San Sebastiano was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in the historic centre of

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, Italy dedicated to

Saint Sebastian Sebastian (; ) was an early Christianity, Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this d ...

. It was founded as an oratory in the 10th century, and it eventually became a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

and was rebuilt in the Romanesque style. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the church intermittently belonged to the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. They renovated the building in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, but the façade was only completed in 1830. The church was

deconsecrate Deconsecration, also referred to as decommissioning or ''secularization'' (a term also used for the external confiscation of church property), is the removal of a religious sanction and blessing from something that had been previously consec ...

d following Italian unification in the 1860s, and it was subsequently used as a cinema and a library. The building was destroyed by aerial bombardment in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and its remains were subsequently demolished. The

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

and

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

had survived the bombing, and the former was retained ''in situ'' while the latter was relocated to the church of San Nicolò all'Arena.

History

An oratory dedicated to

was established on the site of the church in 932 at the bequest of the deacon Dagiberto. A hospital was located adjacent to the oratory, and it was used to care for priests, pilgrims and the poor. The oratory eventually became a

it was rebuilt and enlarged in the Romanesque style. On 8 February 1578, bishop Agostino Valier granted the church and its assets to the

, and it ceased to be a parish church. The building began to be renovated in 1580 with the reconstruction of its façade. The architect who designed it is unknown. In 1591, the building was still incomplete and the Jesuits asked the Venetian rectors of the city to be able to enlarge the church, and this request was accepted. The Jesuits had to abandon the church in 1606 after

Pope Paul V Pope Paul V (; ) (17 September 1552 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a mem ...

interdict In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits certain persons or groups from participating in particular rites, or that the rites and services of the church are prohibited in certain territories for ...

against the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

, and construction of the façade was abandoned at this point. They returned in 1656, and by this time the building was still not completed. The Jesuits were suppressed in 1773 and their assets including the church of San Sebastiano became public property. In September 1774, the city of Verona purchased the church and the college from the

Venetian Senate The Senate (), formally the ''Consiglio dei Pregadi'' or ''Rogati'' (, ), was the main deliberative and legislative body of the Republic of Venice. Establishment The Venetian Senate was founded in 1229, or less likely shortly before that date. ...

for 30,000

ducat The ducat ( ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide inter ...

s, with the obligation of celebrating mass daily in the building. In 1792, the city established a library known as the within the oratory of the former Jesuit college at San Sebastiano. It included books which had belonged to the Jesuits or to the Abbey of San Zeno (which had been suppressed in 1770), along with books donated to the city by Aventino Fracastoro and

Antonio Maria Lorgna Antonio Maria Lorgna (1735-1796) or Antonio Mario Lorgna (as he signed his works) was a mathematician from Italy in the 18th century, founder of the Accademia nazionale delle scienze. Life and work Little is known about the first twenty year ...

. The library was opened to the public in 1802. The church was deconsecrated during Napoleonic rule and it was used for cultural events, while the convent continued to house the library and a

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

. The church was reconsecrated during the period of Austrian rule, and in 1830 its façade was completed by the architect using marble which had been set aside for the church but which had not been used due to the interdict of 1606. The Jesuits returned in 1842 and they officially retained the church until 1848, but clandestinely remained there until 1866 when Verona was acquired by the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

during the

Third Italian War of Independence The Third Italian War of Independence () was a war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire fought between June and August 1866. The conflict paralleled the Austro-Prussian War and resulted in Austria giving the region of Venetia (p ...

. At this point, the church was deconsecrated once again for the final time. In the early 20th century, the deconsecrated church became a cinema which was known as the ''Cinema Pathè''. By 1939, part of the library moved into the former church. The church was almost completely destroyed by Allied aerial bombardment on 4 January 1945, near the end of

. In the 1950s, the façade was relocated to the church of San Nicolò all'Arena and the remains of the church were eventually demolished and replaced by an extension to the library which was designed by the architect

Pier Luigi Nervi Pier Luigi Nervi (21 June 1891 – 9 January 1979) was an Italian engineer and architect. He studied at the University of Bologna graduating in 1913. Nervi taught as a professor of engineering at Rome University from 1946 to 1961 and was known wo ...

. This project was approved in 1973 and it was completed in 1980. The

which had survived the war was retained and it still exists today.

Architecture

Wiki Loves Monuments Italy - Verona 2018 exhibition f03

The church had a neoclassical façade with four

fluted Fluting may refer to: *Fluting (architecture) *Fluting (firearms) *Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) *Playing a flute (musical instrument) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump ''Fluting on the Hump'' is the ...

Ionic columns of a

giant order In classical architecture, a giant order, also known as colossal order, is an order whose columns or pilasters span two (or more) storeys. At the same time, smaller orders may feature in arcades or window and door framings within the storeys that ...

which supported a triangular tympanum. The main doorway was located in the centre, and there were two smaller portals which surmounted by

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

s. Above them there were niches and decorations of

festoon A festoon (from French ''feston'', Italian ''festone'', from a Late Latin ''festo'', originally a festal garland, Latin ''festum'', feast) is a wreath or garland hanging from two points, and in architecture typically a carved ornament depicti ...

s. The church's

, which is built in the

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

, is the only part of the building which still exists ''in situ''. The tower retains the JHS symbol of the Jesuit order and it includes a statue of

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the S ...

, the founder of the order. The church's bells no longer exist since they were remelted and used in other churches.

History

Architecture

See also

References

Further reading