Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (Italian: ) is a titular church and minor basilica located in Trastevere, Rome. Dedicated to Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, it has served as a cardinal titular church since the 5th century. The present basilica, rebuilt under Pope Paschal I in the 9th century, is notable for its apse mosaic, frescoes by Pietro Cavallini, Baroque sculpture, and the revered relics of Saint Cecilia preserved beneath the high altar. Today, it remains the conventual church for the adjacent Benedictine abbey, and the feast of Saint Cecilia on 22 November continues to draw pilgrims, choirs, and musicians from around the world.

History

Origins and early Christian period The first church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd century, by Pope Urban I; it was devoted to the young Roman woman Cecilia, martyred it is said under Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (A.D. 222–235). Tradition holds that the church was built over the house of the saint.Beneath, in the remains of Roman construction, are cylindrical well-like granaries in opus spicatum (illustration). The baptistery associated with this church, together with the remains of a Roman house of the early Empire, was found during some excavations under the Chapel of the Relics. By the late fifth century, at the Synod of 499 of Pope Symmachus, the church is mentioned as the Titulus Ceciliae. On 22 November 545, Pope Vigilius was celebrating the feast of the saint in the church, when the emissary of Empress Theodora, Anthemius Scribo, captured him.

Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages Pope Paschal I rebuilt the church in 822, and moved here the relics of St. Cecilia from the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. More restorations followed in the 18th century.

The cardinal priest who is currently assigned to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is Gualtiero Bassetti. His predecessors include Pope Stephen III, Pope Martin IV (1261–1281), Adam Easton (1383),Forcella, p. 23, no. 75. Pope Innocent VIII (1474–1484), Thomas Wolsey (1515), Pope Gregory XIV (1585–1590), Michele Mazzarino (1647), Giuseppe Doria Pamphili (1785), Mariano Rampolla (1887–1913), and Carlo Maria Martini (d. 2012).

Renaissance and Baroque interventions Since 1527, a community of Benedictine nuns has lived in the monastery next to Santa Cecilia,the monastery next to Santa Cecilia and has had charge of the basilica.

Modern period The inscriptions found in Santa Cecilia, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella.V. Forcella, Inscrizioni delle chese e d' altre edifici di Roma, dal secolo XI fino al secolo XVI, Volume II, Fratelli Bencini, Rome 1873, pp. 17–46.

Art and architecture

The church has a façade built in 1725 by Ferdinando Fuga, which incloses a courtyard decorated with ancient mosaics, columns and a cantharus (water vessel). Its decoration includes the coat of arms and the dedication to the titular cardinal who paid for the facade, Francesco Cardinal Acquaviva d'Aragona.

Among the artifacts remaining from the 13th century edifice are a mural painting depicting the Last Judgment (1289–93) by Pietro Cavallini in the choir of the nuns, and the ciborium (1293) in the presbytery by Arnolfo di Cambio which is surrounded by four marble columns white and black, decorated with statuettes of angels, saints, prophets, and evangelists.

The Last Judgement fresco which remains today, covering the entire width of the west wall of the entrance, is likely part of a cycle of Old and New Testament scenes by Cavallini on the north and south nave walls, based on remaining fragments of an Annunciation scene and stories of the life of Jacob. The frescoes were plastered over in a remodeling under Cardinal Francesco Acquaviva in 1724, which included building an enclosed choir, the floor of which cuts off part of the Last Judgement. Rediscovered in 1900, the fresco may be viewed during limited weekday hours for a small euro fee paid to the Benedictine nuns of the church. Luigi Vanvitelli also did an altarpiece, Apparition of the Angel to St. Cecili, and a fresco, Angels Musicians, located in the Chapel of the Relics, just some of his few surviving paintings.Santa Cecilia Basilica in Trastevere, Flavor of Italy

The apse has remains of 9th century mosaics depicting the Redeemer with Saints Paul, Cecilia, Paschal I, Peter, Valerian, and Agatha.

The ceiling of Cappella dei Ponziani was decorated God the Father with Evangelists (1470) by Antonio del Massaro (Antonio da Viterbo or il Pastura). The Cappella delle Reliquie was frescoed and provided with an altarpiece by Luigi Vanvitelli. The nave is frescoed with the Apotheosis of Santa Cecilia (1727) by Sebastiano Conca. The church contains two altarpieces by Guido Reni: Saints Valerian and Cecilia and a Decapitation of Saint Cecilia (1603).Romecity entry on Santa Cecilia

Under the ciborium of Arnolfo di Cambio that shelters the main altar is a glass case enclosing the white marble sculpture of St. Cecilia (1600) by the late-Renaissance sculptor Stefano Maderno. A marble slab in the pavement in front of the case quotes Maderno's sworn statement that he has recorded the body as he saw it when the tomb was opened in 1599. The statue depicts the three axe strokes described in the 5th-century account of her martyrdom. It also underscores the incorruptibility of her cadaver (an attribute of some saints), which miraculously still had congealed blood after centuries. This statue could be conceived as proto-Baroque, since it depicts no idealized moment or person, but a theatric scene, a naturalistic representation of a dead or dying saint. It is striking because it precedes by decades the similar high-Baroque sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (for example, his Blessed Ludovica Albertoni) and Melchiorre Cafà (Santa Rosa de Lima).

The crypt is decorated in cosmatesque style, and contains the relics of St. Cecilia and her husband St. Valerian. In the apse of the crypt are the remains of an altar whose inscription indicates that it was dedicated by Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085) on 3 June 1080.Forcella, p. 19, no. 56.

List of cardinal-priests +List of cardinal-priests at Santa Cecilia in Trastevere since 761PictureNameDatesNotesStefano761 – 768Elected Pope Stephen IIIDesiderio6 March 1059 – 24 May 1086Elected Pope Victor IIIOctaviano de' Monticelli2 March 1151 – ?Elected antipope Victor IVPelagio Galvani1210 – 1212Appointed Bishop of AlbanoSimon de Brion17 December 1261 – 22 February 1281Elected Pope Martin IVJean Cholet12 April 1281 – 2 August 1293DiedTommaso d'Ocre18 September 1294 – 29 May 1300DiedGuillaume de Pierre Godin23 December 1312 – 4 June 1336DiedGuy de Boulogne20 September 1342 – 25 November 1373Bertrand Lagier1375 – 8 November 1392DiedBonaventura Badoaro de Peraga18 September 1378 – 10 July 1381DiedGiovanni Stefaneschi1385 – 1388DiedAdam Easton18 December 1389 – 15 August 1398DiedGuillaume de Vergy1393 – 1407DiedAntonio Caetani27 February 1402 – 12 June 1405Appointed Bishop of PalestrinaAntoine de Challant19 March 1412 – 4 September 1418DiedPedro Fernández de Frías26 June 1419 – 19 September 1420DiedLouis Aleman27 May 1426 – 16 October 1450DiedRinaldo Piscicello21 March 1457 – 4 July 1457DiedNiccolò Fortiguerra19 March 1460 – 21 December 1473DiedGiovanni Battista CiboJanuary 1474 – 29 August 1484Elected Pope Innocent VIIIGiovanni Giacomo Sclafenati17 November 1484 – 8 December 1497DiedLorenzo Cybo de Mari9 December 1497 – September 1500ResignedFrancisco de Borja5 October 1500 – 11 August 1506Translated to Santi Nereo e AchilleoFrancesco Alidosi11 August 1506 – 24 May 1511DiedCarlo Domenico del CarrettoJune 1513 – 15 August 1514DiedThomas Wolsey10 September 1515 – 29 November 1530DiedGabriel de Gramont9 January 1531 – 26 March 1534DiedFrancesco Cornaro27 April 1534 – 5 September 1534Translated to San Ciriaco alle Terme DioclezianeJean du Bellay31 May 1535 – 26 October 1547Translated to San Pietro in VincoliCharles de Lorraine4 November 1547 – 11 December 1555Translated to Sant'ApollinareRobert de Lénoncourt11 December 1555 – 13 March 1560Appointed Bishop of SabinaAlfonso Gesualdo10 March 1561 – 17 October 1572Translated to Santa PriscaNiccolò Sfondrati14 January 1585 – 5 December 1590Elected Pope Gregory XIVPaolo Emilio Sfondrati14 January 1591 – 14 February 1618DiedGiambattista Leni5 March 1618 – 3 November 1627DiedFederico Baldissera Bartolomeo Cornaro15 November 1627 – 26 April 1629Translated to San MarcoGiandomenico Spinola30 April 1629 – 11 August 1646DiedMichele Mazzarino16 December 1647 – 31 August 1648DiedGaspare Mattei28 September 1648 – 9 April 1650DiedFrancesco Angelo Rapaccioli21 November 1650 – 16 May 1657DiedOttavio Acquaviva d'Aragona18 March 1658 – 26 September 1674DiedPhilip Thomas Howard23 March 1676 – 25 September 1679Translated to Santa Maria sopra MinervaGiambattista Spinola22 September 1681 – 20 February 1696Translated to Sant' Agnese fuori le muraCelestino Sfondrati20 February 1696 – 4 September 1696DiedGiacomo Antonio Morigia11 April 1699 – 8 Obctober 1708DiedFrancesco Acqaviva28 January 1709 – 9 January 1725DiedFilippo Antonio Gualtieri29 January 1724 – 31 July 1726Translated to Santa PrassedeCornelio Bentivoglio25 June 1727 – 30 December 1732DiedTroiano Acquaviva d'Aragona19 January 1733 – 20 March 1747DiedJoaquín Fernández de Portocarrero y Mendoza10 April 1474 – 22 June 1760DiedGiorgio Doria3 January 1757 – 31 January 1759DiedCosimo Imperiali12 February 1759 – 13 October 1764DiedGiuseppe Maria Feroni17 December 1764 – 15 November 1767DiedFerninando Maria de Rossi14 December 1767 – 4 February 1775DiedGirolamo Spínola13 March 1775 – 22 July 1784DiedHyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil20 September 1784 – 12 August 1802DiedGiuseppe Doria Pamphilj20 March 1802 – 10 February 1816DiedGiorgio Doria Pamphilj Landi16 March 1818 – 16 November 1837DiedGiacomo Luigi Brignole13 September 1838 – 21 February 1853DiedGiovanni Brunelli22 December 1853 – 21 February 1861DiedKarl-August von Reisach27 September 1861 – 22 June 1868Appointed Bishop of SabinaInnocenzo Ferrieri24 September 1868 – 13 January 1887DiedMariano Rampolla26 May 1887 – 16 December 1913DiedDomenico Serafini28 May 1914 – 5 March 1918DiedAugusto Silj18 December 1919 – 27 February 1926DiedBonaventura Cerretti24 June 1926 – 13 March 1933Appointed Bishop of FrascatiFrancesco Marmaggi18 June 1936 – 3 November 1949DiedGaetano Cicognani29 October 1953 – 14 December 1959Appointed Bishop of FrascatiAlbert Gregory Meyer17 December 1959 – 9 April 1965DiedJohn Cody29 June 1967 – 25 April 1982DiedCarlo Maria Martini2 February 1983 – 31 August 2012DiedGualtiero Bassetti22 February 2014 – todayCurrent cardinal-priest

References

Sources Jacobus Laderchius, S. Cæciliæ virg. et mart. acta et Transtyberina basilica, 2 vols., Pagliarini, Rome 1723). Vincenzo Forcella, Inscrizioni delle chiese di Roma, Roma 1873, pp. 17–46. (The inscriptions found in the church) Bertha Ellen Lovewell, The Life of St. Cecilia, Lamson, Wolffe and Company, Boston-New York-London 1898. Torquato Picarelli, Basilica e casa romana di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Romana, Rome 1904. Torquato Piccarelli, Monografia storica anecdotica della chiesa, cripta, e casa di S. Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome 1922. Hüls, Rudolf, Kardinal, Klerus und Kirchen Roms: 1049–1130, Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 1977 . Neda Parmegiani and Alberto Pronti, Il complesso di S. Cecilia in Trastevere (Roma : Sydaco Editrice, 1997). Anna Maria Panzera, The Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Nuove Edizioni Romane, Rome 2001. Valentina Oliva, La basilica di Santa Cecilia (Edizioni d'arte Marconi, No. 73), Marconi arti grafiche, Genoa 2004.

External links

Official website with visiting hours "Beggar's Rome" - A self-directed virtual tour of St. Cecilia in Trastevere and other Roman churches Chris Nyborg, "Santa Cecilia in Trastevere"