Santa Maria dell'Anima
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Santa Maria dell'Anima is a Catholic church in central Rome, just west of the Piazza Navona and near the Santa Maria della Pace church. It was the church of the Holy Roman Empire and is now the church of the German (in its traditional sense, including all people from German-speaking countries) community in Rome.
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[edit] History
[edit] 14th and 15th century
Santa Maria dell'Anima is one of the many medieval charity institutions built for pilgrims in Rome. The church found its origin in 1350, when Johannes (Jan) and Katharina Peters of Dordrecht bought three houses and turned it into a pilgrims hostel, at the occasion of the Jubilee of 1350. Jan Peters may have been a Dutch merchant or papal soldier. They named the hostel "Beatae Mariae Animarum" ("Saint Mary of the Souls").
The hostel was first mentioned in 1398 in a bull of Pope Boniface IX, and on May 21, 1406 Pope Innocent VII in his bull Piae Postulatio declared the hostel protected by the Holy See. In 1431 a church was built on the place of the hostel's chapel, which was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV in 1444. In the 15th century Santa Maria dell'Anima expanded to be a hostel for visitors from the entire Holy Roman Empire, though initially the occupants were primarily from the Low Countries and (from the middle 15th century) the Rhineland.
[edit] 16th-17th century
Johann Burchard from Strasbourg joined the Confraternity of Santa Maria dell'Anima and rose to be its provost at the end of the 15th century. While he held this office, the decision was made to rebuild the church for the Jubilee of 1500. The building period was from 1499 to 1522. The church was built in the style of a hall church that was typical for Northern Europe, but which sits awkwardly amid the Italianate churches of Rome. Andrea Sansovino was retained as architect. The facade was completed by Giuliano da Sangallo. The new church was consecrated only on Nov 25, 1542.
[edit] 18th-20th century
During the Napoleonic occupation, the church was plundered and the sacristy used as a horse stable. In 1844, the (new) Belgian community moved to the San Giuliano dei Fiamminghi church. In 1859, under the influence of the era's nationalism, the Confraternity was transformed to a German seminary and renamed the Collegio Teutonico di Santa Maria dell'Anima. Dutch Catholics retained the Anima as their national church, but after extended conflicts left it in 1939 (since 1992 the San Michaele dei Frisoni near the Vatican has taken that role).
[edit] Interior
Among the artistic treasures of the church are (in chronological order):
- 1) A altarpiece painted by Giulio Romano in 1521-22 for a Fugger family, depicting the Sacred Family and donors (Mark and Giacomo Fugger).
- 2) The funeral monument of Pope Adrian VI (1459-1523), commissioned by his friend, cardinal Willem van Enkevoirt and designed in part by Baldassarre Peruzzi. Adrian was born in Utrecht, had been the tutor of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and would be the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II, 456 years later.
- 3) An altarpiece (1532) by Lorenzetto.
- 4) The funeral monument of Willem van Enkevoirt (1464-1534), bishop of Tortosa (1522-1534) and of Utrecht (1529-1534). The monument by Giovanni Mangoni was originally located next to Adrian's monument, but was moved to near the main entrance in 1575. Adrian VI had made him cardinal priest in September 1523, just four days before the pope's death. He was only the second Dutch cardinal (after Adrian VI himself) and was executor of the pope's testament.
- 5) A Deposition (1550) by Francesco Salviati
- 6) A painting by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta.
- 7) The funeral monument of Andreas of Austria (1558-1600), cardinal since 1573, bishop of both Constance (1589-1600) and Brixen (1591-1900), Margrave of Burgau, and in 1598-1599 governor of Flanders [1]. Oldest child of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria and his morganatic wife Philippine Welser.
- 8) Miracles of Saint Benno and Martyrdom of Saint Lambert (1618) painted by Carlo Saraceni.
[edit] Sources
- History of the church on the German community in Rome's website (in German).
- Michiel Verweij, De S. Maria dell'Anima te Rome (in Dutch)
