March 5, 2018 continued.....

After the Pantheon, we walked over to the Basilica of Saint Mary of Minerva and found the most wonderful treasures! 

The site of the present basilica originally hosted a temple to Minerva, built by Pompey the Great around 50 B.C. It was amidst the ruins of that temple that Pope Zacharias (741-752) built the first church, known as St. Mary on Minerva. That structure has disappeared, but the present building owes its existence to the Dominican Friars, who received the property from Pope Alexander IV (1254-1261) and made the church and adjoining monastery their influential headquarters throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Counter-Reformation. (The Dominicans administer the area even today.)

Our first treasure is St. Catherine of Siena!!  Doctor of the Church!

The most important is that of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), whose body lies beneath the main altar (her head is kept in Siena). The youngest of 20 children of a Sienese dyer, Catherine refused marriage to devote herself to prayer, and became a Dominican tertiary. In her later years she played an important role in both Church and State politics, and her influence was decisive in persuading the popes (first Gregory XI, then Urban VI, 1371-1378) to return from Avignon to Rome. Saint Catherine died in a house on a nearby street on April 29, 1380; in 1630 Cardinal Antonio Barberini had her rooms removed to Santa Maria sopra Minerva and installed as a memorial chapel behind the sacristy. From the time of the saint's canonization in 1461 until 1887, the popes honored her memory by making a commemorative procession to her tomb each year on the feast of the Annunciation. A lovely reposing statue of the saint, sculpted in 1430 by Isaia of Pisa, is visible inside a golden casket below the altar table.

St. Catherine of Siena with Aaron and Clare taking a moment of contemplation.

St. Catherine

Name plaque of St. Catherine

The next treasure, Michelangelo!  Christ the Redeemer (the sign said no touching, and I didn't, but my nose was inches from Christ's toes!  Oh, to be so close to a work of art by Michelangelo!

This sculpture of Michelangelo Buonarrotti, representing Jesus Christ risen, is made from a single block of white marble and it measures 205 cm.  It was commissioned in 1514. The artist worked on its realisation with care, but before finishing it, a black line appeared on the marble on the face of Christ and therefore the artist had to start a new one: the one that we can admire today.

The current version was not delivered until 1521 and, given the delay, Michelangelo had it finished by one of his students. The statue originally represented a Christ completely naked: the golden bronze drape was added later.

The artist wanted to represent the full force of Jesus Christ risen through a strong physical presence. He embraces the instruments of his passion (the cross, the cannula and the sponge with which he was given vinegar to drink shortly before his death).  The cross is not a decorative element but it is what sustains the whole statue. The cross is in fact the source of the strength of those who believe in God. Death was not the end of the life of Jesus Christ and this work of art represents precisely the time of the resurrection among the dead. From the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the salvation of humanity was born, according to the Christian faith.

Christ looks to the side, an ideal audience, because he wants to show his face, a face that expresses love. For the Dominicans, guardians of this artistic treasure, it is a great way of preaching because today it still attracts thousands of visitors and it offers itself in all its beauty and majesty that refers to God’s beauty.

Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer

Another treasure....Bernini!  By now you have noticed how we've become Bernini fans.

The spirit of the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini is evoked by several funerary monuments and portrait busts on columns and walls.  

A funerary monument by Bernini

This dome is not really a dome.  It's a three dimensional painting on a flat surface!  

The dome that's not a dome!

So many more pieces of art than what I have mentioned here.  It's truly overwhelming.  Any one of these churches set in America would be outstanding and visited by many.  Even St. Andrew's Cathedral in Grand Rapids would pale in comparison.