Chiesa Nuova
From Churches of Rome Wiki
| Chiesa Nuova | |
|---|---|
| | |
| English name: | The New Church |
| Dedication: | Gregory the Great and Blessed Virgin Mary |
| Denomination: | Roman Catholic |
| Built: | 1575–1599 |
| Consecrated: | 1599 |
| Architect(s): | Giovanni Matteo da Città di Castello, Giacomo della Porta, Martino Longhi the elder |
| Artists: | |
| Contact data | |
| Address: | 134 Via del Governo Vecchi (Piazza della Chiesa Nuova) |
Chiesa Nuova is a church built for St Philip Neri, dedicated to Pope St Gregory the Great and Our Lady.
Contents |
[edit] History
The first church on the site was built by Pope St Gregory the Great, and later dedicated to him. The site was known as Tarentum, and a wide-mouthed cave there was said to be an entrance to Hell. By the 12th century, its name had changed to Santa Maria in Vallicelli, Our Lady in the Little Valley. That name is still often used, and the church is still dedicated to Our Lady.
In the 16th century, St Philip Neri lived next to the church and was in charge of it. The old church stood in a depression in the ground, where bogs and ponds formed. A new church was needed, and St Philip Neri, with the help of Pope Gregory XIII, had it built and dedicated to both St Gregory and the Blessed Virgin. Construction started in 1575, led by Giovanni Matteo da Città di Castello, then by Giacomo della Porta, and later, from about 1577, by Martino Longhi the elder. It was consecrated in 1599. The façade, completed in 1605 or 1606, is the work of Fausto Rughesi. The church was modelled on the Gesù, the foremost example of Counter-Reformation architecture.
St Philip Neri's congregation moved to a nearby house in 1577, by which time the nave was completed. Philip prefered to stay at San Girolamo della Carità, until he was ordered by the Pope to move in 1583.
[edit] Exterior
Rughesi's 17th century façade has two stories and is crowned by a tympanon. The doorway has double columns and a high entablature. In the centre of the upper storey, there is a window with a balustrade. In the archives of the Oratorians, adjacent to the church, there is a wooden model of the façade as it was originally intended to be; some changes were made at a later point. It has been suggested that it was Carlo Maderno who introduced the changes.
Above the middle doorway is a relief depicting the old S Maria in Vallicella.
[edit] Interior
The church is shaped as a Latin cross with three aisles. Di Castello's original design had only one nave and four chapels on each side. Giacomo della Porta changed it, making the side chapels deeper and the nave consequentally more narrow, and dividing the nave into three aisles. On each side, there are 5 communicating chapels. Originally, the church had very little decoration, but against St Philip's wishes it was decorated after his death. His original plan was to have only depictions of the Blessed Virgin, and they were meant to be rather discrete.
A painting of the church as it was when new can be seen in the Vatican Pinacoteca, namely Andrea Sacchi's The Interior of S Maria in Vallicelli during the Festivities of 13 March 1602. It depicts the church as it looked when St Philip Neri was canonized.
The fresco in the main aisle is by Pietro da Cortona, painted in 1664–1665. It depicts the miracle of the Blessed Virgin: St Philip was warned in a dream that the roof of the church would collapse, and had it repaired. The roof was in bad shape, and many would have been killed if it had collapsed during Mass. Da Cortona also painted The Holy Trinity in the dome, the Assumption of Mary in the apse and Angels with the Instruments of the Passion of Our Lord in the ceiling of the sacristy.
A 13th century icon of the Blessed Virgin is enshrined above the high altar. The canvas covering it is by Peter Paul Rubens, who also painted the canvases on either side of the sanctuary between 1606 and 1608. The construction is quite unique. The altarpiece contains an icon, The Madonna and Child, by Rubens. Behind that icon is the older one, which can be revealed through a system of strings and pulleys. The mail-clad figures in one of them are St Papias and St Maurus, whose relics lie beneath the high altar. The altar itself was completed in 1608. The tabernacle was added in 1681, and is by Ciro Ferri.
The side chapels were made available to wealthy families. They were given a letter of concession, and were then expected to decorate and maintain the chapel. This is common in many churches in Rome (consider the family chapels in Santa Maria Maggiore), but this is a rare example of the process being planned from the start. Memorial plaques in the chapels name the families.
The ten side chapels are decorated with a cycle of scenes from the life of Our Lady, according to St Philip Neri's requests. Some of them, such as Federico Barocci's Visitation, were orderd by the saint.
In the left transept, the Cappella Spada by Carlo Rainaldi has a painting from 1685 by Maratta, the Madonna Enthroned with Sts Charles Borromeo and Ignatius.
The chapel of St Philip Neri, to the left of the altar, is in the Baroque style, decorated in mother of pearl, gold, marble, bronze and stucco. The saint's body rests in an urn below the altar. The mosaic is a copy of a painting by Guido Reni.
The Taking Down from the Cross, or Deposition, by Caravaggio in the second chapel on the left is a copy. The original from 1604 can be seen in the Vatican Museums.
The sacristy, which as mentioned before has ceiling painted by da Cortona, was designed by Paolo Marucelli in 1629, and is considered one of the finest sacristies in Rome. It is usually open to the public.
[edit] Special notes
St Philip Neri's room and chapel is upstairs. You may ask the sacristan if you wish to see them. The room is reconstructed, but the furniture is original, and there are several relics. The need for reconstruction was caused by a fire started by a stray rocket from a fireworks display at Castel Sant' Angelo. One of the items in the room is a Nottingham alabaster of the head of St John the Baptist on a plate and the Lamb of God, It was given to St Philip from among the loot of a captured turkish ship.
[edit] Oratorio di San Filippo Neri
The Oratorio di San Filippo Neri is attached to the church. It was built for St Philip Neri in 1572 by Pope Gregory XIII and Cardinal Cesi, and was designed by Martino Longhi the elder. The oratory was meant as a monastery for the Oratorians, a religihous order whose members continued their careers in the secular world. It was restored in 1637 by Borromini. It was here that St Philip organized the first sacred preformances of music for soloists and choir, which is the reason for the name 'oratory'. It houses the Vallicelliana Library, which was established by St Phlilip Neri in 1581 and is the oldest public library in Rome, the Institute for Roman Studies including the Capitoline Historical Archives, the Roman Newspaper Archives with copies of almost all newspapers published in Rome since the 18th century, as well as the monastery of the Oratorian brothers.
