Santi Giovanni E Paolo
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(013) Santi Giovanni e Paolo Facade of the basilica. Santi Giovanni e Paolo is an ancient basilica church in Rome, located on the west slope of the Celian Hill. It is also called Santi Giovanni e Paolo al Celio or referred to as SS Giovanni e Paolo. The church is dedicated to two officers in the army under Julian the Apostate, who suffered martyrdom under Apronianus, prefect of Rome A. D. 362. Beneath the church, within its walls, and in the immediate vicinity, are the remains of 2nd and 3rd century AD buildings. One of these streets, the Clivus Scauri, has survived and runs along the southern flank of the church, passing San Gregorio in Magno down to the ancient Via Triumphalis. History: John and Paul were officers at the Imperial Court in the service of Constantia (+360), daughter of Constantine (306-337). Tradition says that the brothers had held high positions in Constantinople but left there and returned to their Roman home on the Coelian Hill when asked to serve Julian the Apostate (emperor 331-363) in the same capacity. Julian ordered them to be put to the usual trial of the faith, namely, to renounce their God in favor of the pagan deities. However, because of their great popularity and nobility, they were not martyred publicly; instead, they were beheaded secret in their palace on June 26, 362. Julian himself, ironically, was brutally killed exactly one year later, on the very same day. The original sanctuary, founded in 398 by the senator Byzantius and his son, St. Pammachius (a friend of St. Jerome), was built directly over the saints’ original house, which had been filled in with rubble and earth. The first church was known as Titulus Bizantiis after Senator Byzantius. His son Pammachius built a basilica on the site, which was known as Titulus Pammachii and was one of the first parish churches in Rome. The synod listing from 499 uses this name. An inscription from the 5th century names Pammachius as the founder. He was a personal friend of St Jerome, and after several years of public service, as a senator like his father had been, he gave his money to the poor and retired to a life of seclusion and prayer; undoubtedly a result of St Jerome's influence. The synod listing of 595 also mentions the church, but by this time it is known as SS. Johanis e Pauli. (013) The church was damaged during the sack by Alaric I (410) and because of an earthquake (442) restored by Pope Leo I (440-461) and Pope Hadrian (772-795). This ancient basilica was practically demolished by the Norman raider, Robert Guiscard, in 1084. Paschal II (1099-1118) started restoring it, and this project was completed c. 1150 by Giovanni Cardinal Conti de Sutri. Adrian IV (1154-1159), the only English Pope, made considerable improvements, adding the eight ancient granite columns to the portico, the Romanesque apse and campanile, and the cosmatesque pavement. The church was restored and altered 1715-1718 under Fabrizio Cardinal Paolucci, in the late Baroque style. In the late 1850s, the sacristy was added, as well as a large chapel dedicated to St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist order which serves the basilica. The remains of the saints' house was revealed in the archeological excavations in the 19th century (see below). The last major restoration took place in the 20th century, when Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York, titular of the church from 1946 to 1967, got financial support from Joseph Kennedy to restore the façade and to carry out new excavations. During this time the façade was returned to its medieval appearance. The interior was also restored; among the additions were chandeliers that had previously hung in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York. Pope Nicholas V consigned the church to the care of the Congregation of Jesuati, founded by John Colombini of Sienna. On the suppression of the Order, Card. Norfolk, an Englishman, obtained it from Clement X. for the Irish Dominicans, who resided there until the pontificate of Innocent XII. (1691-1700); and finally it has been served by the Passionist fathers, who were installed here in the late 18th century. Santi Giovanni e Paolo was one of the original twenty-five station churches in Rome. In 1929, Eugenio Pacelli became the titular of this church. He was elected pope in 1939, taking the name Pius XII. The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus Ss. Ioannis et Pauli is Edward Egan. He was appointed on February 21, 2001. Among previous Cardinal Priests of this Title are 2 who became Pope: Pope Honorius III (Cencio Savelli, elevated to cardinal in 1198) and Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli, elevated to cardinal in 1929). Since Francis Cardinal Spellman was elevated to Cardinal Priest of Ss. Ioannis et Pauli in 1946, the titulus has been held by the Archbishop of New York. Exterior: The 12th century façade was restored by Cardinal Spellman. The portico, with eight ancient columns, six of red granite and two of white marble, is from 1158, and was built on orders from Pope Hadrian IV. On the architrave, an inscription mentions Cardinal Conti de Sutri who had completed the restoration a few years earlier. The gallery above the architrave was constructed c. 1216, and has some later modifications. The Romanesque campanile, c.1150, rests on travertine from the Temple of Claudius. The plates among the bricks on the walls of the bell tower are copies of Moorish ceramic tiles with Arabic lettering. The originals, which were brought from Malaga in Spain, have been moved to the excavation museum in the church. The Campanile was built by Pope Hadrian IV In the north and south clerestory walls 18 round-headed windows with 26 oculi, a unique feature in an Early Christian church in Rome, above can be seen now blocked up. A 5th century Christian (013) symbol is visible at the eastern corner of the northern clerestory near the façade. It shows the Chi- Rho, executed in brick, intertwined with the letters A and Ω. The some of the side buttressesare of Roman date restored with medieval masonry, and others are entirely from the 13th and 14th century. The apse is unique in Rome. It is influenced by the Lombard Romanesque style. A perfect cemi- circle, the exterior wall is original up to the dwarf gallery, and bears the traces of four bricked up windows. The entire south wall of the church is formed of the facades, three stories high, of two Roman insulae (a) whose windows and doors were bricked up at various stages. Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (the Passionists) monastery was built in 1867, adjoining the basilica, for which they have cared since 1773. At third-floor level of the monastery, a pair of windows mark the room of St Paul of the Cross, the 18th century founder of the Passionist Congregation. Blessed Dominic Barberi, apostle to England, also lived here for some time. (013) Plan: (013) Church Excavated Area 1 Façade, 5th C. a Insulae 2 Marble Slab above the 4th C confession b Domus with baths 3 Glass Disk c Cryptoporticus over a narrow roman lane 4 Porphyry Urn I Private Oratory with frescoes 5 Entrance to the excavated area II Confessio and its landing, with frescoes A Museum III Entrance, 5th to 12th C. with frescoes B Roman Street – the Clicus Scauri IV Room of Domus (b) with a nymphaeum with 2nd C. fresco of Peleus C Campanile and Theis; mosaic of Nereids and Triton; pavement of opus tessellatum; well D Doorway – Cosmatesque, 13th C. shaft E Fresco, 13th C. V Triclinum with pagan frescoes of birds and youths bearing garlands F Sacristy VI Small Room with imitations marble decoration VII Tablinum VIII Wine Cellar – Roman, reconstructed IX Foundation Walls of the 5th C. nave (013) Interior: The inside, which is 133 feet long by 85 feet 6 inches broad, is divided into a nave and two aisles by arcades, the pillars of which are adorned with sixteen columns of black granite of the composite order. The door of entrance is adorned internally with two marble columns; and the beautiful organ over the door is decorated with two columns of marmo bianco e nero. The pavement of the nave consists, in part, of 13th century cosmatesque opus Alexandrinum; and about its center, to the right, is a slab enclosed within an iron balustrade, marking the spot where SS. John and Paul are said to have been decapitated. The interior was transformed to the late Baroque style by the 1718 renovation. The coffered ceiling dates from 1598. Left aisle At the extremity of this aisle is the tomb of the Ven. Father Paul della Croce, Founder of the Congregation of the Passionists. The Pieta and the Agony in Gethsemane, by Francesco Grandi. The first chapel at the left rear is Chapel of the Crucifixion. The altarpiece of the next chapel is Saint Joseph with the Saviour, by Aureliano Melani. Over the next altar is the Conversion of Saint Paul, also by Melani. Apse and Tribunal The isolated great altar and the tribune were designed by F. Ferrari. An ancient porphyry urn beneath the altar contains the relics of St John and St Paul. They were moved to the upper church in 1558, and placed beneath the altar in 1726. The apse is frescoed with Christ in Glory (1588) by Cristoforo Roncalli (one of the painters called il Pomarancio) [1588]; while below are three paintings: Martyrdom of Saint John, Martyrdom of Saint Paul, and the Conversion of Terenziano (1726) by Domenico Piastrini, Giacomo Triga, and Pietro Andrea Barbieri respectively.