Santi Andrea e Claudio dei Borgognoni
English name:	Andrew and Claudius of the Burgundians
Dedication:	Andrew and Claudius
Denomination:	Catholic
Built:	1731
Contact data
Address:	Via del Pozzetto 160

Santi Andrea e Claudio dei Borgognoni is a French national church at Via del Pozzetto 160, on the south side of the Piazza S. Silvestro. Pictures of the church on Wikimedia Commons. [1]

The second saint in the dedication was a monk living in the Vosges mountains in the 6th century (the names are often reversed).

Contents 1 History 2 Exterior 3 Interior 4 External links

HistoryEdit

The story is that twelve Burgundian emigrés in Rome formed a confraternity in the early 17th century to help visiting fellow countrymen. (It should be noted that "Burgundy" here refers to a then Spanish territory which now forms the region in France called Franche Comté, and not to the Burgundy region as now understood.) They obtained an oratory on the site of the present church, and founded a hospice for pilgrims in 1662. This oratory was officially proclaimed as the nation al church of the Burgundians, which is why its successor is now a French national church. However, the old building fell into disrepair and was completely demolished and replaced by the present structure, which was consecrated in 1731. The architect was Antoine Dérizet, who also designed Nome di Maria in the Foro Traiano.

Since 1886 it has been in charge of the Sacramentine Fathers, who are dedicated to the cult of the Blessed Sacrament. They have the rare privilege of leaving the Sacrament exposed on the altar for veneration by anybody who visits the church.

ExteriorEdit

The church is basically a dome on a Greek cross with very short arms. Said dome is a lead hemisphere with a lantern, and windows are inserted into its base at the four cardinal points. The main entrance façade has two storeys separated by a full entablature, the frieze of which bears a dedicatory inscription. The entrance doorcase is inserted into a large archway of apsidal form with its keystone touching the architrave, and has a trapezoidal pediment bearing its own architrave. The conch within the archway is decorated with swags. There are four doubled Composite pilasters, two on each corner and two on either side of the entrance arch, and the zones of the façade between the inner and outer pilasters are recessed from the central zone. They contain two colossal statues in arched niches, one of St Andrew by Luca Bréton and one of St Claude by Guglielmo-Antonio Grandjacquet, both of 1771. The second storey of the façade has a pair of quadruple clustered Doric pilasters flanking a window with a trapezoidal pediment, and supporting a small segmental pediment containing a coat of arms. There is a pair of urns occupying the outer corners of the façade, and sweeping curves attaching these to the capitals of the clustered pilasters.

InteriorEdit

The interior is dominated by the dome, which has stucco representations of the four Evangelists in its spandrels. In the four arches supporting it are stucco angels. The left hand transept is the shrine of St Peter Julian

Eymard, the founder of the congregation (died 1864), and his relics are preserved in a polychrome marble urn by Corrado Mezzana. Over the high altar is a painting of St Charles Borromeo in ecstasy by Placido Costanzi of 1731. The right hand transept is the chapel of St Joseph, with a depiction of him over the altar by Guido Francisci. There are two modern works by Cleto Luzzi here of 1949, one featuring the dream of St Joseph instructing him to marry Our Lady, and the other the flight into Egypt after Christ's birth.

External linksEdit

Official diocesan web-page

Italian WIkipedia page