Sant'Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane-Alessandrine
Encyclopedia
Sant'Apollinare alle Terme is a titular church in Rome
, Italy, dedicated to Apollinare, the first bishop of Ravenna
. It is the station church for Thursday fifth week in Lent.
, probably in the 7th century. It is first mentioned in the Liber Pontificalis
under Pope Hadrian I, using spolia
from the ruins of an imperial building. The first priests who served the church were probably eastern Basilian monk
s who had fled from persecution during the iconoclast period.
It is listed in the Catalogue of Turin as a papal chapel with eight clerics and in 1574 was granted to the Jesuits by Pope Gregory XIII
, and it was used as the church of the next-door Collegium Germanicum in the Palazzo di Sant'Apollinare (now owned by the Roman Seminary), which was later united with the Hungarian College to form the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum
. This remained a Jesuit institution until the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, when this church passed to the Lazarists
.
In the late 17th century, the church was in a poor state of repair. Its rebuilding was considered over a long period but wasn't carried out, probably due to the lack of funds. Despite this, in 1702 a chapel was redecorated and dedicated to St Francis Xavier, and a statue of the saint commissioned from Pierre Le Gros
who carved the marble with extraordinary virtuosity
(the statue was preserved when the church was eventually rebuilt some 40 years later and is still in situ
).
Only in 1742, Pope Benedict XIV
commissioned Ferdinando Fuga
to rebuild the church. Fuga added a new façade in the late 16th century style, with Baroque
elements. It has two stories, with Ionic columns in the lower and Corinthian ones in the upper. The lower level has a central doorway flanked by windows. Above the door is a triangular tympanon
. On the upper level is a large central window with a balcony, and two smaller windows to the sides. The façade is crowned by a double tympanon. Fuga also reconstructed the dome. The church as a whole was rededicated in 1748.
Francesco Antonio Zaccaria
, writer and archaeologist, who died in 1795, was buried in the Chapel of St Ignatius of Loyola here.
In 1990, the church was granted to the Opus Dei
, and is now part of their Pontifical Institute of St Apollinaris. In the same year, the notorious gangster Enrico De Pedis
, boss of the so-called Banda della Magliana
, was buried in the church's crypt, by authorization of Cardinal Ugo Poletti. The unusual interment has been linked to the case of Emanuela Orlandi
's kidnapping.
.
The high altar was made on orders from Pope Benedict XIV
, with stucco
decorations by Bernardino Ludovisi
and an early 17th century altarpiece depicting St Apollinaris' Consecration as Bishop of Ravenna. The crypt contains relic
s.
The elliptical Chapel of Graces, which is outside the church proper, is accessed through a doorway on the left. It contains a 1494 fresco of The Virgin, Queen of Apostles which, survived the Sack of Rome
because the priests had covered it with lime and was then rediscovered in 1645 when two boys and a soldier took refuge in the church during an earthquake. A marble frame with golden stucco cherubs was added by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt
.
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy, dedicated to Apollinare, the first bishop of Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
. It is the station church for Thursday fifth week in Lent.
History
The church was founded in the early Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, probably in the 7th century. It is first mentioned in the Liber Pontificalis
Liber Pontificalis
The Liber Pontificalis is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the Liber Pontificalis stopped with Pope Adrian II or Pope Stephen V , but it was later supplemented in a different style until Pope Eugene IV and then Pope Pius II...
under Pope Hadrian I, using spolia
Spolia
Spolia is a modern art-historical term used to describe the re-use of earlier building material or decorative sculpture on new monuments...
from the ruins of an imperial building. The first priests who served the church were probably eastern Basilian monk
Basilian monk
Basilian monks are monks who follow the "Rule" of Saint Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea. The chief importance of the monastic rules and institutes of St. Basil lies in the fact that to this day his reconstruction of the monastic life is the basis of most of the monasticism practiced in the...
s who had fled from persecution during the iconoclast period.
It is listed in the Catalogue of Turin as a papal chapel with eight clerics and in 1574 was granted to the Jesuits by Pope Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII , born Ugo Boncompagni, was Pope from 1572 to 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake for the Gregorian calendar, which remains the internationally-accepted civil calendar to this date.-Youth:He was born the son of Cristoforo Boncompagni and wife Angela...
, and it was used as the church of the next-door Collegium Germanicum in the Palazzo di Sant'Apollinare (now owned by the Roman Seminary), which was later united with the Hungarian College to form the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum
Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum
The Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum or simply Collegium Germanicum is a German-speaking seminary for Roman Catholic priests in Rome, founded in 1552. Since 1580 its full name has been Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum de Urbe....
. This remained a Jesuit institution until the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, when this church passed to the Lazarists
Lazarists
Congregation of the Mission is a vowed order of priests and brothers associated with the Vincentian Family, a loose federation of organizations who claim St. Vincent de Paul as their founder or Patron...
.
In the late 17th century, the church was in a poor state of repair. Its rebuilding was considered over a long period but wasn't carried out, probably due to the lack of funds. Despite this, in 1702 a chapel was redecorated and dedicated to St Francis Xavier, and a statue of the saint commissioned from Pierre Le Gros
Pierre Le Gros the Younger
Pierre Le Gros was a French sculptor, active almost exclusively in Baroque Rome. Nowadays, his name is commonly written Legros, while he himself always signed as Le Gros; he is frequently referred to either as 'the Younger' or 'Pierre II' to distinguish him from his father, Pierre Le Gros the...
who carved the marble with extraordinary virtuosity
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
(the statue was preserved when the church was eventually rebuilt some 40 years later and is still in situ
In situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...
).
Only in 1742, Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV , born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was Pope from 17 August 1740 to 3 May 1758.-Life:...
commissioned Ferdinando Fuga
Ferdinando Fuga
Ferdinando Fuga was an Italian architect, whose main works were realized in Rome and Naples in the Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Florence, he began to work in that city as a pupil of Giovanni Battista Foggini. In 1717 he moved to Rome, to continue his apprentice studies...
to rebuild the church. Fuga added a new façade in the late 16th century style, with Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
elements. It has two stories, with Ionic columns in the lower and Corinthian ones in the upper. The lower level has a central doorway flanked by windows. Above the door is a triangular tympanon
Tympanum (architecture)
In architecture, a tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculpture or other imagery or ornaments. Most architectural styles include this element....
. On the upper level is a large central window with a balcony, and two smaller windows to the sides. The façade is crowned by a double tympanon. Fuga also reconstructed the dome. The church as a whole was rededicated in 1748.
Francesco Antonio Zaccaria
Francesco Antonio Zaccaria
Francesco Antonio Zaccaria was an Italian theologian, historian, and prolific writer.He joined the Austrian province of the Society of Jesus, in 18 October 1731. Zaccaria taught grammar and rhetoric at Gorz, and was ordained priest at Rome in 1740...
, writer and archaeologist, who died in 1795, was buried in the Chapel of St Ignatius of Loyola here.
In 1990, the church was granted to the Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
, and is now part of their Pontifical Institute of St Apollinaris. In the same year, the notorious gangster Enrico De Pedis
Enrico De Pedis
Enrico De Pedis was an Italian criminal and one of the bosses of the Banda della Magliana, an Italian criminal organization based in the city of Rome, particularly active throughout the late 1970s until the early 1990s. His nickname was "'Renatino". Unlike other members of his gang, De Pedis...
, boss of the so-called Banda della Magliana
Banda della Magliana
The Banda della Magliana was an Italian criminal organization based in Rome, particularly active throughout the late 1970s until the early 1990s. Given by the media, the name refers to the original neighborhood, the Magliana, of most of its members....
, was buried in the church's crypt, by authorization of Cardinal Ugo Poletti. The unusual interment has been linked to the case of Emanuela Orlandi
Emanuela Orlandi
Emanuela Orlandi was a citizen of Vatican City, who mysteriously disappeared on June 22, 1983.-Disappearance:Orlandi, then 15-year-old, vanished on June 22, 1983. She was in her second year at a liceo scientifico in Rome...
's kidnapping.
Architecture
The church has a single nave. Along the side are pilasters with Corinthian capitals holding the arches to the side chapels. In the barrel-vaulted ceiling is a fresco of The Glory of St Apollinaris, by Stefano PozziStefano Pozzi
Stefano Pozzi was an Italian painter, designer, draughtsman and decorator whose career was spent largely in Rome....
.
The high altar was made on orders from Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV , born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was Pope from 17 August 1740 to 3 May 1758.-Life:...
, with stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
decorations by Bernardino Ludovisi
Bernardino Ludovisi
Bernardino Ludovisi , also called Bernardo, was an Italian sculptor.- Life and work :Little is known of his life. The Ludovisi were an ancient Italian family, originally from Bologna. Bernardino seems to have spent most, if not all, of his career in Rome...
and an early 17th century altarpiece depicting St Apollinaris' Consecration as Bishop of Ravenna. The crypt contains relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
s.
The elliptical Chapel of Graces, which is outside the church proper, is accessed through a doorway on the left. It contains a 1494 fresco of The Virgin, Queen of Apostles which, survived the Sack of Rome
Sack of Rome (1527)
The Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527 was a military event carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, then part of the Papal States...
because the priests had covered it with lime and was then rediscovered in 1645 when two boys and a soldier took refuge in the church during an earthquake. A marble frame with golden stucco cherubs was added by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt
Peter Anton von Verschaffelt
Peter Anton von Verschaffelt was a Flemish sculptor and architect.Verschaffelt designed, among other things in Mannheim, the High Altar of the Jesuit church , the arsenal and the Bretzenheim Palace, as well as the church Wallfahrtskirche Mariä Himmelfahrt in Oggersheim .-Life and work:Verschaffelt...
.