lette ...

church located on Via dei Pettinari #36 In the rione of

Regola Regola is the 7th ''rione'' of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. VII, and belongs to the Municipio I. The name comes from ''Arenula'' (the name is recognizable in the modern ''Via Arenula''), which was the name of the soft sand (''rena'' ...

of central

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 stands a block away from the

Palazzo Spada The Palazzo Spada is a palace located on Piazza di Capo Ferro #13 in the rione Regola of Rome, Italy. Standing very close to the Palazzo Farnese, it has a garden facing towards the Tiber river. The palace accommodates a large art collection, th ...

on Via Capo di Ferro, while a few blocks away on the Via dei Pettinari stands the

Ponte Sisto Ponte Sisto is a bridge in Rome's historic centre, spanning the river Tiber. It connects Via dei Pettinari in the Rione of Regola to Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere. History The construction of the current bridge occurred between 1473 and 1479, and ...

History

Urged by

Filippo Neri Philip Romolo Neri ( ; it, italics=no, Filippo Romolo Neri, ; 22 July 151526 May 1595), known as the "Second Apostle of Rome", after Saint Peter, was an Italian priest noted for founding a society of secular clergy called the Congregation of t ...

, by 1540 lay members of his order gathered at the church of

San Girolamo della Carità San Girolamo della Carità is a church in Rome, Italy, located near the Palazzo Farnese and Campo de' Fiori. History According to tradition, this is the site of the domus of the matron Saint Paola who hosted Saint Jerome when he served as secr ...

. Neri soon had

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549. He came to ...

recognise the group as the ''Confraternita della Santissima Trinita de' Pellegrini e de' Convalescenti'' (Fraternity of the Holy Trinity of Pilgrims and Convalescent). For the Jubilee of 1550, the group took on the burden of hosting pilgrims, with particular regard for those who came from distant lands. After Holy Year, the association cared for the convalescent poor, discharged from city hospitals. In 1558,

Pope Paul IV Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, C.R. ( la, Paulus IV; it, Paolo IV; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death in August 1559. While serving as pap ...

assigned them the dilapidated church of San Benedetto in Arenula. The next year, the fraternity bought a house near the church to be used as a hospital-hospice. For the Jubilee of 1575, the fraternity hosted more than 180,000 pilgrims. The fraternity ultimately razed the decrepit church, and the first stone for the present church was laid on February 26, 1587. The consecration took place on June 12, 1616 and the church was titled initially ''Santissima Trinità e San Benedetto''. In subsequent centuries the parish and adjacent buildings continued to serve as a hospice for pilgrims, or as a hospital. In 2008

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

entrusted the parish to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), a society of apostolic life dedicated to the celebration and preservation of the

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...

, the 1962 form of which is authorised, under certain conditions, for continued use within the Catholic Church. The SS Trinità dei Pellegrini church provides the

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

in this form for the local community, as well as for tourists and pilgrims. As the home parish of the Latin Mass in Rome, Santissima Trinità hosts numerous visiting clergy who celebrate the Latin mass, including Archbishop

Alexander King Sample Alexander King Sample (born November 7, 1960) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon since 2013. Sample previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Marque ...

of Portland in Oregon, Bishop

Athanasius Schneider Athanasius Schneider, ORC (born Anton Schneider on 7 April 1961) is a Catholic prelate, serving as the Auxiliary Bishop of Astana in Kazakhstan. He is a member of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra. He is known for championing th ...

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, and Cardinal

Raymond Leo Burke Raymond Leo Burke (born June 30, 1948) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A bishop, cardinal, and the incumbent patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, he led the Archdiocese of St. Louis from 2004 to 2008 and the Diocese ...

Art and architecture

Facade

In 1722, a Piedmontese merchant, Giovanni Battista de' Rossi, commissioned the architect

Giuseppe Sardi Giuseppe Sardi (1680 – documented until 1768) was an Italian architect active in Rome. He was born at Sant'Angelo in Vado, Marche which was then part of the Papal States. Known primarily for his church of Santa Maria del Rosario in Marino o ...

to build the partially concave, late-Baroque style façade using designs by Francesco De Sanctis. The stucco statues on the façade, depicting the four evangelists, were completed by

Bernardino Ludovisi Bernardino Ludovisi (c. 1693 – 11 December 1749), also called Bernardo, was an Italian sculptor. Life and work Little is known of his life. The Ludovisi were an ancient Italian family, originally from Bologna. Bernardino seems to have spent ...

. The adjacent building to the facade (left of the church when facing the facade) was the former hospice of the confraternity.

Interior

The church has a Latin cross design with eight chapels: #''Chapel of Crocifisso'' #''Chapel of San Filippo Neri'': The altarpiece depicting the ''Ecstasy of St Phillip and vision of the Virgin and child'' (1853) was painted by Filippo Bigioli. #''Chapel of Giovanni Battista de' Rossi'': first dedicated to the Annunciation, and until recently, it housed the remains of this saint. It was frescoed 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 ...

; The altarpieces by Antonio Bianchini depict ''Jesus and Saint'' and ''Phillip Neri crowns St Giovanni Battista de’Rossi''. #''Chapel of St Matthew'': on right transept. The altar statue of ''Apostle Matthew'' was sculpted by Jacob Cornelisz Cobaert. #''Chapel of the Madonna and Saints Joseph & Benedict'': in left transept, now dedicated to Virgin of the ''Auxilium christianorum'' (Aide to Christians). The faint frescoes belong to the outer wall of the Palazzo Capranica: donated to the confraternity in 1558 by Pope

Paul IV Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, C.R. ( la, Paulus IV; it, Paolo IV; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death in August 1559. While serving as pap ...

. The altarpiece, by Giambattista Ricci, and depict ''Saints Joseph and Benedict of Norcia''. #''Chapel of St Gregory the Great'': The prior church at the site was dependent on the church of San Benedetto of the monastery of San Gregorio. The altarpiece depicts ''

Pope Gregory I Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregori ...

liberating souls from Purgatory'' painted by

Baldassarre Croce Baldassare Croce (Bologna, 1558–November 8, 1628) was an Italian painter, active during the late-Mannerist period, active mainly in and around Rome. Biography He trained in Bologna, and moved to Rome by 1581. Known as a prolific academic paint ...

; he also painted the frescoes on the walls. #''Chapel of Saints Augustine and Francis of Assisi'': The altarpiece depicting the ''Virgin with ST Francis and Augustine'' 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 patronize ...

. #''Chapel of St Charles Borromeo'': The altarpiece depicting the ''Virgin and child and Saints Carlo Borromeo, Domenico di Guzmán, Phillip Neri, and Felice da Cantalice'' was painted by

Guillaume Courtois Guillaume Courtois or italianized as Guglielmo Cortese, called Il Borgognone or Le Bourguignon ('the Burgundian'), (1628 – 14 or 15 June 1679Martino Longhi il Vecchio and Giovanni Paolo Maggi. The nave frescoes were originally painted by Raffaele Ferrara in 1853. The cupola (1612) was designed by

Giovanni Battista Contini Giovanni Battista Contini (1641–1723) was an Italian people, Italian architect of the Baroque architecture, Baroque period. He trained in Rome under Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, but imbibed the influence of Francesco Borromini. He designed churche ...

and decorated in polychrome marble by Valadier. The pennants were frescoed with the ''Evangelists'' by

; the cupola is frescoed with ''God the father'', attributed to Reni. The main altar has four columns of African black marble, and was built in 1616 by designs of Domenico Pozzi. The altarpiece depicts the Trinity (1625), a masterwork by

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious ...

. The work was commissioned by Cardinal

Ludovico Ludovisi Ludovico Ludovisi (22 or 27 October 1595 – 18 November 1632) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal and statesman of the Roman Catholic Church. He was an art connoisseur who formed a famous collection of antiquities, housed at the ...

, nephew of Pope

Gregory XV Pope Gregory XV ( la, Gregorius XV; it, Gregorio XV; 9 January 15548 July 1623), born Alessandro Ludovisi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 February 1621 to his death in July 1623. Biography Early life Al ...

.C.C. Malvasia, ''Vite dei pittori bolognesi'', Bologna 1678

Gallery

File:Altare Maggiore - Rosso.jpg, High Altar - Red File:Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini (Rome) - Dome.jpg, Cupola File:Altar of Repose - Easter 2019.jpg, Altar of Repose - Holy Week 2019 File:Commemorazione dei Defunti.jpg, All Souls Day File:TrinitaInterno.jpg, Nave File:TrinitaSanGregorio.jpg, Altar of St Gregorio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santissima Trinita Dei Pellegrini, Rome Trinita dei Pellegrini Churches used by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter Trinità dei Pellegrini 1616 establishments in Italy