San Michele Arcangelo ai Corridori di Borgo
San Michele Arcangelo ai Corridori di Borgo | |
---|---|
St. Michael, the Archangel | |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Destroyed in 1939 |
Architect(s) | Tiberio Calcagni |
Groundbreaking | Middle Ages |
San Michele Arcangelo ai Corridori di Borgo was a church in Rome dedicated to
The church, traditionally linked to the legend of the appearance of St. Michael above Castel Sant'Angelo and seat of the confraternity of the same name, was founded in the Middle Ages and rebuilt in 1564. The 16th century church, a small hall building, was the work of the Florentine mannerist architect Tiberio Calcagni, and had a side chapel on the left side of the first bay. The building was decorated with frescoes and paintings from the mannerist period, and housed a fresco from the 15th century, the Nursing Madonna, attributed to Antoniazzo Romano, accidentally found in 1825 in the courtyard wall.
The church was demolished in 1939 to allow for the enlargement of two roads: Borgo Sant'Angelo and Via della
Location
The church was located in
Denomination
The building, originally dedicated to all of the
History
Tradition links the origin of a church bearing this name to the legend of the appearance of St. Michael above Castel Sant'Angelo. According to the legend, Saint Michael sheathed his sword, stopping a plague, after a
Although such an ancient foundation date for a church on this site seems unlikely, it is possible that in the Middle Ages there was another church in the neighborhood called Sant'Angelo di Castello.[4] Lying much nearer to Castel Sant'Angelo than the modern church building, it would have had to be demolished because of its vicinity to the fortress.[4] The existence of the church is first recorded during the pontificate of Pope Eugene IV (r. 1431–1447).[1] A hospital was attached to it, called hospitale angelorum ("Angels' hospital") or hospitale sancti Angeli ("Holy Angels' hospital"), administered by the Confraternita di San Michele Arcangelo, established in 1432.[1] While the brotherhood is active to this day, the hospital closed at the end of the 15th century.[1] The confraternity, whose main task changed over time from the care of the sick to the provision of a dowry for Borgo's poor unmarried girls (zitelle in the Romanesco dialect), financed itself by renting several properties in the rione of Borgo and elsewhere in the city.[2] The brethren gathered in an oratory along Borgo Sant'Angelo attached to the church; the oratory's façade was renewed in 1717 by Camillo Paladini.[2]
The church and hospital were demolished in 1497, under Pope Alexander VI, and the former was rebuilt in 1564 according to a design by the Florentine architect Tiberio Calcagni.[1] The reconstructed church was assigned again to the Confraternita di San Michele Arcangelo by Pope Pius IV (r. 1559–1565).[1]
The building, restored in 1867,[1] was set to be demolished according to Rome's 1908 town-planning scheme, which envisioned the construction of a wide avenue connecting Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II (and thus the center of Rome) with the Prati rione.[5] This avenue would have been created by widening Via di Porta Castello, the road in front of the church, which would have meant the demolition of the building.[5] Spared for thirty years because of the suspension of the project and the opposition of municipal technical commissions,[5] the church was demolished in July 1939 to make way for the enlargement of two roads, Borgo Sant'Angelo and Via della Traspontina, as part of a project to open Via della Conciliazione.[1]
After the demolition of its seat, in 1969 the archconfraternity was merged with that of Santa Maria Annunziata in Borgo. Since then, it has been officiating in the rebuilt oratory of the Annunziata ("la Nunziatina") on the Lungotevere Vaticano.[1]
Description
Architecture
The facade of the church had one
Interior
The church had a single
The church housed several works of art, including a painting by della Marca depicting the apparition of Michael the Archangel atop the castle, and a bronze statue of the archangel by the French sculptor Louis-Albert Lefeuvre, donated by Pope Leo XIII (r. 1878–1903).[6] On the ceiling, there was a late-17th-century fresco of the archangel subduing the devil.[8]
The
In the courtyard of the church, in a niche of the passetto, a fresco by 15th-century painter Antoniazzo Romano depicting the Madonna del latte col Bambino ("Nursing Madonna") was discovered by accident in 1825.[6][9] The Madonna, which was later crowned under the name of Refugium Peccatorum ("shelter of the sinners"), was detached from the wall and exhibited for veneration by the faithful above the left altar of the church.[6]
In 1867, the lunettes of the church were frescoed by Attilio Palombi with scenes from the life of the confraternity.[6] On the same occasion, the renovation of the marble floor caused the dispersion of several medieval tombstones.[6]
Due to the merging of the archconfraternity with that of Santa Maria Annunziata, after the demolition of the church almost all of the furnishings and works of art contained there, including the Nursing Madonna and the fresco by della Marca, were moved to the nearby Nunziatina oratory.[6] Some architectural elements of the building, dismantled during the demolition, are preserved in municipal storerooms.[9]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Gigli (1990), p. 68
- ^ a b c d e f g Giacomini (2016), p. 145
- ^ Borgatti (1926), p. 171
- ^ a b Borgatti (1926), pp. 65–66
- ^ a b c d e f Giacomini (2016), p. 146
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gigli (1990), p. 70
- ^ Giuseppe Tacci (1855). "Sulla deificazione nel senso pagano e nel senso cattolico : alcuni cenni del prof. Giuseppe Tacci relativi all'uso della voce latina "divus" nell'epigrafia cristiana" (in Italian). Fermo: Bacher. p. passim. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ^ Giacomini (2016), p. 147
- ^ a b c Giacomini (2016), p. 148
Sources
- Borgatti, Mariano (1926). Borgo e S. Pietro nel 1300–1600–1925 (in Italian). Roma: Federico Pustet.
- Giacomini, Federica (2016). Claudio Parisi Presicce; Laura Petacco (eds.). San Michele Arcangelo ai Corridori di Borgo (in Italian). Roma: Gangemi. )
- Gigli, Laura (1990). Guide rionali di Roma (in Italian). Vol. Borgo (I). Fratelli Palombi Editori, Roma. ISSN 0393-2710.
External links
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