Basilica di San Clemente
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The basilica of San Clemente is archaeologically speaking a three tiered complex of buildings in Rome with the upper most level structure we see today being a twelfth century Roman Catholic church dedicated to Pope Clement I. The site is notable as being an archaeological record of a first century insula belonging to T. Flavius Clemens, also, a second century Roman pagan temple, and the 4th century Church of the Christian era to the current one built just before the year 1100 during the height of the Middle Ages.
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[edit] History
This ancient church was transformed over the centuries from a private home that was the site of clandestine Christian worship in the first century to a grand public basilica by the sixth century, reflecting the emerging Catholic Church's growing legitimacy and power.
[edit] Roman buildings
The house was originally owned by Roman consul and martyr Titus Flavius Clemens, who was one of the first among the Roman senatorial class to convert to Christianity. He allowed his house to be used as a secret gathering place for fellow Christians, the religion being outlawed at the time.
There is evidence of pagan worship on the site. In the second century members of a Mithraic cult built a small temple dedicated to Mithras in an insula, or apartment complex, on the site. This temple, used for initiation rituals, lasted until about the third century.
[edit] The first basilica
Excavations in the 1860s revealed the forgotten earlier basilica that underlies the medieval one. St. Jerome writing in 392 attests to the Church dedicated to St. Clement, after Christianity became the state religion of Rome, the small church underwent expansion, acquiring the adjoining insula and other nearby buildings; Architects began work on the complex of rooms and courtyards, building a central nave over the early church site, and an apse over the former Mithraeum. The new church was dedicated to Pope Clement I, a first-century Christian convert and considered by Patrologists and Ecclesiastical historians to be identical with Titus Flavius Clemens. Restorations were undertaken in the ninth century and ca 1080-99.[1]
Apart from those in Santa Maria Antiqua, the largest collection of Early Medieval wall paintings are to be found in the lower basilica of San Clemente. Over the next several centuries, San Clemente became a beacon for church artists and sculptors, benefitting from Imperial largesse. Today, it is one of the most richly adorned churches in Rome.
The last major event that took place in the lower basilica was the election in 1099 of Cardinal Rainerius of St Clemente as Pope Paschal II.
[edit] The second basilica
The current basilica was rebuilt in one campaign by Cardinal Anastasius, ca 1099-ca. 1120, after the original church was burned to the ground during the Norman sack of the city under Robert Guiscard in 1084. [2]
Irish Dominicans have been the caretakers of San Clemente since 1667, when England outlawed the Irish Catholic Church and expelled the entire clergy. Pope Urban VIII gave them refuge at San Clemente, where they have remained, running a residence for priests studying and teaching in Rome. The Dominicans themselves conducted the excavations in the 1950s in collaboration with Italian archaeology students.
On one wall in the courtyard there is a plaque affixed by Pope Clement XI, who praises San Clemente, declaring, "This ancient church has withstood the ravages of the centuries." Clement undertook restorations to the venerable structure, which he found dilapidated. He selected Carlo Stefano Fontana, nephew of Carlo Fontana as architect, who erected a new facade, completed in 1719.[3] The carved and gilded ceilings of nave and aisles, fitted with paintings, date from this time, as do the frescos.
In one lateral chapel there is a shrine with the tomb of Saint Cyril of the Saints Cyril and Methodius who created the Glagolithic alphabet and christianized the Slavs. Pope John Paul II used to pray there sometimes for Poland and the Slavic countries [1]. The chapel also holds a Madonna by Sassoferrato.
Current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Clementi is Adrianus Johannes Simonis, archbishop emeritus of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Pope Paschal II (1076-1099) was one of the previous holders of the titulus.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Joan E. Barclay Lloyd, "The building history of the medieval Church of S. Clemente in Rome" The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 45.3 (September 1986), pp. 197-223.
- ^ Lloyd 1986|197.
- ^ John Gilmartin, "The Paintings Commissioned by Pope Clement XI for the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome" The Burlington Magazine 116 No. 855 (June 1974, pp. 304-312) p 304.
[edit] References
- "San Clemente", article by Chris Nyborg.
- Joan E. Barclay Lloyd, "The building history of the medieval Church of S. Clemente in Rome" The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 45.3 (September 1986), pp. 197-223.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Kunsthistorie.com gallery.
