Santa Maria della Vittoria
Encyclopedia
Santa Maria della Vittoria (our Lady of Victory) is a roman catholic titular church
and minor basilica
dedicated to the Virgin Mary located in Rome
, Italy
. The church is known for the masterpiece of Gian Lorenzo Bernini
in the Cornaro Chapel, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.
. After the Catholic victory at the battle of White Mountain
in 1620, which reversed the Reformation
in Bohemia
, the church was rededicated to the Virgin Mary. Turkish standards
captured at the 1683 siege of Vienna
hang in the church, as part of this theme of victory.
The order itself funded the building work until the discovery in the excavations of the Borghese Hermaphroditus
. Scipione Borghese
, nephew of Pope Paul V
, appropriated this sculpture but in return funded the rest of work on the facade and granted the order his architect Giovanni Battista Soria
. These grants only came into effect in 1624, and work was completed two years later.
architect Carlo Maderno
, though the interior suffered a fire in 1833 and required restoration. Its façade, however, was erected by Giovanni Battista Soria
during Maderno's lifetime, 1624–1626, showing the unmistakable influence of Maderno's Santa Susanna
nearby.
with gilded capitals that support an enriched entablature
. Contrasting marble revetments are enriched with white and gilded stucco angels and putti in full relief. The interior was sequentially enriched after Maderno's death; its vault was frescoed in 1675 with triumphant themes within shaped compartments with feigned frames: The Virgin Mary Triumphing over Heresy and Fall of the Rebel Angels executed by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini
.
Other sculptural detail abounds: The Dream of Joseph (left transept, Domenico Guidi
, flanked by relief panels by Pierre Etienne Monnot) and the funeral monument to Cardinal Berlinghiero Gessi. There are paintings by Guercino
, Nicolas Lorrain, and Domenichino.
, to the left of the altar, is Ecstasy of St. Teresa
by Scipione's favored sculptor, Bernini. The statues depict a moment described by Saint Teresa of Avila
in her autobiography, where she had the vivid vision of an angel
piercing her heart with a golden shaft, causing her both immense joy and pain. The flowing robes and contorted posture abandon classical restraint and repose to depict a more passionate, almost voluptuous trance.
Churches of Rome
There are more than 900 churches in Rome. Most, but not all, of these are Roman Catholic, with some notable Roman Catholic Marian churches.The first churches of Rome originated in places where Christians met. They were divided into three categories:...
and minor basilica
Minor basilica
Minor basilica is a title given to some Roman Catholic churches. By canon law no Catholic church can be honoured with the title of basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom....
dedicated to the Virgin Mary located in Rome
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
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The church is known for the masterpiece of Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
in the Cornaro Chapel, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.
History
The church was begun in 1605 as a chapel dedicated to Saint Paul for the Discalced CarmelitesDiscalced Carmelites
The Discalced Carmelites, or Barefoot Carmelites, is a Catholic mendicant order with roots in the eremitic tradition of the Desert Fathers and Mothers...
. After the Catholic victory at the battle of White Mountain
Battle of White Mountain
The Battle of White Mountain, 8 November 1620 was an early battle in the Thirty Years' War in which an army of 30,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt were routed by 27,000 men of the combined armies of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor under Charles Bonaventure de Longueval,...
in 1620, which reversed the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
, the church was rededicated to the Virgin Mary. Turkish standards
War flag
A war flag is a variant of a national flag for use by the nation's military forces on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign — the battle ensign...
captured at the 1683 siege of Vienna
Battle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months...
hang in the church, as part of this theme of victory.
The order itself funded the building work until the discovery in the excavations of the Borghese Hermaphroditus
Borghese Hermaphroditus
The Borghese Hermaphroditus is a type of marble sculpture depicting Hermaphroditus life size, reclining on a couch, with a form that is partly derived from ancient portrayals of Venus and other female nudes, and partly from contemporaneous feminised Hellenistic portrayals of Dionysus/Bacchus...
. Scipione Borghese
Scipione Borghese
Scipione Borghese was an Italian Cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the artist Bernini...
, nephew of Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V
-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...
, appropriated this sculpture but in return funded the rest of work on the facade and granted the order his architect Giovanni Battista Soria
Giovanni Battista Soria
thumb|250px|Façade of [[Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli]] in [[Rome]], with the [[Torre delle Milizie]] behind.Giovanni Battista Soria was an Italian architect who lived and worked mostly in Rome....
. These grants only came into effect in 1624, and work was completed two years later.
Exterior
The church is the only structure designed and completed by the early BaroqueBaroque
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...
architect Carlo Maderno
Carlo Maderno
Carlo Maderno was a Swiss-Italian architect, born in Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peter's Basilica and Sant'Andrea della Valle were of key importance in the evolution of the Italian Baroque...
, though the interior suffered a fire in 1833 and required restoration. Its façade, however, was erected by Giovanni Battista Soria
Giovanni Battista Soria
thumb|250px|Façade of [[Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli]] in [[Rome]], with the [[Torre delle Milizie]] behind.Giovanni Battista Soria was an Italian architect who lived and worked mostly in Rome....
during Maderno's lifetime, 1624–1626, showing the unmistakable influence of Maderno's Santa Susanna
Santa Susanna
The Church of Saint Susanna at the baths of Diocletian is a Roman Catholic parish church on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, with a titulus associated to its site that dates back to about 280...
nearby.
Interior
Its interior has a single wide nave under a low segmental vault, with three interconnecting side chapels behind arches separated by colossal corinthian pilastersCorinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
with gilded capitals that support an enriched entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
. Contrasting marble revetments are enriched with white and gilded stucco angels and putti in full relief. The interior was sequentially enriched after Maderno's death; its vault was frescoed in 1675 with triumphant themes within shaped compartments with feigned frames: The Virgin Mary Triumphing over Heresy and Fall of the Rebel Angels executed by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini
Giovanni Domenico Cerrini
Giovanni Domenico Cerrini , also called Gian Domenico Cerrini or il Cavalier Perugino, was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome and influenced in large part by painter of the Bolognese School.-Biography:...
.
Other sculptural detail abounds: The Dream of Joseph (left transept, Domenico Guidi
Domenico Guidi
Domenico Guidi was a prominent Italian Baroque sculptor.Born in Carrara, Guidi followed his uncle, the prominent sculptor, Giuliano Finelli to Naples. As the nephew of a sculptor noted for his feud with Bernini, it is not surprising that Guidi was never employed by the eminent master...
, flanked by relief panels by Pierre Etienne Monnot) and the funeral monument to Cardinal Berlinghiero Gessi. There are paintings by Guercino
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri , best known as Guercino or Il Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter from the region of Emilia, and active in Rome and Bologna. Guercino is Italian for 'squinter', a nickname that was given to him because he was cross-eyed...
, Nicolas Lorrain, and Domenichino.
Cornaro Chapel
The masterpiece in the Cornaro ChapelEcstasy of St Theresa
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is the central sculptural group in white marble set in an elevated aedicule in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome...
, to the left of the altar, is Ecstasy of St. Teresa
Ecstasy of St Theresa
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is the central sculptural group in white marble set in an elevated aedicule in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome...
by Scipione's favored sculptor, Bernini. The statues depict a moment described by Saint Teresa of Avila
Teresa of Ávila
Saint Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer...
in her autobiography, where she had the vivid vision of an angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
piercing her heart with a golden shaft, causing her both immense joy and pain. The flowing robes and contorted posture abandon classical restraint and repose to depict a more passionate, almost voluptuous trance.
Titulus
Santa Maria della Vittoria is a titular church. The following is a list of its Cardinal Priests:- Michelangelo Luchi (1801–1802)
- Joseph FeschJoseph FeschJoseph Fesch was a French cardinal, closely associated with the family of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was also one of the most famous art collectors of his period.-Biography:Fesch was born at Ajaccio in Corsica...
(1803–1822); in commendamIn CommendamIn canon law, commendam was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron...
(1822–1839) - Ferdinando Maria Pignatelli (1839–1853)
- Adriano Fieschi (1853–1858)
- Joseph Othmar von Rauscher (1858–1875)
- Godefroy Brossais-Saint-Marc (1876–1878)
- Louis-Edouard-François-Desiré PieLouis-Édouard-François-Desiré PieLouis-Édouard-François-Desiré Pie , also referred to as Cardinal Pie, was a French Catholic bishop of Poitiers and cardinal, known for his ultramontanism and defence of the social reign of Christ the King....
(1879–1880) - Luigi JacobiniLuigi JacobiniLuigi Jacobini was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Vatican Secretary of State from 1880 until his death and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1879.-Biography:...
(1880–1887) - Elzéar-Alexandre TaschereauElzéar-Alexandre TaschereauElzéar-Alexandre Taschereau was a Canadian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 1871 until his death in 1898...
(1887–1898) - Giovanni Battista Casali del Drago (1899–1908)
- François-Marie-Anatole de Rovérié de CabrièresFrançois de Rovérié de CabrièresFrançois-Marie-Anatole de Rovérié de Cabrières was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Montpellier from 1874 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911.-Biography:...
(1911–1921) - Alexis-Armand CharostAlexis-Armand CharostAlexis-Armand Charost was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Rennes from 1921 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1922.-Biography:...
(1922–1930) - Angelo Maria DolciAngelo DolciAngelo Maria Dolci was an Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal and former Nuncio.-Biography:Dolci was born in Civitella di Agliano and was ordained on 5 June 1890....
(1933–1936) - Federico TedeschiniFederico TedeschiniFederico Tedeschini was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Papal Datary in the Roman Curia from 1938 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1935 by Pope Pius XI.-Biography:...
(1936–1951) - Giuseppe Siri (1953–1989)
- Giuseppe Caprio (1990–2005)
- Seán Patrick O'Malley (2006–incumbent)