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| Santi Cosma e Damiano | |
|---|---|
| Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian | |
Basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano | |
 View of the Temple of Romulus, from thePalatine Hill. | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| 41°53′31″N12°29′15″E / 41.8920625°N 12.4874308°E /41.8920625; 12.4874308 | |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Previous denomination | Originally dedicated to the deifiedValerius Romulus |
| Tradition | Latin Church |
| Religious order | T.O.R. Franciscans |
| Website | cosmadamiano |
| History | |
| Status | Minor basilica, Titular church, General Curia of theFranciscan Third Order Regular |
| Founded | AD 527 (as a church) |
| Founder | Pope Felix IV |
| Dedication | Cosmas and Damian |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Style | Early Christian |
| Groundbreaking | AD 309 |
| Completed | 1632 |
| Administration | |
| Subdivision | upright |
| Diocese | Rome |
Thebasilica ofSanti Cosma e Damiano is atitular church in Rome, Italy. It is theconventual church of the General Curia of theFranciscan Third Order Regular. The lower portion of the building is accessible through theRoman Forum and incorporates original Roman buildings, but the entrance to the upper level is outside the Forum facing theVia dei Fori Imperiali.
The circular building located at the entrance of the Forum, which now houses a small archeological exhibition, was possibly built in the early 4th century as aRoman temple which may have been dedicated toValerius Romulus,deified son of the emperorMaxentius; it is often referred to as theTemple of Romulus. The main building was perhaps the library of an imperial forum. It became a church in 527 and contains important but much restoredearly Christian art, especially in its mosaics.
Today it is one of the ancientchurches calledtituli, of which cardinals are patrons ascardinal-deacons. Since 28 November 2020 the title has been held by CardinalMario Grech. The basilica, devoted to the twoArabian Christian brothers, doctors, martyrs and saintsCosmas and Damian, is located in theForum of Vespasian, also known as theForum of Peace.
The Temple is traditionally held to have been dedicated by EmperorMaxentius to his son and co-consulValerius Romulus, who died in 309 and was given divine honours. The temple building was probably part of a rebuilding program of "incredible intensity" undertaken by Maxentius in the area, following a disastrous fire in 306; the project was only part-complete at his death. The temple's identification with Valerius Romulus is tentative, based on the spot-find of a coin dated to 307 AD showing the distinctive shape of the building, and a nearby dedication to Valerius Romulus asa divinised mortal.[1] The temple has also been speculated as a rebuilding of the originaltemple of "Jupiter Stator", or one dedicated toPenates, restored by Maxentius.
The temple wasChristianised and dedicated toSancti Cosma et Damianus in 527, whenTheodoric the Great, king of theOstrogoths, and his daughterAmalasuntha donated the library of theForum of Peace (Bibliotheca Pacis) and a portion of the Temple of Romulus toPope Felix IV. The pope united the two buildings to create a basilica devoted to twoArabian Christian brothers and saints, Cosmas and Damian, in contrast with the ancient pagan cult of the two brothersCastor and Pollux, who had been worshipped in the nearbyTemple of Castor and Pollux. The apse was decorated with a Roman-Byzantine mosaic, representing aparousia, theSecond Coming ofChrist at the end of time. The bodies of SaintsMark and Marcellian weretranslated, perhaps in the ninth century, to this church, where they were rediscovered in 1583 during the reign ofPope Gregory XIII.
In 1632,Pope Urban VIII ordered the restoration of the basilica. The works, projected byOrazio Torriani and directed by Luigi Arrigucci, raised the floor level seven metres, bringing it equal with theCampo Vaccino, thus avoiding the infiltration of water. Also, a cloister was added. The old floor of the basilica is still visible in the lower church, which is the lower part of the first church.
In 1947, the restorations of the Imperial Forums gave a new structure to the church. The old entrance, through theTemple of Romulus, was closed, and the temple was restored to its original forms; with thePantheon, theTemple of Romulus is the best preserved pagan temple in Rome. A new entrance was opened on the opposite side (onvia dei Fori Imperiali), whose arch gives access to the cloister, and through this to the side of the basilica.
Next to the new entrance to the complex, there are the rooms with the original marble paving of the Forum of Peace, and the wall where the 150 marble slabs of theForma Urbis Romae were hung. Through the cloister, the entrance to the church opens on the side of the single nave. The plan of the basilica followed the norms of theCounter-Reformation: a single nave, with three chapels per side, and the big apse, which now looks quite oversized because of the reduction in height of the 17th-century restoration, framed by the triumphal arch, also mutilated by that restoration.
The mosaics are masterpieces of 6th- and 7th-century art. In the middle is Christ, withSaint Peter presenting SaintCosmas and SaintTheodorus (right), andSaint Paul presentingSaint Damian andPope Felix IV; the latter holds a model of the church.
The importance of this basilica for thehistory of medicine is not only related to the fact that the two brothers were physicians and were honoured as patron saints of physicians, surgeons, pharmacists and veterinarians, with veneration dating from the mid 5th century CE, but also to the tradition according to whichClaudius Galen himself lectured in the Library of the Temple of Peace ("Bibliotheca Pacis").[citation needed] Furthermore, for centuries, in this "medical area"[vague] Roman physicians had their meetings.[2]
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Media related toBasilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano at Wikimedia Commons
| Preceded by San Clemente | Landmarks of Rome Santi Cosma e Damiano | Succeeded by San Crisogono |
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