San Giorgio in Braida is a

Roman Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, region of Veneto, Italy. A church titled ''San Giacomo in Braida'', was located in Cremona, and became superseded by Sant'Agostino.

History

In April 1046, the deacon of the

Verona Cathedral file:Italy - Verona - Cathedral.jpg, 250px, Verona Cathedral (2022) Verona Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Verona, northern Italy, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the designation ''Santa Maria Matricolare''. It is the episc ...

, later bishop of Parma, Cadalo commissioned the construction of a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery outside the city walls, in a suburb called Braida on land which he had acquired from Bishop Walter of Verona. Grassy area outside the city walls were once called "braide". By 1051, the monastery was generally complete, and the

Holy Roman Emperor Henry III Henry III (, 28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black () or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia. Henry was rai ...

placed it under his protection. By 1121, the monastery had a church. The 12th-century bell tower is what remains of the monastery."Chiesa di San Giorgio in Braida", CurateND
/ref> By 1127, the then bishop Bernardo expelled the monks for "keeping an abbey in a situation of spiritual, temporal, and material degradation". By 1132, the bishop with the blessing of

Pope Innocent II Pope Innocent II (; died 24 September 1143), born Gregorio Papareschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election as Pope was controversial, and the first eight years o ...

assigned the monastery to the

Canons Regular The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into Religious order (Catholic), religious orders, differing from both Secular clergy, ...

, an Augustinian order. In 1441,

Pope Eugene IV Pope Eugene IV (; ; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 March 1431 to his death, in February 1447. Condulmer was a Republic of Venice, Venetian, and a nephew ...

favored the transfer of the monastery to the Venetian Augustinian order of

Canons Regular of San Giorgio in Alga The Canons Regular of San Giorgio in Alga (''Congregatio Canonicorum Sancti Georgii in Alga Venetiarum'') were a congregation of canons regular which was influential in the reform movement of monastic life in northern Italy during the 15th and 16th ...

, reflecting in part the ascendancy of the republic in Verona since their fusion with Venice in 1405. In 1668, these canons were abolished by

Pope Clement IX Pope Clement IX (; ; 28 January 1600 – 9 December 1669), born Giulio Rospigliosi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 20 June 1667 to his death in December 1669. Giulio Rospigliosi was born into the noble Ro ...

. The monastery was sold at auction, but was acquired by the Nuns of Santa Maria di Reggio, who administered the church until their suppression in 1806. The church became an oratory subsidiary to Santo Stefano, and only acquired the parish dignity in 1874.Il monastero benedettino di S. Giorgio in Braida a Verona: nuove prospettive di ricerca sulla rifabbrica romanica (Sec XII)
by Angelo Passuello, Rivista del Centro Storico Benedittino Italiano, Anno 61, Fasc. 2, July–December 2014, page 320-325.

Architecture

The present church was built in the 16th century in the medieval quarter of Veronetta. The facade is marble white with two rows of pillars. The statues of St. George and St.

Lorenzo Giustiniani Lawrence Justinian (, 1 July 1381 – 8 January 1456) was a Venetian Catholic priest and bishop who became the first Patriarch of Venice. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Biography Lawrence Justinian was a member of the well-k ...

are on the sides. Around 1535

Michele Sanmicheli Michele Sanmicheli, sometimes also transcribed as Sammicheli, Sanmichele or Sammichele (Verona, 1484There is no certainty about the date of his birth. Vasari reports 1484, while architectural historian Giulio Sancassani, through a study of his fat ...

built the coffered dome of the church. The interior has a single nave built between 1536 and 1543, and contains above the main door a

Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...

depicting the ''Baptism of Christ''. The altarpiece of the main altar is

Paolo Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , ; ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana (Veronese), The Wedding ...

's masterpiece, ''The Martyrdom of St George'' (1564).

Paolo Farinati Paolo Farinati (also known as ''Farinato'' or ''Farinato degli Uberti''; c. 1524 – c. 1606) was an Italian Painting, painter of the Mannerist style, active in mainly in his native Verona, but also in Mantua and Venice. He may have ancestors a ...

's ''The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes'' is accounted his masterpiece. In 1776 were cast the six bells tuned in the scale of G major, on which was developed the

Veronese bellringing art Veronese is the Italian word denoting someone or something from Verona, Italy and may refer to: * Veronese Riddle, a popular riddle in the Middle Ages * ''Veronese'' (moth), a moth genus in the family Crambidae * Monte Veronese, an Italian chee ...

. In San Giorgio the new bells were hung for

full circle ringing Full circle ringing is a technique of ringing a tower bell such that it swings in a complete circle from mouth upwards to mouth upwards and then back again repetitively. English full-circle ringing technique Full-circle tower bell ringing in ...

. File:San Giorgio in Braida (Verona).jpg, Southern exposure File:Campanile San Giorgio in Braida .Verona, Italy.jpg, View from the left bank of the Adige File:Paolo Veronese 023.jpg, ''The Martyrdom of St. George'', by

, 1564 File:Moltiplicazione dei pani e dei pesci, dipinto di Paolo Farinati.jpg, Paolo Farinati, ''Multiplication of the loaves and fishes''

References

Sources

* Roman Catholic churches completed in 1543 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Giorgio in Braida Renaissance architecture in Verona {{Veneto-RC-church-stub