The Church of Our Lady of Mercy in the Teutonic Cemetery (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Sancta Maria Pietatis in Coemeterio Teutonicorum,'' ) is a Roman Catholic church in the rione Borgo of Rome, Italy. It is located on the Via della Sagrestia. The building lies near the

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

, is attached and adjacent to the

Collegio Teutonico The Collegio Teutonico (German College), historically often referred to by its Latin name Collegium Germanicum, is one of the Roman Colleges, Pontifical Colleges of Rome. The German College is the Pontifical College established for future ecclesi ...

, and the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Teutonic Cemetery The Teutonic Cemetery (, "Camposanto of the Teutons and the Flemish") is a burial site in Rome adjacent to St. Peter's Basilica. Burial is reserved for members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of the German Cemetery, which owns the cemetery. It i ...

. The site belonged to the ''Schola Francorum'', a hospice for

pilgrims which was the oldest

institution in Rome. The church, lying in piazza Protomartiri Romani, is in the area of the Palazzo del Sant'Uffizo, which belongs to Italy but according to the

Lateran treaty The Lateran Treaty (; ) was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between Italy under Victor Emmanuel III and Benito Mussolini and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle the long-standing Roman question. The treaty and ass ...

has an extraterritorial status in favour of the Holy See. The term "Teutonico" is a reference to the Germanic peoples. The church is the National Church in Rome of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

History

In 796

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

, by permission of

Pope Leo III Pope Leo III (; died 12 June 816) was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 26 December 795 to his death on 12 June 816. Protected by Charlemagne from the supporters of his predecessor, Adrian I, Leo subsequently strengthened Charlem ...

, founded on ground adjoining this spot a hospice for pilgrims, which was intended for the people of his empire. In connection with the hospice was a church dedicated to the Saviour and a graveyard for the burial of the subjects of Charlemagne who died in Rome. From the beginning, this foundation was placed under the care of the ecclesiastical authorities of St Peter's. The decline, soon after this period, of the Carolingian empire, brought the hospice, the ''Schola Francorum'', entirely under the jurisdiction of the basilica; at the same time, the original intent of a place for pilgrims and the poor was preserved. In the complete ruin which overtook Rome during the

Avignon Papacy The Avignon Papacy (; ) was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon (at the time within the Kingdom of Arles, part of the Holy Roman Empire, now part of France) rather than in Rome (now the capital of ...

(1309–1378), and during the following decades of the

Western Schism The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Great Occidental Schism, the Schism of 1378, or the Great Schism (), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 20 September 1378 to 11 November 1417, in which bishops residing ...

, the ecclesiastical foundations in the vicinity of St. Peter's sank into decay.Waal, Anton de. "Campo Santo de' Tedeschi." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 8 April 2020 After the return of the popes, new life sprang up, and the enthusiasm for building and endowing foundations in the Borgo was rekindled under Popes Martin V, Eugenius IV, and Nicholas V. The remembrance of Charlemagne and his hospice revived in the mind of the large and influential German colony then residing at Rome, and during the reign of

Martin V Pope Martin V (; ; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Oddone Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. His election effectively ended the West ...

(1417–1431) the enlarged cemetery was surrounded with a wall built by Fredericus Alemannus, who also erected a house for its guardians. During the plague outbreak of 1448, Johannis Assonensis, a German confessor attached to St. Peter's and later

Bishop of Wurzburg A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

, assembled his countrymen there and founded among them a brotherhood, the object of which was to provide suitable burial for all poor Germans dying in Rome. When the Holy Year 1450 brought many pilgrims to Rome, the brotherhood built a church, a new hospice for German pilgrims on the adjoining land, and developed the Campo Santo into a German national institution. In the 15th, 16th, and even in the 19th century the German nation was represented at Rome by numerous officials at the papal court and by guilds of German bakers, shoemakers, and weavers; in these ages Germans were to be found in every industry of ordinary life, and German bankers and inn-keepers were especially numerous. Nevertheless, the steadily decreasing German population of Rome during the 17th and 18th centuries caused the Campo Santo, as a national foundation, and the brotherhood to sink into neglect. The church was progressively eclipsed by the church of

Saint Maria dell' Anima Santa Maria dell'Anima () is a church in central Rome, Italy, just west of the Piazza Navona and near the Santa Maria della Pace church. It was founded during the course of the 14th century by Dutch people, Dutch merchants, who at that time belonge ...

. In 1876

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

founded a seminary for German-speaking priests for the special study of archaeology and church history to replace the ''Schola Francorum''. Today, the church is still an important gathering place for the German-speaking community in Rome.

Description

The present church was built in 1501 and remodeled in 1972. Access to the Church (from the cemetery) is through a portal by sculptor

Elmar Hillebrand Elmar Hillebrand (11 October 1925, Cologne8 January 2016, Cologne) was a German sculptor., WDR, 11. Januar 2016 Life and education After graduating from high school at Apostelgymnasium (1943) and then doing military service and being a prisoner ...

of Cologne, given in 1957 by the President of the Republic of Germany

Theodor Heuss Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a German liberal politician who served as the first president of West Germany from 1949 to 1959. His civil demeanour and his cordial nature – something of a contrast to German nati ...

."Campo Santo Teutonico", Stato Della Città del Vaticano
/ref> During the

Sack of Rome (1527) The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, followed the capture of Rome on 6 May 1527 by the mutiny, mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, during the War of the League of Cognac. Charles V only intended to threaten military ...

, the

Swiss Guard The Pontifical Swiss Guard,; ; ; ; , %5BCorps of the Pontifical Swiss Guard%5D. ''vatican.va'' (in Italian). Retrieved 19 July 2022. also known as the Papal Swiss Guard or simply Swiss Guard,Swiss Guards , History, Vatican, Uniform, Require ...

made their last stand in the

, holding off the invading troops long enough for Pope Clement VII to escape over the Passetto di Borgo to Castel Sant'Angelo. The Chapel of the Swiss served as a burial place for the fallen guards. A guide from the early 19th century mentions a main altarpiece depicting a ''Deposition'' by Polidoro di Caravaggio, flanked by painting by Giacinto d'Hasse. This latter painter's tomb monument, located inside the church, was sculpted by Francois Duquesnoy. The lateral altars housed a ''St Erasmus'' by

Giacinto Gimignani Giacinto Gimignani (1606 – 9 December 1681) was an Italian painter, active mainly in Rome, during the Baroque period. He was also an engraver of aquaforte. Biography Gimignani was born in Pistoia, where his father, Alessio (1567–1651) was ...

and ''Epiphany'' by

Scarsellino Scarsellino or Ippolito Scarsella (1550 (or 1551) – 28 October 1620) was an Italian mid-to-late sixteenth century reformist painter and one of the most important representatives of the School of Ferrara (Painting), School of Ferrara. His lands ...

; the altar dedicated to St Charles Borromeo had an altarpiece depicting the ''Flight to Egypt'' by Arrigo Fiammingo, a member of the Confraternity; ''St John Nepomunk'' by Ignazio Stern; and the sacristy held an ''Immaculate Conception'' by

Luigi Garzi Luigi Garzi (1638–1721) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period whose style was strongly influenced by the work of the Bolognese painter Guido Reni. Biography He was born in Pistoia. He started learning from a poorly known landscape paint ...

.Guida metodica di Roma e suoi contorni
by Giuseppe Melchiorri, Rome (1836); page 442.

History

Description

See also

References

Sources

Further reading