inSPIREd Sunday

Sally and Beth host inSPIREd Sunday!  

May 2019 - Rome Italy


The Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere (Our Lady in Trastevere), commissioned by Pope Callistus I, was founded during the third century, when Christianity was not yet widely accepted.
The inscription on the episcopal throne states that this is the first church in Rome dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, although some claim that privilege belongs to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. It is certainly one of the oldest churches in the city. A Christian house-church was founded here about 220 by Pope Saint Callixtus I (217–222) on the site of the Taberna meritoria, a refuge for retired soldiers.

The church’s exterior is notable for the stunning golden mosaics on its facade and for its bell tower, which dates from the twelfth century.

Near the top, a niche protects a mosaic of the Madonna and Child. The mosaics on the façade are believed to be from the 12th century. They depict the Madonna enthroned and suckling the Child, flanked by 10 women holding lamps. This image on the façade showing Mary nursing Jesus is an early example of a popular late-medieval and renaissance type of image of the Virgin. The motif itself originated much earlier, with significant seventh-century Coptic examples at Wadi Natrun in Egypt.

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The present nave preserves its original (pre-12th century) basilica plan and stands on the earlier foundations. The 22 granite columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals that separate the nave from the aisles came from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, as did the lintel of the entrance door.

12th and 13th mosaics in the apse.

Domenichino's octagonal ceiling painting, Assumption of the Virgin (1617) fits in the coffered ceiling setting that he designed.