| Church of Saints Ambrose and Charles Borromeo | |
|---|---|
 The façade of San Carlo al Corso. | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| 41°54′19″N12°28′40″E / 41.90528°N 12.47778°E /41.90528; 12.47778 | |
| Location | Via del Corso 437,Rome |
| Country | Italy |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Religious institute | Rosminians |
| History | |
| Status | Titular church minor basilica parish church regional church Norwegian national church |
| Dedication | Ambrose andCharles Borromeo |
| Relics held | Charles Borromeo (heart) |
| Administration | |
| Province | Diocese of Rome |
Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso (usually known simply asSan Carlo al Corso) is abasilicachurch inRome, Italy, facing onto the central part of theVia del Corso. The apse of the church faces across the street, theMausoleum of Augustus onVia di Ripetta.
This church is dedicated toSaint Ambrose andSaint Charles Borromeo, the patron saints of Milan. It is one of at least three churches in Rome dedicated to Borromeo, others includingSan Carlo ai Catinari andSan Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.
The church of the Saints Ambrogio and Carlo al Corso is the national church of the Lombards, to whom in 1471 Pope Sixtus IV gave, in recognition of their valuable construction work of the Sistine Chapel, the small church of S. Niccolò del Tufo, which was first restored and then dedicated to S. Ambrogio, the patron saint of Milan.[1]
Its construction was begun in honour of the canonization of St. Charles Borromeo in 1610, under the direction ofOnorio Longhi and, after his death, of his sonMartino Longhi the Younger.[2] The site was that of the former church ofSan Nicola de Tofo. The ground plan is based on the Latin cross. The dome, resembling that ofSanti Luca e Martina, was designed byPietro da Cortona (1668), who was also responsible for the apse and rich internal decorations. The façade was designed by CardinalLuigi Alessandro Omodei, who financed the completion of the church, and did not like the project prepared byCarlo Rainaldi.[3]
Since 1906, the maintenance of the basilica has been entrusted to the priests of theInstitute of Charity.[4]
The central vault is frescoed with aFall of the Rebel Angels (1677–1679) byGiacinto Brandi. The altarpiece, depicting theSaints Ambrose and Charles Borromeo with the Virgin and Jesus, was painted around 1685–1690 byCarlo Maratta. The stucco decoration was by Giacomo andCosimo Fancelli. The statue of the saints was byFrancesco Cavallini. Frescos of Justice and Peace were painted byGirolamo Troppa. There are also paintings by the baroque painterGiovanni Battista Beinaschi.
San Carlo is the only church in Rome to have anambulatory which contains the heart ofCharles Borromeo, who was canonised on 1 November 1610 byPope Paul V. It was donated to the church in 1614 by his cousin,Federico Borromeo.[5]
The 16th-century oratory of St. Ambrose is beyond the left transept. The first chapel on the right is dedicated to the Crucifixion and has a fresco ofVigilance byPaolo Albertoni. The second chapel, on the right, is dedicated toMary, Aid of Christians (Maria Auxilium Christianorum), and has an image of the Virgin donated by St Vincent Pallotti in the 19th century. The third chapel on the right is dedicated to the Holy Family. On its left side is a depiction ofThe Redemptor and Sts Ambrose and Charles as well as the sepulchral monument of Federico Borromeo.
In the chapel of the left nave dedicated to Saint Philip Neri, two paintings byJacopo Zoboli are preserved:Saint Aloysius Gonzaga among the plague victims (on the right) andThe Communion of Saint Stanislaus Kostka (on the left), both from 1726;
On the exterior, to the sides of the apse and facing the ancientMausoleum of Augustus, are two giant statues of the titular saints, among the largest in Rome.
Other artists active in the church includePasquale de' Rossi,Luigi Garzi,Francesco Rosa,Giovanni Battista Buonocore, andFabbrizio Chiari.
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The Chapel ofSt. Olav ofNorway, to the left of the nave, is dedicated to the martyr king who converted to Christianity and was slain in theBattle of Stiklestad in 1030. The chapel was inaugurated by CardinalLucido Maria Parocchi on 9 April 1893, on the 50th anniversary of the first Mass celebrated legally in Norway since the Reformation.[citation needed]
The painting, by the Polish artistPius Weloński, depicts the Viking king's victory over his own pagan past, which is represented by a dragon. It was a gift, presented on 3 March 1893, to PopeLeo XIII for the 50th anniversary of his episcopal ordination. BishopJohannes Olav Fallize, then theVicar Apostolic of Norway, had asked that it be placed in this chapel and it was unveiled by thePapal chamberlain, BaronWilhelm Wedel-Jarlsberg. The Pope supported the idea of a Norwegian chapel in Rome.[citation needed]
A smaller picture on the altar shows St. Anne and her daughter, the Blessed Virgin. St Anne was a very popular saint in pre-Reformation Norway.[citation needed]
The relics of a Roman martyr, St. Saturninus, are interred in the altar. Nothing is known about him except his name.[citation needed]
The chapel was restored, and it was reinaugurated byJohn Willem Gran, theBishop of Oslo, in 1980. The initiative for this restoration came from Cecilie "Ciss" Riber-Mohn (who was not herself a Catholic, and who died in 1978, before the restoration was complete), Olga Térése "Olgese" Mowinckel Ringler and her Italian husband Andrea Ringler. Rieber-Mohn had also preserved the chapel in the 1960s when there was talk about using it for other purposes.[citation needed]
Mass is celebrated in Norwegian at Christmas, on 17 May (Constitution Day) and 16 October (feast of St. Olav's conversion), and many Norwegian expatriates, including non-Catholics, take part. Requiem masses are celebrated for Norwegians with connections to Rome. Norwegian pilgrim groups can make an appointment to celebrate Mass here, and at times tourist groups come here for ecumenical services.
San Carlo al Corso is the church where the marriage was planned to be solemnized betweenFranz Liszt andCarolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. From 1849, this Polish princess granted hospitality to Liszt, her great lover, at theAltenburg in Weimar. In 1860 she left for Rome to dissolve her marriage with the Russian officer Nikolaus - which had already been done in Russia five years earlier. When this succeeded in January 1861, she organized her union with Liszt on 22 October 1861, Liszt's 50th Birthday, in the San Carlo, her parish church. On 20 October Liszt arrived in Rome, and made a marriage statement with Carolyne. Meanwhile,Bishop Von Hohenlohe, a brother ofCarolyne's son-in-law, succeeded, with help of Carolyne's relatives, in preventing the marriage ceremony[6] - and thus in keeping Carolyne's capital in the families: on the eve of the marriage Carolyne received a message from the pastor of San Carlo that the request was being reconsidered and the wedding postponed. Thereupon she broke her relationship with Liszt off - who remained in Rome, where he studied theology, became friendly with Von Hohenlohe, received from him the Minor Orders, and proceeded life as ‘Abbé Liszt’.[7]
Fillipo Titi.
Media related toSan Carlo al Corso (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons
| Preceded by San Camillo de Lellis | Landmarks of Rome San Carlo al Corso | Succeeded by Santa Cecilia in Trastevere |
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