Santa Maria in Gradi is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in the town of

Viterbo Viterbo (; Central Italian, Viterbese: ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Lazio region of Italy, the Capital city, capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in ...

in the region of

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, Italy. The church was once part of a

Dominican order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

monastery, but the convent is now adapted to form buildings in the

Tuscia University University of Tuscia (, UNITUS) is a university located in the city of Viterbo, Italy. Founded in 1979, the University comprises 6 academic departments. Much of the campus occupies the former monastic complex of Santa Maria in Gradi, Viterbo, Sa ...

(Università degli Studi della Tuscia). The convent stood outside of Porta Romana.

History and description

The Dominican convent was founded in 1244 with the patronage of the papal notary, Raniero Capocci, who had been a friend to Dominic de Guzmán, founder of the order and beatified in 1234. The church of Santa Maria in Gradi was built over the next decades. It was consecrated in 1258 by

Pope Alexander IV Pope Alexander IV (1199 or 1185 – 25 May 1261) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 December 1254 to his death. Early career He was born as Rinaldo di Jenne in Jenne, Italy, Jenne (now in the Province of Rome ...

. The church of Santa Maria della Quercia in Viterbo also belonged to the Dominican order. But Santa Maria in Gradi, standing outside the city walls, suffered more depredations during various conflicts, and was refurbished both in the 1400s and in the 1700s. The latter work was directed by designs of Nicola Salvi. Little remains of the medieval church. It suffered from the allied bombardment in 1944, and subsequently the roof of the church collapsed in 1956. The monastery was suppressed in the 1870s, and the site had been used as a jail from 1873 to 1993. The church has undergone substantial restoration.Fondo Ambiente entry
Among those once buried in the church was Pope

Clement IV Pope Clement IV (; 23 November 1190 – 29 November 1268), born Gui Foucois (; or ') and also known as Guy le Gros ( French for "Guy the Fat"; ), was bishop of Le Puy (1257–1260), archbishop of Narbonne (1259–1261), cardinal of Sabina ( ...

(his tomb and monument were moved in the 18th-century to San Francesco, and the archbishop

Ruggieri degli Ubaldini Ruggieri degli Ubaldini (fl. 1271 – 15 September 1295, Viterbo) was an Italian archbishop. Life Born in Mugello to the powerful family of the counts of Pila, Ruggieri was the son of Ubaldino and the nephew of cardinal Ottaviano degli Ubal ...

, who Dante assigns to the circle of traitors in the Inferno.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Gradi Viterbo Maria in Gradi Romanesque architecture in Lazio Tuscia University