The Ss. Stimmate di San Francesco ("Church of the Holy Stigmata of St. Francis") is a church in central

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in the Rione Pigna, sited where previously there was a church called Ss. Quaranta Martiri de Calcarario. It is located on Via dei Cestari, near the corner with Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and across the street and diagonal from the

Largo di Torre Argentina Largo di Torre Argentina (, ) is a large open space in Rome, Italy, with four Roman Republican temples and the remains of Pompey's Theatre. It is in the ancient Campus Martius. This was one of the places the ancient " Argentario"--the silver/mo ...

. The first church in this location was consecrated in 1297. In 1597, the land was given by

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...

to the ''Confraternita delle Ss.Stimmate''; the construction of a new building was completed in 1714, from designs by Giovanni Battista Contini.

Art and architecture

During the papacy of

Clement XI Pope Clement XI (; ; ; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. Clement XI was a patron of the arts an ...

, the facade was begun by

Antonio Canevari Antonio Canevari (Rome, 1681– Naples, 1764) was an Italian architect of the Rococo and Neoclassical periods. He trained with a poorly known architect by the name of Antonio Caleri, and began early work in Rome. Moved to Lisbon in 1725, and then ...

, in a plan recalling

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

's style. In the center niche formed by the interrupted tympanum is a statue of St. Francis receiving the

stigmata Stigmata (, plural of , 'mark, spot, brand'), in Roman Catholicism, Catholicism, are bodily wounds, scars and pain which appear in locations corresponding to the Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion Five Holy Wounds, wounds of Jesus in Christian ...

as he looks heavenward. The first chapel to the right has a ''Flagellation'' by

Marco Benefial Marco Benefial (25 April 1684 – 9 April 1764) "Marco Benefial (Getty Museum)" (history), The Getty Museum, 2006, webpage: GM-Benefial. was an Italian, proto- Neoclassical painter, mainly active in Rome. Benefial is best known for h ...

, flanking paintings by Domenico Muratori with a cupola frescoed by Giovanni Odazzi. The second chapel has a painting of the

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

by Sebastiano Conca and a ''St Michael'', a copy of the mosaic of St. Peters completed by Filippo Laurenti. The third chapel on the right has a canvas depicting ''St. Joseph Calasanzio'' by Marco Caprini. The main altarpiece is a ''Saint Francis with stigmata'' (1719) by

Francesco Trevisani 200px, ''Portrait of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni ''by Francesco Trevisani. The Barnard_Castle.html" ;"title="Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle">Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham, England. Francesco Trevisani (April 9, 1656 – July 30, 1746 ...

. The nave ceiling has a ''Glory of St. Francis'' by

Luigi Garzi Luigi Garzi (1638–1721) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period whose style was strongly influenced by the work of the Bolognese painter Guido Reni. Biography He was born in Pistoia. He started learning from a poorly known landscape paint ...

. In the third chapel the left has an altarpiece depicting the ''Ss. Quaranta Martiri'' ( Holy Forty martyrs) by

Giacinto Brandi Giacinto Brandi (1621 – 19 January 1691) was an Italian painter from the Baroque era, active mainly in Rome and Naples. left, 250px, ''Christ in Gesthemane'', Pinacoteca Vaticana left, 250px, Dome of the church of San Carlo al Corso B ...

, author of another ''St. Francis with Stigmata'' in the Hall of Stimmate. The sacristy ceiling was frescoed by Girolamo Pesce.Guida metodica di Roma e suoi contorni
by Giuseppe Melchiorri, Rome (1836); page 424.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stimmate Di San Francesco, Santissime Roman Catholic churches in Rome Roman Catholic churches completed in 1714 Baroque architecture in Rome Churches of Rome (rione Pigna) 1714 establishments in the Papal States 1714 establishments in Italy 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy