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San Carlo al Corso
Added by Basilwatkinsosb| San Carlo al Corso | |
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| English name: | St Charles at the Corso |
| Latin name: | Sanctorum Ambrosii et Caroli ad viam Latam |
| Dedication: | Sts Ambrose and Charles Borromeus |
| Denomination: | Roman Catholic |
| Type: | National churchMinor Basilica |
| Clergy: | Rosminian Fathers |
| Built: | 1612 |
| Architect(s): | Onorio Longhi, Martino Longhi the Younger |
| Contact data | |
| Address: | 437 Via del Corso 00186 Roma |
| Phone: | 06 68 19 171 / 06 68 78 335 |
| Fax: | 06 68 67 601 |
San Carlo al Corso (formally Santi Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso) is a church dedicated to the Milanese saints Ambrose and Charles Borromeus.
It is the national, or regional since the unification of Italy, of the Lombards, and it also contains the Chapel of St Olav, which is the Norwegian national shrine.
Pictures of the church at Wikimedia Commons. [1]
Contents |
History
Edit
The first church on the site was called San Niccolò del Tufo. It was granted to the Lombard community by Pope Sixtus IV, after he had approved of the establishment of a Lombard Confraternity in 1471. They rededicated it to their patron St Ambrose, and restored the church.
In 1612 a new church was built by Onorio Longhi, and dedicated to Sts Ambrose and Charles Borromeo; the foundation stone was laid on 29 January of that year. The latter had been canonized in 1610, and it was this canonization that led to the enlargement of the church. The confraternity, now named the Archconfraternity of Saints Ambrose and Charles of the Lombard Nation, funded the project. The architect died before the work was completed, and the façade was finally completed in 1684 by Gian Battista Menicucci and Mario da Canepina. The interior was designed by Martino Longhi the Younger, son of Onorio, in 1642 and slightly altered by Pietro da Cortona in 1651. The latter erected the dome and apse in 1668.
In 1929, it was given the status of minor basilica.
The interior was renovated in 2001. In February 2002, the Roman newspaper Il Messaggero wrote that the external wall have cracks in them, and the church was therefore in danger of collapsing. The damages may have been caused by the heavy traffic on the Corso. To prevent it from collapsing, steel reinforcements were put in place at the apse, and the church is now safe.
The church is served by Rosminians fathers.
It became a titular church in 1627, when Pope Urban VIII suppressed the title of San Carlo ai Catinari. The first titular priest was Desiderio Scaglia O.P. (appointed 1627, died 1639). The title was suppressed after his death, but resurrected in 1967. The current titular priest is Dionigio Tettamanzi, Archbishop of Genua, who was appointed in 1998.
ExteriorEdit
The façade has a single story divided into three parts by pilasters with Corinthian capitals. It is said to have been designed by Luigi Omodei, Cardinal protector of the Lombard Archconfraternity. It has a central doors with a triangular tympanon and a door with semicircular tympanon at either side. Above the side doors are square windows, and above that, in all three parts, are large rectangular windows with balconies. The architrave is inscribed with the names of the two saints that the church is dedicated to. Above that is a tympanon covering the whole width of the church. The small square in front of the church was cleared when the new church was built; until the 17th century there were some small houses between the church and the Corso.
Behind the church is a statue of St Charles Borromeo, made by Attilio de Trieste in the 20th century.
The houses flanking the church previously formed the hospital of the Lombard Archconfraternity.
InteriorEdit
The church has a nave and two aisles separated by pillars with pilaster strips of fake marble. It is 75 metres long and 54 metres wide at its widest point. The two side naves stretch around the sanctuary to form an ambulatory. This imitates the cathedral of Milan, and it is the only ambulatory within a church in Rome.
The fresco in the central vault is the Fall of the Rebel Angels (1677–1679) by Giacinto Brandi.
The altarpiece, depicting Sts Ambrose and Charles, was painted c. 1685 by Carlo Maratta.
If you follow the ambulatory behind the sanctuary, you will find a niche where a reliquary containing the heart of St Charles is kept. It was donated to the church in 1614 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, a relative of the saint.
You can see the 16th century oratory of St Ambrose if you go through the left transept.
The second chapel on the right is dedicated to Mary, Aid of Christians (Maria Auxilium Christianorum), and has an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was donated by St Vincent Pallotti in the 19th century.
The third chapel on the right is dedicated to the Holy Family. On the left side of it is a depiction of The Redemptor and Sts Ambrose and Charles as well as the sepulchral monument of Federico Borromeo.
Chapel of St OlavEdit
On the left side is the Chapel of St Olav of Norway, dedicated to the martyr king who was slain in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. The chapel was inaugurated by Cardinal Lucido Maria Parocchi on 9 April 1893, on the 50th anniversary of the first Mass celebrated legally in Norway since the Reformation.[1]
The painting, by Polish artist Pius Wleonski, depicts the king's victory over his own past, represented by a dragon - he was a viking in his youth, before he became a Christian. It was a gift for Pope Leo XIII for the 50th anniversary of his episcopal ordination. Bishop Fallize of Norway asked that it be placed in this church, where an altar had been set aside. It was presented to the Holy Father on 3 March 1893 by Baron Wedel Jarlsberg. The Holy Father supported the idea of a Norwegian chapel in Rome, and the painting was placed here.
A smaller picture on the altar shows St Anne and her daughter, the Blessed Virgin. St Anne was a very popular saint in pre-Reformation Norway.
The relics of a Roman martyr are interred in the altar. Nothing is known about him except his name, St Saturninus.
The chapel was restored, and it was reinaugurated by Bishop Gran of Oslo in 1980. The inititive for this restoration came from Cecilie "Ciss" Riber-Mohn (who was not herself a Catholic, and who passed away in 1978, before the restoration was complete), Olga Térése "Olgese" Mowinckel Ringler and her Italian husband Andrea Ringler. Rieber-Mohn had also preserved the chapel in the 1960's, when there was talk about using it for other purposes.
Mass is celebrated in Norwegian at Christmas and on May 17th (Constitution Day), and many Norwegian ex-patriates, including non-Catholic, take part. Requiem masses are celebrated for Norwegians with connections to Rome. Norwegian pilgrim groups can make an appointment to celebrate Mass here, and at times tourist groups come here for ecumenical services.
LiturgyEdit
Feast that are solemnly celebrated here include St Charles on 4 November, St Ambrose on 7 December, Translation of the Heart of St Charles on 22 June, Mary Aid of Christians on 24 May and Bl. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini on 1 June.
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ Mass had been legally celebrated between 1537 and 1843, but only in embassies and in fortresses where foreign officers served. In 1843 it was again celebrated in public after the King of Sweden and Norway had given his permission.
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