San Gregorio Magno al Celio
From Churches of Rome Wiki
San Gregorio Magno al Celio St Gregory the Great on the Coelian
1 Piazza San Gregorio
Church dedicated to Pope St Gregory the Great. History
The church is also dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle, and the full name is Santi Andrea e Gregorio Magno a Celio.
Pope Gregory the Great lived here as an abbot, in a monastery dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle established in his own home in 575. Here, he trained English slave boys he had bought in the Roman market as monks. They were sent as missionaries to England in 596. His home is most likely partially preserved beneath the present church and monastery. They have not been excavated.
The church was rebuilt in the Middle Ages, possibly after being damaged by the Normans under Robert Guiscard at the end of the 12th century.
Scipione Cardinal Cafarelli Borghese had the church renovated 1629-1633, to a design by Giovanni Battista Soria.
The interior was renovated in the 18th century by Francesco Ferrari.
The church was made a cardinalitial title by Pope Gregory XVI in June 1839, with Ambrogio Cardinal Bianch O.S.B.Cam. as the first titular priest. The current titular of the church is H.E. Edmund Cardinal Casimir Szoka. Exterior
The façade is by Giovanni Battista Soria, and was made in the 17th century renovation. It is considered his best work. The church lies on high ground, and Soria used this to good effect by constructing wide stairs with very low steps. The façade itself is divided into three parts, with a middle section flanked by double pilasters. In each section, there is a doorway with a rounded arch, crowned by the eagle of the Borghese family. Three windows on the upper storey correspond to the doors. The middle section has a triangular pediment Interior
There are two medieval statues of St Gregory and St Andrew - in Gregory's days, the monastery was dedicated to that Apostle.
There is a chapel of St Gregory at the end of the right aisle. A room off the chapel incorporates what is believed to be the remains of his cell. One of the items is an ancient Roman chair in which he sat. Over the altar is a painted panel, by the 15th century Umbrian school, showing St Michael the Archangel and Saints. The marble front of the altar has a 14th century relief depicting the 30 Masses of St Gregory.
The vault was painted by Costanzi in 1727. The motif is The Glory of St Gregory.
Across from the chapel of St Gregory is another chapel with a modern painting of Our Lady. Near this chapel is a door that leads to the Cappella Salviati, with a wall from the original church. On the wall is a fresco of the Madonna. Tradition claims that St Gregory prayed before this picture, and that the Madonna spoke to him here. It seems too late for that, but it may have been repainted. Monastery and chapels
The monastery in inhabited by Camaldolese monks, dressed in white habit. Unlike others of their order, who are hermits, this monastery is organized on normal Benedictine lines. It's possible to see the gardens if you ask one of the monks. If you can't see any of them, ring the bell at the door in the atrium.
The three chapels in the gardens date from the 17th century in their present form. They were designed by Flaminio Ponzio c. 1607. One of them, which is dedicated to St Barbara, has a stone table at which St Gregory is believed to have entertained the poor; 12 people where invited to take a meal here every day, and were served by St Gregory personally. A painting behind it relates the story of how an angel once came among the poor, disguised as one of them, and was entertained by the saint. The one dedicated to St Andrew has frescoes by Domenichino and Guido Reni, and the third, dedicated to St Sylvia, St Gregory's mother, has the fresco Concert of Angels by Guido Reni in the vault of the apse.
© Chri
