The Church of Saints Michael and Magnus (, , ) 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

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, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, dedicated to

Saint Michael the Archangel Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

and the Bishop Saint Magnus of Anagni. It lies on the northern slope of the Palazzolo hill, in

Rione A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed a ...

Borgo, near the Vatican, and is the

national church A national church is a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in a draft discussing ...

dedicated to 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 ...

. It is also known as the "Church of the

Frisians The Frisians () are an ethnic group indigenous to the German Bight, coastal regions of the Netherlands, north-western Germany and southern Denmark. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland an ...

" (). In 1989, the church was granted to the Dutch community in Rome. A 19th century source calls the church ''Santi Michele e Magno in Sassia'', due to a location on a ''Vico dei Sassoni''.

History

The Frisians were converted to Christianity in the 8th century by

Saint Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop, and missionary. He became the first Bishop of Utrecht in what is now the Netherlands, dying at Echternach in Luxembourg, and is known as the "Apostle to the Frisians". Ea ...

, known as the "Apostle to the

" in the modern

. The

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

n missionary crossed the North Sea with eleven companions to bring the Gospel. From that time on, Frisian pilgrims regularly visited Rome. The old name for the people from the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

who came to Rome has remained in use ever since. A colony of Frisians was living in Rome as early as the 8th century."Church of Santi Michele e Magno", Turismo Roma, Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion Department
/ref> The ''Schola'' of the Frisians is mentioned at the time 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 ...

's return to Rome in 799, at

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 ...

's visit in 800 and by

Louis II of Italy Louis II (825 – 12 August 875), sometimes called the Younger, was the king of Italy and emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone. Louis's usual title was '' imper ...

in 844. In 845, the Frisians and the inhabitants of the other scholae defended

Old St. Peter's Basilica Old St. Peter's Basilica was the church buildings that stood, from the 4th to 16th centuries, where St. Peter's Basilica stands today in Vatican City. Construction of the basilica, built over the historical site of the Circus of Nero, began dur ...

and its neighborhood against a

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

invasion. The ''schola'' was plundered nonetheless. Shortly after, the neighborhood was surrounded by a wall, remains of which can still be seen. Any pilgrim from the Frisian territory who came to Rome would stay in the Frisian hospice, the closest to the St Peter's. The church is built against the slope of the Gianicolo hill. Thanks to its location it was preserved in the 16th century when all the buildings at the bottom of the hill were demolished for the construction of

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...

. The Church of the Frisians is the only existing building that reminds us directly of the ''scholae'', built around the tomb of St. Peter. No remains of the small settlement's original church survive. Its patron saint was St Michael the Archangel, who liberated Rome from the plague and was a saint favored during the

Lombard Kingdom The Kingdom of the Lombards, also known as the Lombard Kingdom and later as the Kingdom of all Italy (), was an Early Middle Ages, early medieval state established by the Lombards, a Germanic people, on the Italian Peninsula in the latter part ...

of Italy. In 1989, the church was granted to the Dutch community in Rome. Mass is celebrated in Dutch every Sunday.

Description

The original church was destroyed during the Sack by the Normans in 1084. In 1141 the new and bigger church was built. It was a Romanesque building, with old columns, and a beautiful

bell tower 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 to ...

. This bell tower is still admirable, but the church looks very different from when it was built. It was at this time that Saint Magnus of Anagni, whose remains ended up in the church five hundred years after his death, was added as a patron. Enthusiastic Frisians tried to bring the relics back to Frisia, but that initiative was stopped by

Pope Leo IV Pope Leo IV (died 17 July 855) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 10 April 847 to his death in 855. He is remembered for repairing Roman churches that had been damaged during the Arab raid against Rome, and for building the ...

, and since then, the relics remained in Rome. In 1446,

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 ...

deprived the Frisians of the perpetual right to the church. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the interior was transformed to the extent that only small Romanesque details remain visible. There are two fragments of a tombstone of a Frisian knight called ''Hebus'', who died in 1004 in Rome at the age of 90. The church has hosted two important relics since the 1990s. These are the stone where

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

was dedicated in the Temple, known as the

Presentation of Jesus at the Temple The Presentation of Jesus is an early episode in the life of Jesus Christ, describing his presentation at the Temple in Jerusalem. It is celebrated by many churches 40 days after Christmas on Candlemas, or the "Feast of the Presentation of Jes ...

, and the stone where

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

bound Bound or bounds may refer to: Mathematics * Bound variable * Upper and lower bounds, observed limits of mathematical functions Physics * Bound state, a particle that has a tendency to remain localized in one or more regions of space Geography * ...

Isaac Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...

.Gigli (1994) p. 32 These stones were previously kept in the nearby church of San Giacomo Scossacavalli, destroyed in 1937. The former stone is now used as the main altar of the church.

Scala Sancta

The church's ''Scala Sancta'' is to be found in lateral chapel, renovated in 2000.De Heilige Trap
/ref>

Burials

* Tomb of

Anton Raphael Mengs Anton Raphael Mengs (12 March 1728 – 29 June 1779) was a German Neoclassicism, Neoclassical painter. Early life Mengs was born on 12 March 1728, at Ústí nad Labem in the Kingdom of Bohemia, the son of Ismael Mengs, a Danish-born painter wh ...

, designed by

Vincenzo Pacetti Vincenzo Pacetti (1746–1820) was an Italian sculptor and restorer from Castel Bolognese, particularly active in collecting and freely restoring and completing classical sculptures such as the Barberini Faun (1799 – now in the Glyptothek, Mun ...

References

Sources

* * * *
Official website of the vicariate of Rome - Chiesa Annessa Santi Michele e Magno
*

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michele e Magno, Rome National churches in Rome Dutch folklore Roman Catholic churches in Rome Properties of the Holy See Churches of Rome (rione Borgo)