| Trinità dei Monti | |
|---|---|
| Church of the Most Holy Trinity on the Mounts | |
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti | |
 Facade | |
 Click on the map to see marker | |
| 41°54′21″N12°29′01″E / 41.90592°N 12.48364°E /41.90592; 12.48364 | |
| Location | Piazza della Trinità dei Monti 3,Rome |
| Country | Italy |
| Language(s) | Italian, French |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Tradition | Roman Rite |
| Religious order | Emmanuel Community |
| Website | trinitadeimonti |
| History | |
| Status | titular church, national church |
| Founded | 1502 |
| Founder(s) | Louis XII of France |
| Dedication | Holy Trinity |
| Consecrated | 1585 |
| Associated people | Francois Jacquier, O.M. |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Giacomo Della Porta,Annibale Lippi,Carlo Maderno |
| Architectural type | Renaissance |
| Groundbreaking | 1502 |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Rome |
TheChurch of Santissima Trinità dei Monti, often called simplyTrinità dei Monti (French:La Trinité-des-Monts), is aRoman Catholic late Renaissancetitularchurch, part of amonastery complex inRome. It is best known for its position above theSpanish Steps which lead down to the famousPiazza di Spagna. The church is entrusted to theEmmanuel Community,[1] and is one of the fiveFrancophone Catholic churches in Rome.
In 1494, KingCharles VIII of France bought a portion of the ancientGardens of Lucullus from the papal scholar and formerPatriarch of Aquileia,Ermolao Barbaro. He then obtained the authorization fromPope Alexander VI to establish a monastery on this land for the French friars of theMinim Order. He did this in honor of the friars' founder,Francis of Paola, ahermit fromCalabria, who had gone to France at the request of his father, KingLouis XI to attempt the king's healing. In 1502,Louis XII of France began construction of the church of the Trinità dei Monti next to this monastery, to celebrate his successful invasion of theKingdom of Naples. The noted mathematician and physicist,Francois Jacquier, a Minim friar, (1711-1788) was a member of this community for much of his life.
Except for the years of theFrench Revolution, the church and monastery remained in the possession of the Minim Friars until 1828. At that point, the complex was given to theReligious of the Sacred Heart, a Frenchreligious congregation dedicated to the Christian education of young women of higher social status. When the Sisters closed their school in 2006, the complex was given to theMonastic Fraternities of Jerusalem, a new Paris-based monastic Order, till 2016, when the Frenchbishops and government agreed to transfer the property to the newly-founded institute of theEmmanuel Community, part of thecharismatic movement.
Building work began in a French style with pointed lateGothic arches, but construction lagged.[citation needed] The present Italian Renaissance church was eventually built in its place and finally consecrated in 1585 by the great urbanizerPope Sixtus V, whosevia Sistina connected the Piazza della Trinità dei Monti (outside the church) to thePiazza Barberini across the city. The architect of the facade is not known for certain, but Wolfgang Lotz suggests that it may have originated in a design byGiacomo della Porta (a follower of Michelangelo), who had built the church ofSant'Atanasio dei Greci, which has similarities, a little earlier.[2] The double staircase in front of the church was byDomenico Fontana.[3]
In front of the church stands theObelisco Sallustiano, one of the manyobelisks in Rome, moved here in 1789. It is a Romanobelisk made in imitation of Egyptian ones, originally constructed in the early years of the Roman Empire for theGardens of Sallust near the Porta Salaria.[4] Thehieroglyphic inscription was copied from that on the obelisk in thePiazza del Popolo known asFlaminio Obelisk.
During theNapoleonic occupation of Rome, the church, like many others, was looted of its art and decorations. In 1816, after theBourbon restoration, the church was restored at the expense of KingLouis XVIII.[5]
The inscriptions found in Santissima Trinità dei Monti, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella.[6]
In the first chapel to the right is aBaptism of Christ and other scenes of the life ofJohn the Baptist by the FlorentineMannerist painterGiambattista Naldini. In the third chapel on the right is anAssumption of the Virgin by a pupil of Michelangelo,Daniele da Volterra (the last figure on the right is said to be a portrait of Michelangelo).[5] In the fourth chapel, theCappella Orsini, are scenes of thePassion of Christ byParis Nogari and the funeral monument of CardinalRodolfo Pio da Carpi byLeonardo Sormani.[7] In a chapel near the high altar is a canvas of theCrucifixion painted byCesare Nebbia.
In the Cappella Pucci, on the left, are frescoes (1537) byPerino del Vaga finished byFederico andTaddeo Zuccari in 1589. The second chapel on the left has a well-known canvas of theDeposition byDaniele da Volterra; flanking it are frescoes byPablo de Céspedes andCesare Arbasia. The first chapel on the left has frescoes by Nebbia. In the sacristy anteroom are more frescoes by Taddeo Zuccari: aCoronation of the Virgin, anAnnunciation, and aVisitation.
In a niche along a corridor that opens onto the cloister is the fresco (reputed to be miraculous) of theMater Admirabilis, depicting theVirgin Mary, painted by Pauline Perdreau, a young French girl, in 1844.[8]
Therefectory has a frescoed ceiling byAndrea Pozzo. In the cloister there is an astrolabes table, and along a corridor are theanamorphic frescoes (steeply sloping perspectives that have to be viewed from a particular point to make pictorial sense), portrayingSt John on Patmos andSt Francis of Paola as a hermit all byEmmanuel Maignan (1637). An upper room was painted with ruins byCharles-Louis Clérisseau.
The kings of France remained patrons of the church until theFrench Revolution and the church continued to be the church of the Minim Friars until its partial destruction in 1798.[9]
It has been atitular church since theTitulus Santissimae Trinitatis in Monte Pincio was established byPope Sixtus V in 1587 and has been held ever since by a FrenchCardinal. The current (2010)Cardinal Priest isPhilippe Barbarin,Archbishop of Lyon and Primate of the Gauls.
By the Diplomatic Conventions of 14 May and 8 September 1828 between theHoly See and theGovernment of France the church and monastery were entrusted to the 'Religieuses du Sacré-Coeur de Jésus' (Society of the Sacred Heart), a French religious order, for the purpose of educating young girls.
In 2003 the French government were proposing to make funds available for necessary work on the church but was concerned that the Society might find it difficult to continue their work there in the future and in March 2003 the Society decided that it would withdraw from the Trinità no later than the summer of 2006. On 12 July 2005, the Vatican and the French Embassy to the Holy See announced that the Church, Convent and school would be entrusted from 1 September 2006 to theMonastic Fraternities of Jerusalem.[10]
Since 2016 the care of the Trinité des Monts complex has been entrusted to theEmmanuel Community through an agreement by the Holy See and the French Government.
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