An 1834 watercolor of the façade of the church painted by Achille Pinelli
The Church of San Pellegrino in Vaticano (English: Saint Peregrine in the Vatican) is an ancientRoman Catholic oratory in the Vatican City, located on the Via dei Pellegrini. The church is dedicated to Saint Peregrine of Auxerre, a Roman priest appointed by Pope Sixtus II who had suffered martyrdom in Gaul in the third century.[3] It is one of the oldest churches in the Vatican City.[1]
The church built by Pope Leo III (750 AD - 816 AD) around 800 first received the name of "San Pellegrino in Naumachia", making reference to the naumachia built northwest of the Castel Sant'Angelo and dedicated by Roman emperorTrajan in 109. In the seventeenth century, Pope Clement X granted the church to the Pontifical Swiss Guards, who used it for their religious services in combination with the church of Santi Martino e Sebastiano degli Svizzeri until 1977. Under the name of San Pellegrino degli Svizzeri (English: Saint Peregrine of the Swiss), it became the national church in Rome of Switzerland. The oratory later fell into disrepair but was restored in the 19th century when evidence of the 9th-century frescoes were discovered.
The church now serves as the chapel of the Pontifical Gendarmerie and the firefighters of the Vatican City and is entrusted to the care of the chaplain of the corps —currently Msgr. Giulio Viviani.[1]
History
The origins of the church are ancient, dating back to the eighth century.[2] This is attested to by several passages in the Liber Pontificalis,[4][5] as well as archaeological excavations made by Msgr Anton de Waal in 1888.[6] De Waal brought to light ancient paintings dating from the 9th century, and others from the 13th-14th century[7] There is a tradition that Charlemagne, on the occasion of his coronation in 800, gave the relics of Peregrine of Auxerre to this church, whence its name.[1] Another reason may have been the church's service to pilgrims (Latin: peregrini), since annexed to the church were the Hospitale Francorum, a hospital for French pilgrims, and a cemetery.[3][8]
The church was originally called San Pellegrino in Naumachia.[1][2][9] A naumachia, literally "naval combat", is an artificial lake where naval battles were reenacted for an audience. The 5th century "The Passion of Peter and Paul", recounts the crucifixion of St Peter and adds: "Holy men … took down his body secretly and put it under the terebinth tree near the Naumachia, in the place which is called the Vatican".[10] The ruins of a structure were excavated in 1743, between via Alberico et via Cola di Rienzo.[11]Hülsen suggested that this structure, built close to the Circus of Nero and lying north-west of the later Mausoleum of Hadrian (today's Castel Sant'Angelo), was the naumachia the name of the church was referring to[12] and gave it the name of "Naumachia Vaticana". Subsequent excavations have helped to identify its shape, size and orientation. It was a rectangular structure with round internal and external corners, 120 metres (390 ft) wide and, estimating from the excavations, at least 300 metres (980 ft) long, oriented north–south. Esther Boise van Deman identified the style of the brickwork facing the naumachia as trajanic.[13] In 1932 Jérôme Carcopino reported the discovery among Fasti Ostienses of the dedication by Emperor Trajan on 11 November 109 of a naumachia.[14] The "Naumachia Traiani" has been identified the Naumachia Vaticana.[15][16]
In 1671, Pope Clement X gave it to the Swiss Guard, who used it for their religious services until 1977 in combination with the church of Santi Martino e Sebastiano degli Svizzeri.[3] It was considered as the national church in Rome of Switzerland.[19] The cemetery of the Swiss is behind the church. For centuries members of the Swiss Guard were buried in the crypt of the church.[20] The oratory later fell into disrepair but was restored in the 19th century, when evidence of frescoes of the 9th century were found, as well as of others of the 13th and 14th centuries which include a depiction of Christ Pantocrator.
It was made the chapel of the Gendarmerie and the firefighters of Vatican City in 1977.[1]
Architecture
The oldest parts of today's building date from the 15th century. The church received many new elements of decoration in the 12th and 18th century. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, several Popes such as Innocent III, Gregory IX, Boniface IX and Nicholas V, had a special interest in the church of San Pellegrino.
Exterior
The Pontifical Swiss Guard commissioned in 1671 the church's façade in neoclassical style.[3] It is a simple façade with a pair of doubled Doric columns that supports a large entablature crowned by a triangular pediment. The large round-headed niche above the entrance is decorated with a representation of St. Peregrinus.[21]
Interior
The tombs of past captains of the Swiss Guard are located in the church as well.[1][3]
Frescoes
Inside are the remains of some ancient frescoes, including a fresco of Christ Pantocrator.[1][3] In the original building, only the apse was decorated with frescoes.
Wooden ceiling
The ceiling of the church is decorated with a wooden coffer, popular during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and likely dates back to the 17th century. Among its blue, green and yellow gold coffers, the coats of arms of Swiss Guard commanders like the lilies of the family Pfyffer von Altishofen[18] and the flower the Röist family were inserted.
Armellini, Mariano (1891), "Rione Borgo", 'Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX (in Italian), Roma, pp. 786–787, retrieved 29 April 2011{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Birch, Debra J. (2000), Pilgrimage to Rome in the Middle Ages : continuity and change, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press, p. 130, ISBN978-0-85115-771-9
Carcopino, Jérôme (1932), "Note sur un Nouveau Fragment des Fastes d'Ostie"(PDF), Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (in French) (4), Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation: 363–381, archived from the original(PDF) on 2015-09-24
de Waal, Anton (1889), "Ein Christusbild aus der Zeit Leo's III", Römische Quartalschrift für christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte (in German), 3, Rom: Tipografia Sociale: 386–390
Duschesne, Louis, ed. (1886–92), "2", Le Liber Pontificalis -Texte, introduction et commentaire (in French), Paris: E. Thorin, OCLC1941523
Forcella, Vincenzo (1869), "Part II: San Pellegrino al Vaticano", Iscrizioni delle chiese e d'altri edificii di Roma dal secolo 11 fino ai giorni nostri (in Italian), vol. VI, Roma: Tip. delle scienze matematiche e fisiche, pp. 247–261, retrieved 11 May 2011
Frothingham, Arthur L. (January–June 1887), "Archaeological News", The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, III (1 & 2), Baltimore: John Murphy & Co.: 192, retrieved May 20, 2011.
Howard, Kathleen; De Montebello, Philippe (1983), The Vatican:spirit and art of Christian Rome, Malibu: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 152, ISBN0-87099-348-8, In the seventeenth century, the church became the chapel of the Swiss Guard and was considered the national church of the Swiss in Rome.
Mancinelli, Fabrizio (1982), "La chiesa di San Pellegrino in Vaticano e il suo restauro", Bollettino Monumenti Musei e Gallerie Pontificie (in Italian), 3, Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana: 43–62.
Molard, Francis (1896), "L'église de Saint Pellerin à Rome", in Bulletin de la Société des Sciences Historiques et naturelles de l'Yonne (ed.), Etudes Hagiographiques (in French), Auxerre: Perriquet, pp. 618–619, retrieved 27 May 2011
Moroni, Gaetano (1855), "Svizzera", Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni (in Italian), vol. 72, Tipografia Emiliana, pp. 239–240, retrieved 11 May 2011
Nibby, Antonio (1839), "S. Pellegrino degli Svizzeri", in Tipografia delle belle arti (ed.), Roma nell'anno MDCCCXXXVIII (in Italian), vol. 2, p. 586, OCLC4147982, retrieved 1 January 2011, "Chiesina (…), eretta da s. Leone III., circa l'anno 800 in onore di s. Pellegrino vescovo e martire, il cui corpo, si conserva nella Basilica Vaticana. (…) In altri tempi ebbevi congiunto uno spedale assai vasto, fondato per accogliere i pellegrini venuti a visitare i luoghi santi di Roma."
Osbourne, John (1994), "New evidence for the mural decorations in the apse of S. Pellegrino in Naumachia", Bollettino. Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie, XIV: 103–111.
Rendina, Claudio (2007), Le chiese di Roma : storie, leggende e curiosità degli edifici sacri della Città Eterna, dai templi pagani alle grandi basiliche, dai conventi ai monasteri ai luoghi di culto in periferia (in Italian), Roma: Newton Compton, p. 290, ISBN978-88-541-0931-5
Richardson, Lawrence (1992), "Naumachia Traiani", A new topographical dictionary of ancient Rome (2 ed.), Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 266, ISBN0-8018-4300-6, retrieved 25 May 2011, "It gave its name to San Pellegrino in Naumachia (…) in the 6th to 11th centuries the name Naumachiae came to be applied to a very large area stretching from the Vatican Hill to the Castel Sant'Angelo"
Viviani, Giulio (2010), La cappella di San Pellegrino nella Città del Vaticano (in Italian), Vatican State: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, ISBN978-88-209-8371-0
The Vatican: spirit and art of Christian Rome, a book from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this church (pp. 151–2)
