San Clemente al Laterano: Difference between revisions

|image=Basilica di San Clemente Romeal Laterano 2018- (003)esterno.jpg

|traditionsui iuris church=[[Latin Church]]

|status=[[Basilica]],<br/>[[titular church]],<br/>[[national churches in Rome#National churches|Irish national church]]

The '''Basilica of Saint Clement''' ({{lang-langx|it|Basilica di San Clemente al Laterano}}) is a [[Latin Catholic Church|Latin Catholic]] [[minor basilica]] dedicated to [[Pope Clement I]] located in [[Rome]], [[Italy]]. Archaeologically speaking, the structure is a three-tiered complex of buildings: (1) the present basilica built just before the year 1100 during the height of the [[Middle Ages]]; (2) beneath the present basilica is a 4th-century basilica that had been converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman, part of which had in the 1st century briefly served as an early church, and the basement of which had in the 2nd century briefly served as a [[mithraeum]]; (3) the home of the Roman nobleman had been built on the foundations of [[Roman Republic|republican era]] villa and warehouse that had been destroyed in the [[Great Fire of Rome|Great Fire of AD 64]].

The lowest levels of the present basilica contain remnants of the foundation of a possibly [[Roman Republic|republican era]] building that might have been destroyed in the [[Great Fire of Rome|Great Fire of 64]]. An industrial building – probably the imperial mint of Rome from the late 1st century A.D. onwards (because a similar building is represented on a 16th-century drawing of a fragment of the [[Forma Urbis Romae|Severan marble plan]] of the city), was built<ref>Jones, J. R. M. (2015). The Location of the Trajanic Mint at Rome. The Numismatic Chronicle, 175, 137–145. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43859785</ref> or remodelled on the same site during the Flavian period. Shortly after an ''[[insula (building)|insula]]'', or apartment block, was also built .{{Citation needed|date=August 2018}}. It was separated from the industrial building by a narrow alleyway. About a hundred years later (c. 200) a ''[[mithraeum]],'' a sanctuary of the [[Mithraic Mysteries|cult of Mithras]], was built in the courtyard of the ''insula.'' The main cult room (the ''speleum'', "cave"),<ref>''CIMRM'', p. 338</ref> which is about 9.6m long and 6m wide, was discovered in 1867 but could not be investigated until 1914 due to lack of drainage.<ref name="CIMRM">{{citation | last=Vermaseren|first=M. J.<!--Maarten Jozef-->| title=[[CIMRM|Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae]], Vol. 1| location=The Hague| publisher=Martinus Nijhoff| year=1956|ref=CIMRM| pages=156–158}}.</ref> The ''exedra'', the shallow [[apse]] at the far end of the low vaulted space, was trimmed with pumice to render it more cave-like.

Central to the main room of the sanctuary was found an altar, in the shape of a sarcophagus, and with the main cult relief of the [[tauroctony]] (the image of Mithras slaying a bull) on its front face.<ref>''CIMRM'', p. 339</ref> The torchbearers [[Cautes and Cautopates]] appear on respectively the left and right faces of the same monument. A dedicatory inscription identifies the donor as one ''pater'' Cnaeus Arrius Claudianus, perhaps of the same clan as [[Antoninus Pius|Titus Arrius Antoninus]]' mother. Other monuments discovered in the sanctuary include a bust of [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]<ref>''CIMRM'', p. 343</ref> kept in the sanctuary in a niche near the entrance, and a figure of {{lang|la|Mithras petra generix}},<ref>''CIMRM'', p. 344</ref> i.e. Mithras born of the rock. Fragments of statuary of the two torch bearers were also found .<ref>''CIMRM'', p. 342</ref> One of the rooms adjoining the main chamber has two oblong brickwork enclosures,<ref>''CIMRM'', p. 346</ref> one of which was used as a ritual refuse pit for remnants of the cult meal. All three monuments mentioned above are still on display in the mithraeum. A fourth monument, – a statue of St. Peter found in the ''speleum''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s vestibule and still on display there – is not of the mysteries.

[[File:InteriorBasilica ofdi San Clemente, Romeal Laterano - interno.JPGjpg|thumb|left|upright|Interior of the second basilica]]

Four of the largest frescoes in the basilica were sponsored by a lay couple, Beno de Rapiza and Maria Macellaria, at some time in the last third of the 11th century and focus on the life, miracles, and [[translation (relic)|translation]] of St. Clement, and on the life of [[St. Alexius]]. Beno and Maria are shown in two of the compositions, once on the façade of the basilica together with their children, Altilia and Clemens ("''{{lang|la-x-medieval|puerulus Clemens''}}," i.e. "little boy Clement"), offering gifts to St. Clement, and on a pillar on the left side of the nave, where they are [[donor portrait|portrayed on a small scale]] witnessing a miracle performed by St. Clement. Below this last scene is [[Saint Clement and Sisinnius inscription|one of the earliest examples]] of the passage from Latin to vernacular Italian: a fresco of the pagan Sisinnius and his servants, who think they have captured St. Clement but are dragging a column instead. Sisinnius encourages the servants in Italian "{{lang|roa-IT|Fili de le pute, traite! Gosmari, Albertel, traite! Falite dereto colo palo, Carvoncelle!"}},<ref>{{citation| last = Lourdaux | first = W. | title = The Bible and Medieval Culture | publisher = Cornell University Press | location = Ithaca | year = 1984 | isbn = 90-6186-089-X |pages=30–31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fMWXlHKwehsC&pg=PA31}}</ref> which, translated into English means: "Come on, you sons of bitches, pull! Come on, Gosmari, Albertello, pull! Carvoncello, give it to him from the back with the pole!" The saint speaks in Latin, in a cross-shaped inscription: "{{lang|la-x-medieval|Duritiam cordis vestris, saxa trahere meruistis"}}, which means "You deserved to drag stones due to the hardness of your hearts."

[[File:RomaSoffitto Sandella ClementeBasilica BWdi 2San Clemente.JPGjpg|thumb|Wooden ceiling]]

The current basilica was rebuilt in one campaign by Cardinal Anastasius, ca 1099-ca. 1120. A now-outdated hypothesis held that the original church had burned out during the [[Italo-Normans|Norman]] [[Sack of Rome (1084)|sack of the city]] under [[Robert Guiscard]] in 1084, but no evidence of fire damage in the lower basilica has been found to date. One possible explanation is that the lower basilica was filled in and the new church built on top due to the close association of the lower structure with the imperial opposition pope ("antipope") [[Antipope Clement III|Clement III / Wibert of Ravenna]].<ref name=yawn>[http://www.rmojs.unina.it/index.php/rm/article/view/urn%3Anbn%3Ait%3Aunina-3357 Lila Yawn, "Clement’s New Clothes. The Destruction of Old S. Clemente in Rome, the Eleventh-Century Frescoes, and the Cult of (Anti)Pope Clement III," ''Reti Medievali Rivista'', 13/1 (Apr. 2012), pp. 175-208.].</ref> Today, it is one of the most richly adorned churches in Rome. The ceremonial entrance (a side entrance is ordinarily used today) is through an [[atrium (architecture)|atrium]] (''B'' on plan) surrounded by arcades, which now serves as a [[cloister]], with conventual buildings surrounding it. Fronting the atrium is the chaste facade of Carlo Stefano Fontana (nephew of [[Carlo Fontana]]), supported on [[spolia|antique columns]], and his little [[campanile]] (''illustration''). The [[basilica]] church behind it is in three [[nave]]s divided by arcades on ancient marble or granite columns, with [[Cosmati|Cosmatesque inlaid paving]]. The 12th-century schola cantorum (''E'' on plan) incorporates marble elements from the original basilica. Behind it, in the [[Presbytery (architecture)|presbytery]] is a [[Ciborium (architecture)|ciborium]] (''H'' on plan) raised on four gray-violet columns over the shrine of Clement in the [[crypt]] below. The [[Cathedra|episcopal seat]] stands in the [[apse]], which is covered with mosaics on the theme of the ''Triumph of the Cross'' that are a high point of Roman 12th century mosaics.

[[Ireland|Irish]] [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] have owned the Basilica of San Clemente and the surrounding building complex since 1667. [[Pope Urban VIII]] gave them refuge at San Clemente, where they have remained, running a residence for priests ({{langx|it|Collegio San Clemente Padri Domenicani Irlandesi a Roma}}) studying and teaching in Rome. The Dominicans themselves conducted the excavations in the 1950s in collaboration with Italian archaeology students.

The current position of [[Cardinal Priest]] of the ''Titulus S. Clementi'' is vacantArrigo Miglio. [[Pope Paschal II]] (1076–1099) was one of the previous holders of the ''[[Titular church|titulus]]''.

* [[Amleto Giovanni Cicognani]], (18 December 18581958 – 23 May 1962)

* (William) Luke Dempsey OP, prior (1974-197?1977) and (1999-2002)

* Thomas (James) Crotty OP, prior for two periods (1905-1911)

* [[Joseph Mullooly]] OP, archaeologist, Irish Dominican superior/prior (1850-1857)

* The "Church (or Basilica) of S. Tommaso in Pallaria", featured extensively in Ngaio Marsh's [[When in Rome (novel)|''When in Rome'']] (1970), is modelled closely on S. Clemente.

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