Verrando G. N., Le numerose recensioni della passio Pancratii, in "Vetera Christianorum" 19 (1982) 105-129 The 44 bus from Piazza Venezia passes close by (get off at Ottavilla/Pamphilj). As mentioned above, San Pancrazio is one of the few catacombs in Rome whose track has not been completely lost during the centuries, even if it has often been confused with other catacombs rising along the Via Aurelia. In 1954, the Discalced Carmelite theological college known as the Teresianum moved into very ample facilities next door, just to the west. Its rank in the pecking order was number seven. Apparently a third entrance to the catacombs is around here -the other two known ones are in the church. The sanctuary occupies the central part of the transept and the apse. The counterfaçade has a lavish marble Baroque door-case with a split segmental pediment. However, there have been passage collapses since which have not been sorted out. This wan't mandatory so didn't always work -but a cardinal who allowed his church to remain in poor repair would have damaged his reputation. This is taken as evidence that the martyr was buried on the surface, and that the church plan had to respect other pre-existing structures (most likely mausolea) when it was built over his undisturbed tomb. The side entrance ones seem actually to be semi-columns, sawn in half longitudinally. Antonio Bosio went looking for the Calepodian cemetery then, failed to find it and so came to this erroneous conclusion. This cemetery around the saint's tomb was extended as a Christian catacomb beginning at the start of the 4th century, with four separate identifiable foci. This was the point at which interest reawakened as regards the catacombs under the church. In 1606 a major restoration was finally undertaken of the mutilated basilica on the orders of Cardinal Ludovico de Torres (his memorial is in the church) with the help of his nephew Cosimo. The side aisles also have coffered and carved wooden ceilings, and end in a pair of large side chapels which occupy the sides of the transept flanking the sanctuary. Coordinate: 41°53′05.78″N 12°27′14.29″E / 41.88494°N 12.45397°E41.88494; 12.45397. In 625 Pope Honorius I rebuilt the basilica after a Greek-Gothic war, with three naves. It is down the flight of stairs parallel to the left hand aisle wall. The actual location is on the present Via Vitellia, which is possibly an ancient road in its own right. Pope Honorius' rebuilding is the basilica that still exists today. Venne visitata da papa Giovanni Paolo II domenica 22 aprile 1979. La basilica fu costruita per volere di papa Simmaco (498-514) sul luogo dove venne sepolto il famoso giovane martire San Pancrazio, che subì il martirio a Roma all'età di circa 14 anni (12 maggio 304) durante il regno dell'imperatore Diocleziano, il quale promosse l'ultima, e durissima, persecuzione contro i cristiani, in cui persero la vita circa 15.000 cristiani. Teahan, Madeleine, and Carol Glatz. All of this work was destroyed at the start of the 19th century, with sad fragments surviving including of the inscriptions. The Latin can mean either. The other set of nine are unlabelled, and seem to be just "there". The ancient arcade columns were mostly left in situ, embedded in the new walls. The left hand side chapel is called the Cappella del Santissimo. Finally there is an external semi-circular apse. Firstly it was thoroughly looted by the French in 1798, with valuable fittings being stolen including the polychrome marble work. Each has two saints, with an angel in between them: To the left, St Pancras is depicted with St Dionysius, who features in his legend. The nave roofline is dentillated, and there is a dentillated string course below the gable. The side aisles were re-roofed and their arcades unblocked. This hope has not been realised, as the only certain survivals are re-used column bases in the sanctuary arcades. It is postulated, without confirmatory archaeological evidence, that a small shrine building existed here from the early 4th century because the Martyrologium Hieronymianum entry (thought to derive from the 5th century) lists the dies natalis or festal celebration of the martyr here on 12 May. The basilica is on the site of the tomb of St Pancras , an early 4th century martyr. In this way, of course, whatever needs to be done and repaired in the church should, without doubt, be repaired thorough you. Unfortunately, it replaced an anonymous 17th century work which featured putti, caryatids and acanthus scrolls. It now passes a free-standing ancient grey granite column with a metal cross on top. The left hand side of the church is occupied by a very narrow courtyard, and the wall here has an arcaded walkway. Chiesa di San Pietro in Montorio, Roma (1.1 km →) Chiesa di Santa Maria della Scala, Roma (1.3 km ↗) Chiesa di Sant’Egidio, Roma (1.3 km ↗) Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere, Roma (1.4 km →) Chiesa di Santi Silvestro e Dorotea in Trastevere, Roma (1.4 km ↗) Chiesa di San Callisto, Roma (1.4 km →) There are eight panels. Pilgrims setting out on the Via Aurelia came to San Pancrazio first, near which was the Catacomba dei Santi Processo e Martiniano. This chapel contains the Baroque baptismal font, brought from Santi Celso e Giuliano after the parish there was suppressed. The hypogeous cemetery can be divided into three main regions: De Santis L. - Biamonte G., Le catacombe di Roma, Newton & Compton Editori, Rome 1997, pp. The church was made parochial in 1931, after major suburban development had occurred on the other side of the road. It is suspected that some might have been entombed in the piers. Nella prima metà del VII secolo, durante il pontificato di papa Onorio I, la basilica venne completamente ricostruita, affinché il sepolcro di San Pancrazio si trovasse esattamente sotto l'altar maggiore[3]. This revealed the original 1st century cemetery, but did not find the original shrine. To be fair, it has been claimed that graffiti in the so-called "Region K" demonstrates mediaeval visits, but the writer hasn't seen the evidence. il viale d'ingresso. Note that the frontage here is in purple to imitate a looted porphyry slab -it is paint made with haematite. However, this story is nowadays regarded as unhistorical by serious historians. But, in case that church might seem to lack the holy mysteries, when the priests have been removed to whom the church has been entrusted before, we accordingly order you, with the direction of this authority, not to stop employing the peregrinus priest there, who could celebrate the holy solemnities of Mass. Early pilgrimage itineraries mention an odd fact concerning the saint's shrine in the church -it was either off to one side in the building or at an angle to its axis -ex obliquo aulae, according to the Einsiedeln Itinerary for example. The right hand side chapel is dedicated to the Crucifix, and has modern wall frescoes depicting scenes from the martyrdom of St Pancras in a realistic style. Towards the left hand aisle is another picture which looks like St Bernard Receiving a Vision of Our Lady -the saint is not in a Carmelite habit. However, in the next century something rather odd happened because the abbess swapped their church and convent for that at San Pietro in Montorio in 1438. The latter was already named after St Victor. The arcades of the new church were supported on a set of ancient grey granite columns, some of which survive but not in the present nave. The city lost control of its hinterland in that century to various marauders and raiders, including Muslim ones, so the Church undertook a systematic and rather costly project to strip and abandon most of the catacombs and suburban shrines. The 7th century fabric is in opus vittatum, alternating several courses each of brick and stone. The nunnery initially flourished, and in about 1320 was listed as having thirty-five nuns. An interesting point is that the monks here were not ordained but had to rely on an expatriate (peregrinus) priest for the provision of Mass at the church. The earliest area seems to be contemporary with his martyrdom. Sorge sul Gianicolo, nel quartiere di Monte Verde presso il parco di Villa Doria Pamphilj. He also oversaw the installation of a floor and a sanctuary screen in the same style. It consists of four galleries arranged crosswise, and contains frescoed cubicles as well as devotional graffiti giving witness to mediaeval visitors. Owing to its being some distance from the Centro Storico, this church now gets few pilgrims and fewer tourists. The archivolts spring from Doric imposts, and have simple step molding on their edges. There are three important cubicula: one containing a tomb of someone called Botrys Christianos (literally meaning "Christian bunch of grapes"), one named after St Felix which has paintings of ships and fish and, most importantly, one called "Cubiculum 13" with four floor-tombs which was venerated in the Middle Ages as the shrine of SS Sophia, Fides, Spes and Caritas. Also, the Figlie di Santa Maria della Divina Provvidenza established their Generalate or congregational headquarters behind the church's convent. This would have functioned to separate the schola cantorum or choir from the main nave area occupied by the congregation in the Middle Ages. Visitors then were told that the martyr was enshrined here, but that is now doubted. On the other side of the courtyard is a wing of the Teresianum. The first notice about the martyrdom of Pancras comes from the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, that sets the date of the death at 12 May. The parish contains another convent church: Santa Maria della Consolazione a Piazza Ottavilla, under the charge of the Discalced Augustinian friars. The myth of Benedictine monks being here under Pope St Gregory the Great had an odd outcome in English transport history. Further up on the left is a free-standing ancient ribbed marble Corinthian column with a little angel perched on top. These works are over original 7th century arcades leading into the side chapels, which have three Corinthian columns each. Gli affreschi della tribuna sono attribuiti al pittore Antonio Tempesta. The Ambrosians were a Milanese foundation, formally known as the Congregatio Sancti Ambrosii ad Nemus because they had been founded in a wood outside the city in 1375. These chapels have a large arched portal each, forming a transverse arcade with the central triumphal arch. This is to be commended, and deserves support. These columns are salvage from the 7th century basilica, thrown out in the 1606 restoration. Queste catacombe, rispetto ad altre più famose, sono anguste e rendono l'idea delle difficoltà di vita dei cristiani, che qui venivano per rendere omaggio ai morti e nelle cappelle sotterranee a far dire messa nel giorno della ricorrenza della morte dei propri cari o di qualche martire. After a long period of casual access ("ask a friar"), a passage roof fall forced the closure of the catacombs for safety reasons in 2001. Neither of these is a parish Mass centre. This indicates that at least the original foundations were used, and some hope has been expressed that fabric from the first church can be found in the present building. At this time the layout resembled that of San Vitale -a single nave leading into an apse. From the 6th century, the shrine was firmly on the suburban pilgrimage circuit. È titolo cardinalizio, ed è affidata dal XVII secolo all'Ordine dei carmelitani scalzi. Being titular was not just an honorific attached to a church, because the idea was that the cardinal would spend his own funds on keeping it in repair. The passage is frescoed to resemble vaguely a catacomb passage, with a curved vault in blue. This is in the suburb of Monteverde Vecchio, part of the Gianicolense quarter. As a result of the sack the church was left derelict until the formal restoration of papal government in 1815. The following summary of the ancient fabric depends on Matilda Webb: The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome 2001. His body was abandoned on the Via Aurelia and was picked up by a Christian matrona, Ottavilla, who buried him. There are two sets of catacombs entered from the church. In 1973, Blessed Pope Paul VI ordered the rest of the head of the saint to be transferred from the Lateran to be enshrined here. The wall above the arcade feature two miracles: Threatened Shipwreck in a Storm and Buried Unharmed in a Collapsed Building. Weekdays 09:00 to 12:00, 16:00 to 19:00. This means that the central nave and transept side walls are concealed, whereas they were exposed and had windows in the earlier Middle Ages. The semi-annular confessio or devotional crypt of Pope Honorius is below the altar. Please be ready with your donations on arriving. The position of this altar can be discerned from a fragment of the canopy attached to one of the nave piers, which is in the form of Gothic tracery. The roof was repaired in 1909. This is one instance of his favouring his fellow monastics over secular priests in administrative duties. The nave has arcades springing from five very solid longitudinal rectangular piers on each side, with the piers decorated by applied Corinthian pilasters in shallow relief which run up to the entablature below the flat wooden coffered ceiling. This render is in a faded dark pink where the church's walls are not abutted by other structures. The nuns did not flourish in their new home -they were extinct in a couple of decades. It was then partially destroyed again by the Garibaldians during their futile defence of the Roman Republic against the French army in 1849. Looted by the French in 1798, and never recovered, was a pair of highly original and unusual nave ambones or pulpits in Cosmatesque work executed in 1244 and 1249. The Rosary is recited on Mondays to Thursdays at 17:30, before the evening Mass. Within the third region there are widespread Constantinian Christograms, which lead the researchers to believe that this part of the hypogeous cemetery has been built in the 4th century. It is thought that each central nave wall had six smaller round-headed windows. The re-laying of the church's floor in 1934 revealed some of the original surface cemetery (cimitero all'aperto), which began as a pagan burial ground in the 1st century. However, it is necessary that he should both live in your monastery and obtain his sustenance from there. The catacombs ceased to be visited, however, as the saint was accessible in his church crypt. On the far side of the convent wing abutting the church's sanctuary is attached a 17th century tower campanile, in brick rendered in white. As mentioned, it has been claimed that the architectural details of the façade are early 17th century but that the actual walling is 15th century. For an overview of catacombs in general, see Catacombs of Rome. His head was eventually placed in a precious manner in the Basilica, the body lays in an urn and the site still reads "Hic decollatus fuit Sanctus Pancratius" (Here San Pancrazio was taken off) ". The ancient sources, particularly the Medieval itineraries for pilgrims, mention other martyrs buried within the catacomb: Artemy, Paulinus, Sophia and her three daughters Faith, Hope and Charity. This seems to explain why the monastery here later had a dedication to St Victor, not to St Pancras -the monks were not in charge of the martyr's church, although they almost certainly provided the liturgical singing. Die Liste der Basiliken in Italien enthält alle Kirchen mit dem Titel Basilika in Italien, dem Vatikan und San Marino.. Basilika (lateinisch basilica) ist ein Ehrentitel, den der Papst einer bedeutenden katholischen Kirche verleiht.. Als Basilica maior werden dabei die sechs ranghöchsten römisch-katholischen Gotteshäuser bezeichnet. They immediately commissioned an embellishing of the interior with stucco decorations in Baroque style, as well as a fresco in the apse conch (now destroyed). The candlestick was fluted, with a Corinthian capital. The columns themselves are ancient spolia, and their imposts are thought to be the re-used column bases from the earlier church built by Pope Symmachus. … There is a striking stucco coat of arms of Pope Alexander VII at the apex of the triumphal arch into the transept, with angels as supporters and a rather cross-looking putto holding the mitre. The future Pope Pius XII was baptised in it in 1876, and a wall-monument nearby with a portrait of him commemorates this. Nibby noted the lack of painting on this ceiling in 1847, and attributed it to Cardinal Ludovico de Torres having died before he could approve the expenditure (he died in 1609). interno. San Pancrazio is a 7th century minor basilica and parish and titular church, just west of Trastevere at Piazza San Pancrazio 5/D. These columns support an open square cornice, over which a canopy with four triangular pediments is supported by four corner piers and six little columns on each side. The Ambrosian convent was obviously, in its turn, already in serious decay. The present cloister has arcades topped by upper-storey accommodation, whereas the mediaeval cloister walkways would have had pentise roofs. The location was apparently where St John Lateran's sacristies are now. The present titular is Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera. Nestori A., La basilica di S. Pancrazio in Roma, in Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 36 (1960) 213-248, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology, Official website of the church and catacomb (in Italian only), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catacomb_of_San_Pancrazio&oldid=967770841, Articles lacking in-text citations from April 2014, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The sacristy is now a little archaeological museum. In this region it is possible to visit: Finally, the third region is placed below the cloister. Ottavilla found the body and the head on May 12 304 AD, she picked them up, wrapped Pancras in precious linen and buried him specifically in the Catacombs that stood there. A drawing of one of them is on the "Romeartlover" web-page, and shows what a tragic loss these were. 128–132 We have decided that you, Maurus, should be put in charge as abbot of that monastery. Dall'Ugonio wrote a valuable description when he visited the church in 1565. Here, in December of that year Pope Alexander IV granted the vacated complex to a nascent community of Cistercian nuns, who were based at Santa Maria sopra Minerva and who had evolved from an informal commune of repentant prostitutes. Also, there is the former convent chapel of Santa Giuliana which amounts to a church edifice but has a very uncertain future. Questa pagina è stata modificata per l'ultima volta il 10 ago 2020 alle 12:48. These were meant to be martyrs, a mother and three daughters called Wisdom, Faith, Hope and Charity. The church passed the name on to a train station built next to it in the 19th century. Note that the letter says nothing about what sort of rule of life the monks followed. The Gospel ambo was embellished with spiral colonnettes and an eagle, and had a mosaic dedicatory inscription with the date 1249. Over the main entrance is a large rectangular window with a raised oversized segmental pediment containing swags, this over a dedicatory inscription to the martyr. An abbot called Hugh (Ugone in Italian) commissioned a re-ordering of the interior from 1244, including the provision of two notable Cosmatesque ambones (pulpits) and a paschal candlestick. "Ultras" could carry on for another nine miles to the Catacomba di San Basilide if they were keen enough. The central gabled nave roof is slightly higher than the central gabled roof of the sanctuary, and the two single-pitched roofs of the transept side chapels are also slightly higher than the nave side aisle roofs. San Pancrazio was treated as a dependent house of their main monastery in Rome at San Clemente. The painting replaced a work by Sebastiano Conca featuring Our Lady and St Joseph with St John of the Cross, which was noted by Nibby as being in place in 1847 but was then presumably lost in the 1849 vandalism. The first region is placed below the left transept of the basilica and behind the apse and its access is still the former entrance, within the left nave. Mass is celebrated (parish website, July 2018): Sundays 8:30, 10:30, 12:00, 17:30 (not July to 2nd Sunday in September), 18:00 (19:00 ditto). The area with its entrance in the left hand aisle was named in the 17th century after Octavilla (Ottavilla) who features in the legend of St Pancras, and who was probably the owner of the graveyard in which he was buried. The ancient bishop's throne that used to be in the apse has been lost, and the apse is now occupied by the organ. It was finally suppressed in 1517, when the church was made titular, and that was the end of any monastic presence here. San Pancrazio è una basilica di Roma, con annesse catacombe. However, in this pope's reign there was another monastery dedicated to St Pancras next to the Lateran. Per assicurare alla basilica la regolarità dello svolgimento, al suo interno, delle funzioni religiose, papa Gregorio I volle che accanto ad essa fosse eretto un monastero, intitolato a San Vittore, affidato a monaci benedettini. However, here St Pancras was mostly left in place and his shrine remained a pilgrimage destination for the entire Middle Ages. And so, after due deliberation, we have settled on this decision. Unfortunately his legend is unreliable, but his veneration is in evidence from early times. On top there is a roofline entablature, and a tiled cap from which protrudes a little lead cupola having a parabolic curve. La basilica fu costruita per volere di papa Simmaco (498-514)[1] sul luogo dove venne sepolto il famoso giovane martire San Pancrazio, che subì il martirio a Roma all'età di circa 14 anni (12 maggio 304) durante il regno dell'imperatore Diocleziano, il quale promosse l'ultima, e durissima, persecuzione contro i cristiani, in cui persero la vita circa 15.000 cristiani. facciata. Cecchelli M., San Pancrazio, Rome, Marietti 1972