Santi Giovanni E Paolo, Rome
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Basilica of Saints John and Paul on the Caelian Hill (Italian: ''Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo al Celio'') is an ancient
basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...
church in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, located on the
Caelian Hill The Caelian Hill ( ; ; ) is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. Geography The Caelian Hill is a moderately long promontory about long, to wide, and tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius. The hill overlooks a plateau from wh ...
. It was originally built in 398. It is home to the
Passionists The Passionists, officially named the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (), abbreviated CP, are a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men, founded by Paul of the Cross in 1720, with a special emphasis on ...
and is the burial place of St. Paul of the Cross. Additionally, it is the station church of the first Friday in
Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...
.


History

The church was built in 398, by
senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
Pammachius, over the home of two Roman soldiers,
John and Paul John and Paul (Latin: ''Ioannes, Paulus'') are saints who lived during the fourth century in the Roman Empire. They were martyred at Rome on 26 June. The year of their martyrdom is uncertain according to their ''Acts''; it occurred under Julian ...
, martyred under the emperor Julian in 362. The church was thus called the ''Titulus Pammachii'' and is recorded as such in the acts of the synod held by
Pope Symmachus Pope Symmachus (died 19 July 514) was the bishop of Rome from 22 November 498 to his death on 19 July 514. His tenure was marked by a serious schism over who was elected pope by a majority of the Roman clergy. Early life He was born on the Medi ...
in 499. The church was damaged during the
sack A sack usually refers to a rectangular-shaped bag. Sack may also refer to: Bags * Flour sack * Gunny sack * Hacky sack, sport * Money sack * Paper sack * Sleeping bag * Stuff sack * Knapsack Other uses * Bed, a slang term * Sack (band), ...
by
Alaric I Alaric I (; , 'ruler of all'; ; – 411 AD) was the first Germanic kingship, king of the Visigoths, from 395 to 410. He rose to leadership of the Goths who came to occupy Moesia—territory acquired a couple of decades earlier by a combine ...
(410) and because of an earthquake (442), restored by
Pope Paschal I Pope Paschal I (; died 824) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 25 January 817 to his death in 824. Paschal was a member of an aristocratic Roman family. Before his election to the papacy, he was abbot of St. Stephen's monas ...
(824), sacked again by the
Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...
(1084), and again restored, with the addition of a monastery and a bell tower around 1099."Station to Saints John and Paul", Vatican
/ref>


Interior

The inside has three naves, with pillars joined to the original columns. The altar is built over a bath, which holds the remains of the two martyrs. The apse is frescoed with ''Christ in Glory'' (1588) by Cristoforo Roncalli (one of the painters called ''il Pomarancio''); while below this fresco are three paintings: a ''Martyrdom of St John'', a ''Martyrdom of St Paul'', and the ''Conversion of Terenziano'' (1726) by Giovanni Domenico Piastrini, Giacomo Triga, and Pietro Andrea Barbieri respectively. The sacristy features a canvas by Antoniazzo Romano of the ''Madonna and Child with Saints John the Evangelist and John the Baptist, and Saints Jerome and Paul''.


Cardinalatial title

The basilica is connected with the cardinalatial ''Titulus Ss. Ioannis et Pauli''. Among previous Cardinal Priests of this title are three who became Pope:
Pope Honorius III Pope Honorius III (c. 1150 – 18 March 1227), born Cencio Savelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 18 July 1216 to his death. A canon at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, he came to hold a number of importa ...
(Cencio Savelli, elevated to cardinal in 1198),
Pope Adrian VI Pope Adrian VI (; ; ; ), born Adriaan Florensz Boeyens (2 March 1459 – 14 September 1523), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 January 1522 until his death on 14 September 1523. The only Dutch people, Du ...
(Adriaan Boeyens, elevated to cardinal in 1517) and
Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
(Eugenio Pacelli, elevated to cardinal in 1929).
Since
Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. F ...
became the new Cardinal Priest of the titulus in 1946 (after it had been vacated by Pacelli's election to the papacy in 1939), it was held until 2015 by cardinals who were Archbishops of New York. In 2012, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York was elevated to cardinal and assigned a different title, because Cardinal Edward Egan, the first prelate to enjoy the title of Archbishop Emeritus of New York, continued in the title of ''Ss. Ioannis et Pauli'' until his death on 5 March 2015.
The title is now held by Cardinal Josef De Kesel, the Archbishop of Mechelin-Bruxelles, who was appointed to it on 19 November 2016.


List of Cardinal-Priests since 1200

* Cencio Savelli (1200–1216), later Pope Honorius III. * Pedro Rodríguez (1302–1310) * Bertrand des Bordes (1310–1311) * Jacques de Via (1316–1317) * Matteo Orsini OP (1327–1338) * Etienne Aubert (1342–1352), later Pope Innocent VI * Andouin Aubert (1353–1361) *
Guillaume de la Sudrie Guillaume de la Sudrie (la Sudré) (died 18 April 1373) was a French Dominican and Cardinal, born in Laguenne, Corrèze. He started to serve as bishop of Marseille in the beginning of 1361. He was made cardinal on 18 September 1366
OP (1366–1367) * Simone Brossano (1375–1381) * Gautier Gómez de Luna (1382–1391), Pseudocardinal * Jean Flandrin (1391–1405), Pseudocardinal * Tommaso Brancaccio (1411–1427), Pseudocardinal * ''vacant'' (1427–1430) * Domingo Ram y Lanaja (1430–1444) *
Latino Orsini Latino Orsini (1411 – 11 August 1477) was an Italian Cardinal. Life Of the Roman branch of the Orsini family, he was the fourth child of Carlo and Paola Gironima Orsini. He entered the ranks of the Roman clergy as a youth, became subdeacon ...
(1448–1465) * Philibert Hugonet (1477–1484) * ''vacant'' (1484–1489) * Ardicino della Porta, iuniore (1489–1493) * Giambattista Orsini (1493–1503) * Francesco de Remolins (1503–1511); in commendam (1511–1517) * Adriaan Florenszoon Dedel van Utrecht (1517–1522), later
Pope Adrian VI Pope Adrian VI (; ; ; ), born Adriaan Florensz Boeyens (2 March 1459 – 14 September 1523), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 January 1522 until his death on 14 September 1523. The only Dutch people, Du ...
* Willem van Enckevoirt (1523–1534) * Esteban Gabriel Merino (1534–1535) * Afonso de Portugal (1535–1540) *
Pedro Fernández Manrique Pedro Fernández Manrique (c. 1500–1540) was a Spanish people, Spanish Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Bishop (Catholic Church), bishop and Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal. Biography Pedro Fernández Manrique was born in Aguilar de Campoo ca. ...
(1540) * Federico de Campo Fregoso (1541) * Pierre de la Baume Montrevel (1541–1544) *
Georges d'Armagnac Georges d'Armagnac (c. 1501 – July 1585) was a French humanist, patron of arts, cardinal and diplomat deeply embroiled in the Italian Wars and in the French Wars of Religion. Biography He was born at Avignon, the son of Pierre d'Armagnac ...
(1545–1556) * Fabio Mignanelli (1556–1557) * Antonio Trivulzio (1557–1559) * Alfonso Carafa (1560–1565) *
Gabriele Paleotti Gabriele Paleotti (4 October 1522 – 22 July 1597) was an Italian cardinal and Archbishop of Bologna. He was a significant figure in, and source about, the later sessions of the Council of Trent, and much later a candidate for the papacy in 15 ...
(1565–1572) (Cardinal dean) * Nicolas de Pellevé (1572–1584) *
Antonio Carafa Antonio Carafa may refer to: *Antonio Malizia Carafa (died 1437) *Antonio Carafa (cardinal) (1538–1591) *Antonio Carafa (general) (1642–1693) *Antonio Carafa (bishop of Ugento) (died 1704) {{hndis, Carafa, Antonio ...
(1584–1591) * Alessandro Ottaviano de Medici (1591–1592), later Pope Leo XI * Giovanni Battista Castrucci (1592–1595) * Agostino Cusani (1595–1598) * Camillo Borghese (1599–1602), later Pope Paul V * Ottavio Acquaviva d’Aragona (1602–1605) *
Pietro Aldobrandini Pietro Aldobrandini (31 March 1571 – 10 February 1621) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal and patron of the arts. Biography Pietro Aldobrandini was a cousin of Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini, and uncle of Cardinals Silvestro a ...
(1605–1612) * Decio Carafa (1612–1626) * Carlo Emmanuele Pio di Savoia (1626) *
Lorenzo Magalotti Lorenzo Magalotti (24 October 1637 – 2 March 1712) was an Italian philosopher, author, diplomat and poet. Magalotti was born in Rome into an aristocratic family, the son of Ottavio Magalotti, Prefect of the Pontifical Mail: his uncle Lorenz ...
(1628–1637) * ''vacant'' (1637–1642) * Francesco Maria Macchiavelli (1642–1653) * Giberto Borromeo (1654–1672) * Giacomo Rospigliosi (1672–1684) * Fortunato Carafa (1687–1697) * Fabrizio Paolucci (1699–1719) * ''vacant'' (1719–1726) * Niccolò Maria Lercari (1726–1743) * Camillo Paolucci (1746–1756); in commendam (1756–1763) * Giovanni Carlo Boschi (1766–1784) *
Giuseppe Garampi Giuseppe Garampi (29 October 1725 – 4 May 1792) was an Italian scholar and collector of documents and books. Biography He was born in Rimini, the son of Count Lorenzo Garampi, a patrician of the city of Rimini. As a youth he studied in Rimini u ...
(1786–1792) * Aurelio Roverella (1794–1809) * ''vacant'' (1809–1816) * Antonio Lamberto Rusconi (1816–1825) * Vincenzo Macchi (1827–1840) * Cosimo Corsi (1842–1870) * ''vacant'' (1870–1874) * Mariano Benito Barrio y Fernández (1874–1876) *
Edward Henry Howard Edward Henry Howard (13 February 1829 – 16 September 1892) was an English Catholic priest and archbishop, who was made a Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal in 1877. He was a relative of the Duke of Norfolk, Dukes of Norfolk. Howard is in the epi ...
(1877–1884) * Placido Maria Schiaffino (1885–1889) *
Franziskus von Paula Graf von Schönborn Franziskus von Paula Graf von Schönborn (; 24 January 1844 – 25 June 1899) was a Czech Catholic cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal. Early life Born at Prague on 24 January 1844 into an Uradel, ancient noble House of Schönborn, he was the fou ...
(1889–1899) * Giuseppe Francica-Nava de Bontifè (1899–1928) *
Eugenio Pacelli Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
(1929–1939), later
Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
*
Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. F ...
(1946–1967) * Terence Cooke (1969–1983) * John Joseph O’Connor (1985–2000) * Edward Michael Egan (2001–2015) *
Jozef De Kesel Jozef De Kesel (born 17 June 1947) is a Belgian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels from 2015 to 2023. He previously served there as auxiliary bishop from 2002 to 2010. He served as Bishop of Bruges from 2010 to 20 ...
(2016–)


Excavations

During excavations performed in the 19th century, a series of Ancient Roman rooms were discovered under the nave of the church. Some of these rooms date back to the first and fourth centuries AD. According to the writer Charlotte Anne Eaton, these rooms were dens that were part of a
vivarium A vivarium (; or vivariums) is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Water-based vivaria may have open tops providing they are not connected to other water bodies. An animal enclosur ...
in which wild animals were kept before being used in entertainments held at the
Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...
. A low vaulted passage connected this vivarium with the Colosseum. The underground sites of the basilica were discovered in 1887 by Father Germano da San Stanislao, who at the time was rector of the Basilica, and was searching for the tombs of the martyrs John and Paul. He found twenty decorated rooms belonging to at least five different buildings dated between the first and the fourth century AD. These five buildings comprise one of the best conserved Roman era residential building complexes still in existence today, and one of the best examples of a '' domus ecclesiae'' ("house church"). The original
frescoes Fresco ( 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 plaster, the painting become ...
can still be seen, with scenes of the martyrdom. The houses are accessed outside the church on the Clivus Scauri. In one room, which was a nymphaeum courtyard, an elegant third-century AD fresco depicting Proserpine and other divinities among cherubs in a boat () can be found, as can traces of another marine fresco and mosaics in the window arches. Between the third and the fourth century AD, some modifications were made to the rooms, and a sort of oratory was made, with Christian-themed frescoes, while in the other rooms the decorations did not specifically have Christian themes (winged genies, garlands, birds, etc.). A '' confessio'' was also built in the fourth century AD in a passageway behind the Clivus Scauri. The walls of the ''confessio'' were frescoed with Christian themes (e.g., the beheading of Saints Crispus, Crispinus, and Benedicta, female figures and an ''orante'' or "person in prayer").


References


Bibliography

* Mariano Armellini, ''Le Chiese di Roma, dalle loro origini sino al secolo XVI'' (Roma: Tipografia editrice Romana 1887), pp. 276–281. * Germano Di San Stanislao, ''La Casa Celimontana dei SS. Martiri Giovanni E Paolo'' (Roma: Tipografia della pace di F. Cuggiani, 1894). * Stanislao Dell'Addolorata, ''La Basilica Celimontana dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo'' (Roma: Bucciarelli, 1930). * Istituto di studi romani, ''SS. Giovanni e Paolo al Celio'' (Roma : Tip. Centenari, 1956) hiese di Roma, cenni religiosi, storici, artistici, 70 * Adriano Prandi and G Ferrari,''The Basilica of Saints John and Paul on the Caelian Hill: After the Restorations and Archaeological Explorations Promoted by His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York and Cardinal Titular of the Basilica'' (Roma 1958). * Gioacchino Alberto De Sanctis, ''I Santi Giovanni e Paolo, martiri celimontani'' (Isola del Liri (FR) : Pisani, M., 1962). * Bianca Maria Margarucci Italiani, ''Il titolo di Pammachio, Santi Giovanni e Paolo'' (Roma: Postulazione Gen. dei PP. Passionisti, 1985). * Alia Englen, ''Case romane e Antiquarium: sotto la Basilica dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo al Celio : guida breve'' (Roma: L' 'Erma' di Bretschneider 2004).


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rome, Saints James and Paul Titular churches Saints James and Paul Buildings and structures completed in the 4th century 4th-century churches Saints James and Paul