Religious tours of Rome : St.Mary above Minerva
The city of Rome itself has 634 churches and a big part of its history is connected to the popes and the rich cardinals who spent their money to sponsor important art works in the churches of Rome.
The religious itineraries of Rome start discovering the origins of Christianity with the catacombs and ends with the comprehension of the modern role of the pope and the church of Rome.
Before going to visit the Roman Forum and after having discovered the Pantheon, our walks can not miss the visit to this jewel of the medieval Rome.
The beautiful and large 13th century church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (1280-1290) was designed by the same Domenicans friars who built Santa Maria Novella in Florence. With its moderately acute arches supported by high cross-shaped pilasters which divide the naves, this church is a rare example of Gothic architecture in Rome. The name "sopra Minerva" (above Minerva) refers to an ancient temple to Minerva Calcidica over which the church was built.
Under the high altar rests the body of Santa Caterina da Siena (1347-1380) in a marble sarcophagus. The saint dedicated a great part of her energy bringing back the papacy from Avignon. After Pope Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome,St.Catherine retired to the convent adjacent to the church where she lived her last days. Actually she is the saint patron of Italy like saint Francis of Assisi and her feast is April 29.
To the left of the altar is the famous statue of Christ Carrying the Cross, sculpted by Michelangelo between 1514 and 1521. In the left transept is the stone monument of Brother Giovanni from Fiesole, one of the great painters of the 15th century in Italy, better known as Beato Angelico. In the chorus are the tombs of the two Medici Popes of the Renaissance, Leo X (1513-1521) and Clement VII (1523-1534) by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger.
The Egyptian Obelisk of Minerva once stood in front of the ancient Temple of Isis and was erected in the piazza with the same name by Pope Alexander VII in 1667. Bernini mounted it on the back of an elephant that was sculpted by Ferrata, one of his best assistants.
Rome is the most complete city in the world as you have decided to combine ancient Rome and religious tours because the development of the city through the ages shows that those two aspects are connected with the passage from the 12 pagan gods to the God we venerate today.
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