San Sisto Vecchio | |
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Old Basilica of Saint Sixtus | |
Basilica di San Sisto Vecchio | |
![]() Facade | |
![]() Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
41°52′49″N12°29′46″E / 41.8804°N 12.496°E | |
Location | Piazzale Numa Pompilio 8, Rome |
Country | Italy |
Language(s) | Italian |
Denomination | Catholic |
Tradition | Roman Rite |
Religious order | Dominicans (nuns) |
Website | sansistoroma |
History | |
Former name(s) | Titulus Crescentianae |
Status | Minor basilica, titular church |
Founded | 4th century AD |
Founder(s) | Pope Anastasius I |
Dedication | Pope Sixtus II |
Architecture | |
Architectural type | Romanesque, Baroque |
Completed | 18th century |
Administration | |
Diocese | Rome |
The Basilica of San Sisto Vecchio (in Via Appia) is a Catholic minor basilica and Dominican conventual church in Rome, Italy. It has been a titular church since 600 AD. Its Cardinal priest is currently Antoine Kambanda.
The basilica was constructed in the fourth century and is recorded as the Titulus Crescentianae, thus relating the church to a certain Crescentia (possibly a Roman woman who founded the church.) According to tradition, the church was established by Pope Anastasius I (399–401).
The church is dedicated to Pope Sixtus II and houses his relics (transferred there from the Catacomb of Callixtus in the sixth century.)
San Sisto was rebuilt in the early 13th century by Pope Innocent III. The current church is the result of the restorations of Pope Benedict XIII in the 18th century, which left only the bell tower and the apse from the medieval church.
A 13th-century fresco cycle depicting scenes from the New Testament and the Apocrypha has been preserved.
Pope Honorius III entrusted the reform of the monastery at San Sisto Vecchio to Dominic in the 1220s, intending it as part of the reformation of women's religious life in Rome. In 1219 Honorius then invited Dominic and his companions to take up permanent residence at the ancient Roman basilica of Santa Sabina, which they did in the early 1220. After that they founded a convent and studium on June 5, 1222, thus forming the original studium of the Dominican Order in Rome, out of which the 16th-century College of Saint Thomas at Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) would grow.[ relevant? ] [1]
Dominican nuns still occupy the monastery at San Sisto Vecchio. [2]
The following persons are known to have been Cardinal priests of S. Sisto (italics are used to denote special cases): [3] [4] [5] [6]
Media related to San Sisto Vecchio (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by San Silvestro in Capite | Landmarks of Rome San Sisto Vecchio | Succeeded by Santa Sofia a Via Boccea |