Jump to content

Santa Maria della Scala

Coordinates: 41°53′28″N 12°28′04″E / 41.89111°N 12.46778°E / 41.89111; 12.46778
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the hospital and museum in Siena, see Santa Maria della Scala (Siena).

Santa Maria della Scala
Church of Saint Mary of the Stairs
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Scala
Facade
Map
Click on the map for a fullscreen view
41°53′28″N 12°28′04″E / 41.89111°N 12.46778°E / 41.89111; 12.46778
LocationPiazza della Scala 23, Rome
CountryItaly
Language(s)Italian
DenominationCatholic
TraditionLatin Church
Religious orderDiscalced Carmelites
History
Statustitular church
Founded1593
DedicationMary, mother of Jesus
Architecture
Architectural typeBaroque
Completed1610
Administration
DioceseRome

Santa Maria della Scala (English: Mary of the Staircase) is a titular church in Rome, Italy, located in the Trastevere rione. It is served by friars of the Discalced Carmelite Order. Cardinal Ernest Simoni took possession of the titular church on 11 February 2017.[1]

Madonna and Child set into the wall

History

[edit]

The church Santa Maria della Scala is located on the square of the same name. It was built under the patronage of Pope Clement VIII between 1593 and 1610 to house a miraculous icon of the Madonna. Tradition holds that a midwife with a dying child in her arms prayed under the stairs of a house where the image of the Madonna was present, and the child was immediately revived.[2] Consecrated to Mary, mother of Jesus, the church enshrines that icon in the north transept, alongside a baroque statue of St John of the Cross. The church was built on the site of a house once bequeathed to a Casa Pia founded by Pope Pius IV in 1563 for reformed prostitutes. In 1597, the church was granted to the Discalced Carmelites.[3]

Bronze statues of the Twelve Apostles were stolen from the sacristy during the Napoleonic era, and subsequently replaced by papier-mâché.

In 1849, during the last stages of the revolutionary Roman Republic's resistance to the invading French forces, Santa Maria della Scala was used as a hospital where Garibaldi's soldiers, who were wounded fighting in the Trastevere, were treated.

Cardinal protectors

[edit]

Architecture

[edit]
Engraving of the church from c. 1670 (by Giovanni Battista Falda, who is buried in the church)

The two-story travertine facade was completed in 1624. The Baroque Madonna and Child in the niche over the entrance was sculpted by Francesco di Cusart in 1633. In 1650, nearly fifty years after the buildings completion, Carlo Rainaldi designed for the church a tempietto-shaped baldachino with 16 slender jasper Corinthian columns and a high altar.[3] Four statues of the Evangelists were looted in 1849 and replaced by terracotta ones.

Interior

The interior has a nave with three chapels on each side. Its choir, nave and north transept's vaults are decorated with paintings intended to resemble moldings, whilst the south transept has actual stucco relief moldings.

Following a commission by Cardinal Luigi Antonio di Borbone Spagna, Giuseppe Pannini, the son of Giovanni Paolo Pannini, executed the ornately carved and gilded wooden two-tiered gallery for musicians or cantoria (ca. 1756) above the entrance of the church.[9][10] The lower gallery houses the pipe organ, built by Carlo Vegezzi Bossi in 1908 (opus 1282) and equipped with 11 registers on a single manual and pedal.

Chapels

[edit]
  • Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel – the first chapel on the left has a painting of the Carmelite Simon Stock by Cristoforo Roncalli.
  • Chapel of the Assumption – lawyer Laerzio Cherubini had commissioned a painting from Caravaggio suitable as an altarpiece for the second chapel on the left.[11][12] This was the Death of the Virgin. Rumors held that Caravaggio had used a prostitute as a model for the dead virgin. The Carmelites rejected the painting, which was then purchased by Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. When Caravaggio's "Death of the Virgin" was rejected in 1606, it was Carlo Saraceni who provided an acceptable substitute, which remains in situ. Above the altar is a statue of the Infant Jesus of Prague.
  • Chapel of the Crucifixion
  • Chapel of St John the Baptist – the first chapel on the right is dedicated to St John the Baptist. The altarpiece, the "Beheading of St. John the Baptist", is by Gerrit van Honthorst.[3]
  • Chapel of St Hyacinth – the second chapel on the right is dedicated to St Hyacinth; the altarpiece of "Our Lady with SS Hyacinth and Catherine of Siena" is by Antiveduto Grammatica.
  • Chapel of St Joseph – the third chapel on the right contains Giovanni Odazzi's Dream of Joseph.
  • Chapel of Our Lady of the Stairs – the left side transept holds the original miraculous icon.
  • Chapel of the Relic - left of the sanctuary, this chapel contains a relic of St Teresa of Avila.
  • Chapel of St Teresa of Jesus – the right transept altar is dedicated to St Teresa of Avila.

San Giuseppe Hall houses a collection by Tito Sarrocchi.

  • The miraculous image of Madonna della Scala, Crowned by the Vatican Chapter in 1646 with decree from Pope Innocent X
    The miraculous image of Madonna della Scala, Crowned by the Vatican Chapter in 1646 with decree from Pope Innocent X
  • Death of the Virgin, Carlo Saraceni
    Death of the Virgin, Carlo Saraceni
  • Decollazione del Battista, Gerrit van Hothorst
    Decollazione del Battista, Gerrit van Hothorst

Burials

[edit]

Pharmacy

[edit]

Around 1600, the friars built a monastery next door famous for containing the Papal court's 17th century pharmacy (Antica Spezieria di Santa Maria della Scala) on the second floor. The friars prepared their medicines with herbs from the attached garden. In the 18th century, the apothecary also began to train future pharmacists. In 1873 the convent and garden was confiscated by the government and the convent turned into a police station; the Carmelites retained the church.

The former pharmacy now houses a museum, containing the herbarium, and the original scales for weighing medicines, the machines for making pills, oil mills, mortars, and alembic stills.[14] The furnishings, shelves, showcases and counter are from the eighteenth century.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Avviso dell'Ufficio delle Celebrazioni Liturgiche". press.vatican.va.
  2. ^ Sponzilli, Osvaldo. "Visit the Pharmacy of Santa Maria della Scala", Rome Central, February 14th, 2018
  3. ^ a b c "Church of Santa Maria della Scala", Turismo Roma, Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion Department
  4. ^ a b c "Cardinal deaconry", GCatholic.org
  5. ^ "Johannes Walter Cardinal Sluse [Catholic-Hierarchy]". catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  6. ^ Miranda, Salvador. "Colonna, Carlo (1665-1739)". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Florida International University. OCLC 53276621. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  7. ^ Adams, John Paul. "Sede Vacante 1730", CSUN
  8. ^ Acta Sanctae Sedis (PDF). Vol. XVIII. 1885. pp. 570–1. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Pannini, Giuséppe su Enciclopedia | Sapere.it". www.sapere.it (in Italian). Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  10. ^ "cantoria di Pannini Giuseppe (sec XVIII) cantoria, 1756 - 1756". catalogo.beniculturali.it. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  11. ^ Langdon, Helen (2000). Caravaggio: A Life. Westview Press. ISBN 9780813337944.
  12. ^ Hibbard, Howard (1983). Caravaggio (1985 ed.). Oxford: Westview Press. p. 198. ISBN 9780064301282.
  13. ^ "Giovanni Antonio Guadagni (cardinal)". Postulazione Generale della Cause dei Santi Ordine Dei Carmelitani Scalzi.
  14. ^ "Hidden gems of Italy: The Ancient Pharmacy of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome". Italy Magazine
[edit]

Media related to Santa Maria della Scala (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Maria_della_Scala&oldid=1240891960"