The church of Saints Faustinus and Jovita, also known as the church of San Faustino Maggiore, is a church in Brescia, located on the street of the same name, Via San Faustino, along the last stretch to the north. It is the patron church of the city of Brescia and, for this reason, it is the most important religious building in the city after the cathedrals, the Old Cathedral and the New Cathedral.
The church, linked to the adjoining monastery founded in the 9th century by Bishop , has its origins in a building possibly dating back to the 8th century, which has seen numerous extensions and reconstructions over the centuries, particularly the 17th-century intervention, which involved a radical renovation of the structure and decorations.
The church preserves extensive Baroque frescoes, particularly the one in the nave by Tommaso Sandrino and the one in the chancel, the Apotheosis of Saints Faustinus, Jovita, Benedict and Scholastica by Giandomenico Tiepolo. Notable works of pictorial art are also the Nativity of Jesus by Lattanzio Gambara, the Deposition of Christ by Sante Cattaneo, and the standard of the Blessed Sacrament painted by Romanino. Other works of art include the sepulchral ark of the two titular saints. Once in the church and now in the Santa Giulia Museum are the triptych of St. Honorius and the famous rooster of Ramperto.
From the religious point of view, the remains of Brescia's two patron saints, Saints Faustinus and Jovita, as well as those of St. Honorius and St. Antigius, are preserved there, making the church a point of reference for the city's devotion.
History
Origins
The church of Santa Maria in Silva
The church of Santa Maria in Silva, the primitive core of the sanctuary, was probably built in the 8th century on the same site occupied by the present building, near the Garza stream, in the populous north-central district of the walled city. On May 9, 806, the transfer of the relics of Saints Faustinus and Jovita from the basilica of San Faustinus ad Sanguinem (since 1956 renamed to the church of Sant'Angela Merici) to Santa Maria in Silva took place, thus assuming considerable importance within the city's religious scene. Among other things, at a moment when the procession stopped near Porta Bruciata (the west end of Via Musei, at the corner of Piazza della Loggia) the remains are said to have exuded blood: Duke Naimon of Bavaria, who was present at the moment of the miracle, is said to have converted to Catholicism and thus donated to the city the relic of the True Cross, which has been kept in the Old Cathedral ever since as the main piece of the treasure of the Holy Crosses. The church of San Faustino in Riposo would also be built on the site of the miracle. However, the reasons that led to this transfer, which certainly had a strong impact in the city, are not known.
Ramperto and the foundation of the monastery By mid-century, however, the physical condition of the church seemed to be verging on the worst: the place was no longer diligently officiated at and the worship of the remains of the two martyrs neglected. Ramperto, elected bishop in 815 and a great promoter of the cult of the patron saints, underwrote donations in 841 in favor of an establishing "cenobium monachorum"Taken from the manuscript of Ramperto that has come down to us, first published in near the little church, probably boosting an already existing religious community. Most likely, Ramperto did not limit himself only to this, but planned a real operational program: to enforce and better administer the bequests of the faithful, to lead to better preservation of relics, and to have from the exemplary behavior, which would be imposed on the newly established monastery, stimulus for the population to do good. Consequently, it is also likely that Ramperto provided for an initial reconstruction of the church and bell tower.As early as around 820, Ramperto had already acted toward the church, giving it his famous weathercock to be placed at the top of the bell tower. In 843 it was again Ramperto who intervened in the church, where he replaced the sepulchral ark of the saints with a marble one, within which a lead tablet bearing the dedicatory inscription was left. Ramperto's work, in essence, proved essential: by founding a monastery hinged around the cult of the relics of the two martyrs, he laid a solid foundation for the subsequent growth of the monastic community.
From the foundation to the 15th century
Decadence The monastery, now established, seemed to spend almost three hundred years undisturbed until the first half of the 12th century. First signs of uncertainty emerge precisely in documents from these years, when in 1123 and 1133 the abbots request first from Pope Callixtus IIBull transcribed in and then from Pope Innocent IIBull transcribed in confirmation of property and privileges for their monastery. The requests would turn out to be necessitated by a situation of instability caused by political and social upheavals, derived mainly from the preaching of Arnold of Brescia against the power of the clergy. During this period, the church was rebuilt or reconstructed, probably enlarged: the consecration took place in 1142. At present, the church is a large building of Romanesque lines, with three naves. There is also a large crypt under the chancel enriched by several altars, including one dedicated to the titular saints and that of St. Honorius. The room, which was slightly underground, considerably elevated the presbytery above, so much so that a flight of steps was necessary to reach it.
The monastery and its finances, meanwhile, entered a slow but steady descent. By 1314, its situation was disastrous: the properties, though vast, were poorly managed and, after decades of neglect and mismanagement, were now in the hands of rapacious tenants, providing little or no income. The situation eventually came to a head: in 1341, the management of the monastery was given in commendation to external abbots.
The situation remained unchanged for at least a century. The only factor that should have kept the population's interest in the fortunes of the monastery was, as far as it appears from the documents that have come down to us, the great loyalty to the patron saints, to whom the church was named. In 1422, it was the city municipality that asked the Holy See to place the monastery under the control of the Friars Minor, due to the misconduct of the commendatory abbots, who often turned into mere speculators. However, the proposal was not followed up. There are also several donations and testamentary bequests recorded between the second half of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century. The community seemed to spend the first two tumultuous decades of the fifteenth century unscathed, when Brescia passed from the hands of the Visconti to those of Pandolfo III Malatesta, and a few years later to the domains of the Republic of Venice.
The miracle of 1438 and the revival
In 1437, hostilities between Venice and Milan resumed and directly involved the city: the Visconti attempted a first reconquest of Brescia in 1438 and sent their troops, led by Niccolò Piccinino, to the siege. According to the chronicles of the time, the besiegers, who had been stationed outside the city for several months by then, were about to gain the upper hand when, on December 13, during an extended attack on the Roverotto terraces, on the city's eastern curtain wall, the shining figures of the two saints appeared on top of the walls, putting Piccinino's army to flight and saving Brescia from conquest. The miracle, whether real or presumed, ended up radically changing the city's devotion, focusing it on the figure of the two martyr saints. A veritable wave of bequests and donations invested the church and the monastery, which entered a chapter of newfound prosperity.
In 1444 the administration of the monastery passed under the control of Abbot Bernardo Marcello who, inspired by the new, very strong devotion of the citizens, maintained a lively administrative conduct and promoted important restoration works inside the crypt. Fate was favorable to him and, to the already fervent devotion due to the miracle of 1438, another event shook the citizens' attention to the monastery: on December 11, 1455, the sepulchral ark of the two saints made by Ramperto in his time was found behind the crypt's high altar. The tomb was opened during a solemn ceremony and the remains of the two patron saints were found and recognized inside. The inscription left by Ramperto was also found in its place. The young Tonino from Lumezzane took on the task of renovating the seat of the ark, which was placed in place of the crypt's high altar on top of six marble columns.
Annexation to the Congregation of St. Justina The monastery, now of solidly established importance, still found itself under commendation, with no fixed community to run it. The situation, by now intolerable and also impractical after the recent events that had diverted the faith of the population to the church, finally found a definitive solution on March 24, 1490 when, by a bull of Pope Innocent VIII, the monastery was united to the Congregation of St. Justina of Padua. This was the end of a long period of decline: a month later, the friars of the Benedictine Order took full possession of the facilities, immediately launching a major campaign of rehabilitation and modernization, with numerous interventions to achieve a better use of the complex. A document of 1501The document is first made known in mentions, referring to the construction of a new cloister, "de fundamentis cenobii San Faustini Maioris Brixiae," suggesting that the "foundations of the monastery" mentioned were not only those of the cloister, but the start of a more extensive project, a true total renovation of the monastery, which in fact would take place in the following decades.
However, the grand project almost immediately suffered a major setback, caused by the tragic events of the reconquest of Brescia by Milan at the hands of the French, which would end with the bloody sacking of 1512. The building revival of the monastery, most likely, was not to take place in the years immediately following, as Venice regained possession of the city once again: from 1520 onward, however, the works experienced intense activity. In 1532 the organ by Gian Giacomo Antegnati was installed, while the structures of the monastery, especially the cloisters and the new dormitory, were substantially completed. However, in the second half of the century, Lattanzio Gambara frescoed the entire presbytery area: his work would be admired a few years later, in 1566, by Giorgio Vasari, who was visiting Brescia. Meanwhile, master builder Geronimo Tobanello, who was already working in other areas of the monastery, took care of the first adaptations of Renaissance architecture inside the church, affixing on the walls of the aisles, around the chapels, a rhythmic succession of marble lesenes, all designed by Giovanni Maria Piantavigna. The first chapel on the right was also renovated, building a new altar reusing parts of the old one and dedicating it to St. Michael the Archangel. The work was taken over during the visit of St. Charles Borromeo in October 1580, who took note of both the embellishment lesenes and the new chapel and ordered that the north wall of the church, which had remained intact up to that time, be broken through to create three new mirrored chapels.
The 17th century
Early interventions