Sant'Agata dei Goti is a church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the martyr Agatha of Sicily. It is the ''diaconia'' assigned to Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, patron of the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

. (It became ''pro hac vice'' title in 2021 when Cardinal Burke opted to become a cardinal priest.)

History

The church was built by Ricimer for the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

c. 460. The Goths were Arians, so when Arianism was suppressed in Rome, the building was taken over by the Catholic Church, in 592 or 593, and reconsecrated by Pope Gregory the Great. It was restored in the 9th century, and a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery was founded next to it. The

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

of the church collapsed in 1589, and it was partially rebuilt in 1633, without major changes to the building itself apart from the new apse. The small courtyard outside the church was laid out at this time. The church has been served by the Stigmatines since 1926. Their generalate is adjacent to it. It is the only Arian church that has been preserved 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 ...

Exterior

The Romanesque

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

was built in the 12th century. The façade was rebuilt by Francesco Ferrari in 1729. The relief above the door shows St. Agatha holding her severed breasts on a plate; her torturers severed her breasts when she refused to renounce her faith in Christ. The entrance from Via Mazzarino opens on a 17th-century courtyard. From 1836 to 1926, it belonged to the Irish College. Cardinal Paul Cullen, a former Rector of the Irish College, modelled the church of the Holy Cross College in Clonliffe in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

on the plans of St Agatha's.

Interior

Although it was redecorated in the

Baroque style 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 ...

and has some 19th-century additions, it is still possible to see traces of the 5th-century plan, which was a

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 ...

with three naves. The granite columns separating the naves are ancient. The

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

in the apse shows the ''Glory of St Agatha'', made by

Paolo Gismondi Paolo Gismondi (known also as Paolo Perugino) (1612 in Perugia – 1685) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was a pupil of Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia in Perugia, then of Pietro da Cortona in Rome. Under commission by Cardinal Ba ...

in the 17th century. A cherub bring the severed breasts of Agatha on a platter to the Virgin as an demonstration of her sacrifice. There is a 12th- or 13th-century canopy above the altar, reassembled and erected here in 1933. It has four columns of pavonazzetto marble, all decorated with Cosmatesque

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

, and a temple roof. The former canopy was destroyed in 1589; fragments can be seen in the ceiling of the main chapel on the left-hand side. The 15th-century Cosmatesque pavement in the middle of the nave has an unusual, but very nice, design. It is a very late example of the style. The rectangular windows were installed in the 17th century at the request of the Cardinals

Francesco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

and

Antonio Barberini Antonio Barberini (5 August 1607 – 3 August 1671) was an Italian people, Italian Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims, Archbishop of Reims, military leader, patron of the arts an ...

. By the altar of St Agatha is a large statue of the saint. Ricimer, who was buried in the church, had a mosaic installed. This was unfortunately destroyed in 1589, when the apse collapsed. The Greek humanist John Lascaris (died 1535) is interred in the church and the heart of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

, the 'Liberator' (died Genoa 1847), is buried here. The heart disappeared in vague circumstances during renovation work around 1925.

Liturgy

The feast of the Greek martyrs whose relics are preserved here is on 2 December. It is usually celebrated with an evening Mass with the liturgy of the Byzantine Catholic rite. Other important feasts are that of St Agatha on 5 February and St

Gaspar Bertoni Gaspare Luigi Bertoni (9 October 1777 – 12 June 1853) was an Italian people, Italian Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Stigmatines, Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata, also known as the Stigmatines. Lif ...

, founder of the Stigmatines, on 12 June.

Titulars

''Pro illa vice'', literally "for that turn", indicates a temporary appointment. ''In commendam'' indicates that a cardinal who holds one title is also granted oversight of another vacant title.

References

Sources

Lucinda Byatt
"Sant'Agata dei Goti on the Quirinal: An Early Sixteenth-Century Fulcrum for Politics and Learning under Cardinal Ridolfi," Conference
''Early Modern Rome 1341-1667, University of California Rome, 13-15 May 2010''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agata dei Goti, Sant' 460s establishments 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Agata 5th-century churches Ostrogothic art Churches of Rome (rione Monti)