Santa Maria sopra Minerva

The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva (, ) is a titular minor basilica and one of the most important churches of the Roman Catholic Dominican order in Rome, Italy. The church, located in the Piazza della Minerva in the Campus Martius region, is considered the only Gothic church in Rome.Or at least the only visibly Gothic one— in its interior— many other medieval churches having been given a Baroque makeover, covering Gothic structures. Unlike Naples or Palermo, Rome was never bombed in World War II, which in those cities led to some overnight re-Gothification. The Gothic Revival church of Santo Cuore del Suffragio, built 1890-1917, is an anomaly inspired by the Duomo of Milan. It houses the tombs of the St. Catherine of Siena and the Dominican painter Fra Angelico. The father of modern astronomy Galileo Galilei, after tried for heresy in the adjoining monastery, abjured his scientific theses in the church on the 22nd of June 1633.
The basilica gets its name because, like many early Christian basilicas, it was built directly over () the foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, but erroneously assimilated to Minerva. Behind a self-effacing facade, its arched vaulting is painted with brilliant red ribbing, and blue with gilded stars, a 19th-century restoration in the Gothic taste. The basilica is located on the small piazza Minerva close to the Pantheon, in the rione Pigna.
The present Cardinal Priest of the Titulus Sanctae Mariae supra Minervam has been Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor since 2001.
== History ==
In the area surrounding the basilica and the former convent buildings, there were three temples in Roman times: the Minervium, built by Gnaeus Pompey in honour of the goddess Minerva about 50 B.C., referred to as , the Iseum dedicated to Isis, and the Serapeum dedicated to Serapis. Details of the temple to Minerva are not known but recent investigations indicate that a small round Minervium once stood a little further to east on the Piazzo of the Collegio Romano. In 1665 an Egyptian obelisk was found, buried in the garden of the Dominican cloister adjacent to the church. Several other small obelisks were found at different times near the church, known as the , which were probably brought to Rome during the first century and grouped in pairs, with others, at the entrances of the temple of Isis.
There are other Roman survivals in the crypt. The ruined temple is likely to have lasted until the reign of Pope Zachary (741-752), who finally Christianized the site, offering it to Eastern monks. The structure he commissioned has disappeared. In 1255 Pope Alexander IV established a community of converted women there who were later transferred to San Pancrazio thereby allowing the Dominican Friars to obtain the church in 1275. The Dominican Friars made the church and adjoining monastery their headquarters before later establishing it in Santa Sabina. The Dominican Order still administers the area today.
The Dominicans began building the present gothic church in 1280, modeling it on their restored church in Florence, the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, following plans seemingly drawn up by two talented Dominican friars, Fra Sisto Fiorentino and Fra Ristoro da Campi, during the pontificate of Nicholas III. With the help of funds contributed by Boniface VIII, this first Gothic church in Rome was completed in 1370. It was renovated by Carlo Maderno and others, given a Baroque facade, then restored in the 19th century to its present neo-medieval state. The gates are from the 15th century.
The sacristy was the seat of two conclaves. The first, held in the March 1431, elected Pope Eugene IV, the second, in March 1447, Pope Nicholas V.
After the condemnation his scientific theses, Galileo Galilei pronounced the famous abjuration in the church on the 22 June 1633.
The church was elevated to the rank of minor basilica and the first titular was appointed in 1556. The current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Mariae supra Minervam is English Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor.
== Exterior ==
=== Façade ===
At the end of the 16th Century, Carlo Maderno gave the church a Baroque facade, then restored in the 19th century to its present neo-medieval state. Another significant feature on the facade are marks which date back to the 16th and 17th centuries which indicate that various floods of the Tiber rose to .
=== Minerva's Pulcino ===
In front of the church there is one of the most curious monuments of Rome, the so-called Pulcino della Minerva. It is a statue designed by the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (and carried out by his pupil Ercole Ferrata in 1667) of an elephant as the supporting base for the Egyptian obelisk found in the Dominicans' garden. It is the shortest of the eleven Egyptian obelisks in Rome and is said to have been one of two obelisks moved from Sais, where they were built during the 589 BC-570 BC reign of the pharaoh Apries, from the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt. The two obelisks were brought to Rome by Diocletian, during his reign as emperor from 284 to 305, for placement at the Temple of Isis which stood nearby. The Latin inscription on the base, chosen by the pope who commissioned the sculpture to support the obelisk found on the site, Alexander VII, is said to represent that "...a strong mind is needed to support a solid knowledge".
The inspiration for the unusual composition came from Hypnerotomachia Poliphili ("Poliphilo's Dream of the Strife of Love"), an unusual 15th century novel probably by Francesco Colonna. The novel's main character meets an elephant made of stone carrying an obelisk, and the accompanying woodcut illustration in the book is quite similar to Bernini's design for the base for the obelisk. The curious placement of the obelisk through the body of the elephant is identical.
The sturdy appearance of the structure earned it the popular nickname of "Porcino" ("Piggy") for a while. The name for the structure eventually changed to Pulcino, the Italian for a small or little "chick". This may have been a reference to the comparatively short height of the obelisk or, an obscure reference to the major charity of the Dominicans to assist young women needing dowries, who made a procession in the courtyard every year. The latter were once depicted in a local painting as three tiny figures with the Virgin Mary presenting purses to them.
== Interior ==
The nave with its pointed arches is very Gothic in style, making this church unique in Rome. This impression was partially altered by Carlo Maderno, who added later Baroque elements to the 13th century nave. The stained glass windows are mainly from the 19th century. Although built in Gothic style, the best of its works of art are Renaissance.
=== Cappella Carafa ===
The Carafa chapel, with late 15th-century frescoes by Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), was commissioned by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa in honour of Saint Thomas Aquinas. There are two Marian scenes, the Annunciation and the Assumption; over the altar is his St Thomas presenting Cardinal Carafa to the Blessed Virgin, and on the right-hand wall his Glory of St Thomas. It was inaugurated in 1493, and is also known as the Chapel of St Thomas Aquinas. The relics of St Thomas Aquinas were kept in this chapel until 1511, when they were moved to Naples. Designed by Pirro Ligorio in 1559, the tomb of Gian Pietro Carafa, that became Pope Paul IV in 1555, is also in the chapel.
=== Cappella Capranica ===
The chapel is also known as the Chapel of the Rosary. The stucco ceiling was made in 1573 by Marcello Venusti. This chapel holds allegedly the church's only work by Fra Angelico, Madonna and Child from c. 1449.
=== Michelangelo's Cristo della Minerva ===
The Cristo della Minerva, also known as Christ the Redeemer or Christ Carrying the Cross, is a marble sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, finished in 1521, located to the left of the main altar.
=== Cappella Aldobrandini ===
The Aldobrandini chapel was designed by Giacomo della Porta but it is Carlo Maderno that completed della Porta's project (after 1602). It was consecrated in 1611. The canvas depicting the Institution of the Eucharist and dated from 1594 is by Federico Fiori. The monument to the parents of Pope Clement VIII, Salvestro Aldobrandini and Luisa Dati, is by Giacomo della Porta. The first Blessed Sacrament Confraternity to be approved by the Holy See was established in this chapel, with St. Ignatius of Loyola as one of its earliest members.
=== Other major artworks ===
* Annunciation (1485), by Antoniazzo Romano - shows Cardinal Juan de Torquemada OP presenting girls who received a dowry by his Guild of the Annunciation to the Virgin
* The tombs of the Popes Leo X and Clement VII by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger.
* Tomb of Urban VII
* Tomb of Fra Angelico, by Isaia da Pisa (1455)
* Tomb of Guillaume Durand the Elder, bishop on Mende, signed by Giovanni di Cosma (1296)
* Memorial to Maria Raggi, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1643)
* Tomb of Francesco Tornabuoni (1480), one of the best works by Mino da Fiesole
== Burials ==
Saint Catherine of Siena is buried here (except her head, which is in the church of San Domenico in Siena). Beyond the sacristy, the room where she died in 1380 was reconstructed here by Antonio Cardinal Barberini in 1637. This room is the first transplanted interior, and the progenitor of familiar 19th and 20th century museum "period rooms." The frescoes by Antoniazzo Romano that decorated the original walls, however, are now lost.
The famous early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico died in the adjoining convent, and is buried here also, as is Pope Paul IV and the Medici popes Leo X and Clement VII.
Before the construction of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, the Minerva was the church of the Florentine nation, and therefore it houses numerous tombs of prelates, nobles and citizens coming from that Tuscan city. Curiously, Diotisalvi Neroni, a refugee who had taken part in the plot against Piero de' Medici, was buried here in 1482, and was later joined by other members of the family. Also buried here are Pope Urban VII, Latino Malabranca Orsini, Michel Mazarin (Archbishop of Aix), brother of Cardinal Jules Mazarin.
== List of cardinal-priests from Santa Maria sopra Minerva ==
* 1557-1566 Cardinal Saint Antonio-Michele Ghislieri, Pope Pius V
* 1566-1589 Michele Cardinal Bonelli
* 1589-1602 Girolamo Cardinal Bernerio
* 1602-1608 François-Marie Cardinal Thaurusi
* 1621-1639 Giulio Cardinal Roma
* 1643-1654 Giovanni Cardinal Battista Altieri
* 1655-1679 Jean-François-Paul Cardinal de Gondi de Retz
* 1679-1694 Philip Thomas Cardinal Howard of Norfolk
* 1694-1699 José Cardinal Sáenz de Aguirre
* 1701-1729 Louis-Antoine, Cardinal de Noailles
* 1729-1730 Agostino Cardinal Pipia
* 1730-1747 Philipp Ludwig Cardinal von Sinzendorf
* 1747-1762 Daniele Cardinal Delfino
* 1758-1770 Giuseppe Cardinal Pozzobenelli
* 1770-1782 Scipione Cardinal Borghèse
* 1783-1787 Tommaso Maria Cardinal Ghilini
* 1787-1800 Vincenzo Cardinal Ranuzzi
* 1801-1814 Giulio Maria Cardinal della Somaglia
* 1816-1822 Francesco Cardinal Fontana
* 1829-1832 Benedetto Cardinal Colonna Barberini di Sciarra
* 1832-1836 Giuseppe Maria Cardinal Velzi	
* 1838-1850 Antonio Francesco Cardinal Orioli
* 1850-1854 Raffaele Cardinal Fornari
* 1857-1860 Francesco Cardinal Gaude
* 1861-1864 Gaetano Cardinal Bedini
* 1868-1870 Matteo Eustachio Cardinal Gonella
* 1875-1885 John Cardinal McCloskey
* 1887-1894 Zeferino Cardinal González y Díaz Tuñón
* 1895-1896 Egidio Cardinal Mauri
* 1896-1909 Serafino Cardinal Cretoni
* 1911-1918 John Cardinal Farley
* 1919-1922 Teodoro Cardinal Valfre di Bonzo
* 1922-1926 Stanislas-Arthur-Xavier Cardinal Touchet
* 1926-1929 Giuseppe Cardinal Gamba
* 1930-1938 Giulio Cardinal Serafini
* 1939-1946 Eugène Cardinal Tisserant
* 1946-1965 Clemente Cardinal Micara
* 1967-1974 Antonio Cardinal Samoré
* 1976-1977 Dino Cardinal Staffa
* 1979-1998 Anastasio Cardinal Ballestrero
* 2001- Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor
== Other churches with this name ==
In Assisi, another church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva was built in the 16th century within the surviving cella of a late Republican temple of Minerva. Its Corinthian portico still stands.
==See also==
* Roman Catholic Marian churches
== Notes ==
== Bibliography ==
* 
* 
== External links ==
* Santa Maria sopra Minerva: official site
* June Hager, "Santa Maria sopra Minerva"
* M.P. Pollett, "Curious and unusual: Minerva's Chick": Bernini's elephant and its Roman nickname
* Woodcut elephant that inspired Bernini
* http://romanchurches.wikia.com/wiki/Santa_Maria_sopra_Minerva
Maria Minerva
Maria sopra Minerva
Category:Dominican churches
Category:Gothic architecture
Category:Sites of papal elections
Category:Burial places of Popes
Category:Church buildings established in the 13th century
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