San Francesco, Bologna

Last updated
Basilica of Saint Francis
Basilica San Francesco
6048 - Bologna - San Francesco - Facciata - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 9-Feb-2008.jpg
San Francesco, Bologna
LocationPiazza Malpighi, 9
40123 Bologna
CountryItaly
Denomination Roman Catholic
History
Consecrated 1251
Associated peopleFriars Giambattista Martini, O.F.M. Conv., & Stanislao Mattei, O.F.M. Conv.
Architecture
Architectural type Romanesque (facade); French Gothic architecture (interior)
Groundbreaking 1236
Completed1263
Administration
Archdiocese Bologna

The Basilica of Saint Francis (Italian : Basilica San Francesco) is a historic church in the city of Bologna in northern Italy. Founded in the 13th century, it has been the property of the Conventual Franciscan friars since then. The church has been raised to the rank of a Roman Catholic basilica by the Holy See.

Contents

History

The Franciscans had occupied a modest house in the city called Santa Maria delle Pugliole, founded in 1211 by Bernard of Quintavalle, one of the first members of the Order. Their noted founder, St. Francis of Assisi, visited the city in 1222 to preach to the people of the city, which sparked a great interest in the Order he had founded. At the urging of Pope Gregory IX, the authorities of the medieval commune gave the property on which the basilica is now built to the friars in 1236 for a church of their own. It was located in the area of the city known as civitas antiqua rupta (the old city ruins), where the remains of the Roman city of Bononia were located.

Construction was begun and sufficiently complete by 1251 that it was consecrated by Pope Innocent IV. The main structure was finally completed in 1263. [1]

During the 18th century, the friary was a center of musical performance and study. A renowned girls choir sang at the services of the church, which was directed by Friar Giambattista Martini, O.F.M. Conv., a noted composer. Among his many students was another friar of the community, Stanislao Mattei, O.F.M. Conv. [2]

During the occupation of Italy by the French Revolutionary Army, in 1796 the church was desecrated and the friary was seized and used as a barracks by the occupying forces. The artworks of the church were seized and scattered. The church was restored to religious use in 1842, but was later seized again in the course of the Second Italian War of Independence and used as a military storehouse. It was finally returned to the Franciscans in 1886. The restoration of the church to its original aspect was carried out under the supervision of Alfonso Rubbiani, an expert in restoration, and were completed in 1919. [1]

Architecture

The architect is not known. Early sources gave Friar Mateo of Brescia as having designed the church. This seems to have been a confusion with Giovanni of Brescia, a leading architect of the period. The 14th-century chronicler of the friary, Bartolomeo of Pugliole, recorded that, when the vault of the apse collapsed in 1254, the restoration work was supervised by one Friar Andrea Maestro della Ghiexia, who is described as "of the twisted legs". [1]

Despite its Romanesque facade, it is one of the best examples of French Gothic architecture in Italy. This is manifest in the interior, which has a nave and two aisles, in the apse with corridor, in the high vaults divided into six sections (like in Notre-Dame de Paris) with ogival arches, and in the use of buttresses.

The church is home to the church monuments of the jurist Accursius and his son Francesco, Odofredus and Rolandino dei Romanzi.

See also

Related Research Articles

Assisi Comune in Umbria, Italy

Assisi is a town and comune of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio.

Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the major churches of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers in Rome, Italy. The church's name derives from the fact that the first Christian church structure on the site was built directly over the ruins or foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, which had been erroneously ascribed to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva.

Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Assisi, Italy

The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in central Italy, where Saint Francis was born and died. It is a Papal minor basilica and one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy. With its accompanying friary, Sacro Convento, the basilica is a distinctive landmark to those approaching Assisi. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2000.

Order of Friars Minor Conventual Branch of the Catholic Order of Friars Minor, founded by Francis of Assisi in 1209

The Order of Friars Minor Conventual, commonly known as the Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites, is a Catholic branch of the Franciscans who were founded by Francis of Assisi in 1209.

San Francesco a Ripa

San Francesco a Ripa is a church in Rome, Italy. It is dedicated to Francis of Assisi who once stayed at the adjacent convent. The term Ripa refers to the nearby riverbank of the Tiber.

Papal Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi Church in Assisi, Italy

The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels is a Papal minor basilica situated in the plain at the foot of the hill of Assisi, Italy, in the frazione of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Sacro Convento

The Sacro Convento is a Franciscan friary in Assisi, Umbria, Italy. The friary is connected as part of three buildings to the upper and lower church of the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, which contains the body of Saint Francis. St. Francis wanted to be buried at this location outside of Assisi's city walls, called Hill of Hell, because his master Jesus of Nazareth also was killed like a criminal outside of the city of Jerusalem.

Santa Maria dei Servi, Bologna

Santa Maria dei Servi is a Roman Catholic basilica in Bologna, Italy.

Italian Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture appeared in the prosperous independent city-states of Italy in the 12th century, later than in Northern Europe. Each city developed its own particular variations of the style. Italian architects preferred to keep the traditional construction methods established in the previous centuries; architectural solutions and technical innovations of French Gothic were seldom used. Soaring height was less important than in Northern Europe. Brick rather than stone was the most common building material, and marble was widely used for decoration. In the 15th century, when the Gothic style dominated northern Europe and Italy, the north of the Italian Peninsula became the birthplace of Renaissance architecture.

Stanislao Mattei, O.F.M. Conv., was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar who was a noted composer, musicologist, and music teacher of his era.

SantAntonio da Padova in Via Merulana

The Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua al Laterano is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome on Via Merulana, one block from the Obelisk of St. John Lateran. It was built for the Order of Friars Minor, who needed a new home after they were moved from Santa Maria in Aracoelito allow the construction of the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II.

San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna

The Basilica of San Giacomo Maggiore is an historic Roman Catholic church in Bologna, region of Emilia Romagna, Italy, serving a monastery of Augustinian friars. It was built starting in 1267 and houses, among the rest, the Bentivoglio Chapel, featuring numerous Renaissance artworks.

San Francesco, Viterbo

The Basilica of St. Francis is a parish church and minor basilica in Viterbo, central Italy. The museological management of the church is run by the Polo Museale del Lazio.

San Francesco, Piacenza

San Francesco is a medieval Roman Catholic church in Piacenza, Italy. It was built for a Franciscan order in a style described as Lombard Gothic.

San Francesco dAssisi, Alcamo

San Francesco d'Assisi is a 16th-century-style church dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi, located in Alcamo, province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy.

San Francesco Grande, Padua

The church dedicated to saint Francis of Assisi, known for centuries as San Francesco Grande is a religious building on the Via San Francesco, previously overlooks the Contra porteghi high in Padua, Italy. Through the efforts of Baldo de Bonafarii and Sibilla de Cetto, the convent of the Friars Minor and the Hospital of Saint Francis, Major, operated until 1798.

San Francesco dAssisi, Palermo

The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi is an important church of Palermo. It is located near the main street of the city, the ancient Cassaro, in the quarter of the Kalsa, within the historic centre of Palermo. The building represents the main Conventual Franciscan church of Sicily. It has the title of Minor basilica.

San Francesco, San Gemini

San Francesco is Gothic-style, Roman Catholic, church in a piazza of the same name in the town of San Gemini, region of Umbria, Italy. The 13-14th-century church was erected by the Franciscan order and dedicated to St Francis, who visited the town at least twice in his lifetime.

Treasure Museum of the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi

The Treasure museum of the basilica of Saint Francis contains a collection of sacred art that is on display in two halls found on the northern side of the Cloister of Pope Sixtus IV which is part of the Sacro Convento in Assisi, Italy. The entrance is found on the second level of the Renaissance cloister behind the apse of the Basilica of Saint Francis, which houses the remains of St. Francis of Assisi. Since 1986 the Museum has also displayed a collection of works donated to the Conventual Franciscan Friars by the Secular Franciscan and American art critic, Frederick Mason Perkins, who died in Assisi in October 1955.

San Francesco Convent (Fiesole) Church in Tuscany, Italy

The Convent of St. Francis is a Franciscan convent located in the western, historic center of Fiesole in the region of Tuscany.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Storia della Basilica e del Convento". Basilica San Francesco (in Italian).
  2. "Cappella musicale". Basilica San Francesco (in Italian).

Coordinates: 44°29′42″N11°20′07″E / 44.49500°N 11.33528°E / 44.49500; 11.33528