| San Sebastiano fuori le mura | |
|---|---|
| Basilica of Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls | |
| San Sebastiano ad Catacumbas | |
Basilica di San Sebastiano fuori le mura | |
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| 41°51′20″N12°30′56″E / 41.8556°N 12.5156°E /41.8556; 12.5156 | |
| Location | Via Appia Antica 136,Rome |
| Country | Italy |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Tradition | Roman Rite |
| Religious order | Franciscan Friars Minor |
| Website | sansebastianofuorilemura |
| History | |
| Status | Minor basilica,titular church |
| Founded | c. AD 300–350 |
| Dedication | Saint Sebastian |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Flaminio Ponzio Giovanni Vasanzio |
| Style | Baroque |
| Completed | 18th century |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Rome |
San Sebastiano fuori le mura (Saint Sebastian outside the Walls), orSan Sebastianoad Catacumbas (Saint Sebastian at the Catacombs), is aminor basilica inRome,Central Italy. Up to theGreat Jubilee of 2000, San Sebastiano was one of theSeven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, and many pilgrims still favour the traditional list (not least perhaps because of the Catacombs and because theSantuario della Madonna del Divino Amore, which replaced it in the list, is farther from the inner city).
The namead catacumbas refers to thecatacombs of St Sebastian, over which the church was built, while "fuori le mura" refers to the fact that the church is built outside theAurelian Walls, and is used to differentiate the basilica from the church ofSan Sebastiano al Palatino on thePalatine Hill.
According to the founding tradition,[2] in 258, during theValerian persecutions, the catacombs were temporarily used as place of sepulture of two other saints martyred in Rome,Peter andPaul.[3] Therefore the first basilica was built as theBasilica Apostolorum ("Basilica of the Apostles") byConstantine I in the first half of the 4th century.[4] The remains of the apostles were later transferred to the two basilicas carrying their names.
St. Sebastian was a popular Roman martyr of the 3rd century whose remains were moved here in around 350. The dedication of the basilica to Sebastian dates to the 9th century.[5]
His remains were transferred toSt. Peter's in 826, fearing aSaracen assault: the latter, in fact, materialised, and the basilica was destroyed.[6] The building was refounded underPope Nicholas I (858–867), while the martyr's altar was reconsecrated byHonorius III (1216–1227), by request of theCistercians, who had received the place. In the 13th century the arcade of the triple nave was walled in.
S. Sebastiano is one of the seven basilicas which travellers to Rome traditionally visited, especially after 1553 when St.Philip Neri, initiated theSeven Churches Visitation, a special pilgrimage done in one day starting fromSt. Peter's Basilica and ending at theBasilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.[7] The street which linksBasilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls with S. Sebastiano is still called "Via delle Sette Chiese".
The current edifice is largely a 17th-century construction, commissioned by CardinalScipione Borghese in 1609 fromFlaminio Ponzio and, after Ponzio's death in 1613, entrusted toGiovanni Vasanzio, who completed it.
The statue of St Sebastian at the altar in the first chapel on the left is byGiuseppe Giorgetti. The Chapel of Relics, located directly across thenave, houses a stone allegedly imprinted with the footprints of Jesus related to the episode of "Quo vadis?" in the apocryphalActs of Peter;[8] and one of the arrows which struck St Sebastian together with part of the column to which he was tied during the martyrdom. Noteworthy is the Albani Chapel (built 1716)[9] and designed byCarlo Maratta,Alessandro Specchi,Filippo Barigioni andCarlo Fontana; commissioned byPope Clement XI; and dedicated toPope Fabian. Fabian had been Bishop of Rome during the persecution ofDecius. Flanking the altar, busts of Saints Peter and Paul byNicolò Cordier recall the first dedication of the basilica.
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On the right side in a niche, the famousBust of the Saviour (Salvator Mundi), the last masterpiece byGian Lorenzo Bernini rediscovered in 2001 in the convent adjacent to the church, is shown.[10][11]
| Preceded by Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio | Landmarks of Rome San Sebastiano fuori le mura | Succeeded by San Silvestro in Capite |
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