Santa Cecilia in Trastevere

Santa Cecilia
Sancta Cecilia(in Latin)
Façade of Santa Cecilia, a 1725 project by Ferdinando Fuga, with the 12th-century belltower
Click on the map for a fullscreen view
41°53′15.2″N12°28′33.21″E / 41.887556°N 12.4758917°E / 41.887556; 12.4758917
Location	Piazza di Santa Cecilia, Rome
Country	Italy
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Tradition	Latin Church
Religious order	Benedictine (nuns)
History
Status	Titular church
Dedication	Saint Cecilia
Architecture
Architectural type	Church
Style	Baroque
Groundbreaking	5th century
Administration
Province	Diocese of Rome
Clergy
Cardinal protector	Gualtiero Bassetti

Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (Italian: Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere) is a titular church and minor basilica located in Trastevere, Rome. Dedicated to Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, it has served as a cardinal titular church since the 5th century. The present basilica, rebuilt under Pope Paschal I in the 9th century, is notable for its apse mosaic, frescoes by Pietro Cavallini, Baroque sculpture, and the revered relics of Saint Cecilia preserved beneath the high altar. Today, it remains the conventual church for the adjacent Benedictine abbey, and the feast of Saint Cecilia on 22 November continues to draw pilgrims, choirs, and musicians from around the world.

History

The nave and apse

Origins and early Christian period

The first church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd century, by Pope Urban I; it was devoted to the young Roman woman Cecilia, martyred it is said under Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (A.D. 222–235). Tradition holds that the church was built over the house of the saint. ^[1] The baptistery associated with this church, together with the remains of a Roman house of the early Empire, was found during some excavations under the Chapel of the Relics. By the late fifth century, at the Synod of 499 of Pope Symmachus, the church is mentioned as the Titulus Ceciliae. On 22 November 545, Pope Vigilius was celebrating the feast of the saint in the church, when the emissary of Empress Theodora, Anthemius Scribo, captured him.

Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

Pope Paschal I rebuilt the church in 822, and moved here the relics of St. Cecilia from the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. More restorations followed in the 18th century. ^[2]

The cardinal priest who is currently assigned to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is Gualtiero Bassetti. His predecessors include Pope Stephen III, Pope Martin IV (1261-1281), Adam Easton (1383), ^[3] Pope Innocent VIII (1474-1484), Thomas Wolsey (1515), Pope Gregory XIV (1585-1590), Michele Mazzarino (1647), Giuseppe Doria Pamphili (1785), Mariano Rampolla (1887-1913), and Carlo Maria Martini (d. 2012).

Renaissance and Baroque interventions

Since 1527, a community of Benedictine nuns has lived in the monastery next to Santa Cecilia, ^[4] and has had charge of the basilica.

Modern period

The inscriptions found in Santa Cecilia, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. ^[5]

Art and architecture

The Last Judgment (detail of the apostles), by Pietro Cavallini (1295-1300)

Ciborium attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio

The church has a façade built in 1725 by Ferdinando Fuga, which incloses a courtyard decorated with ancient mosaics, columns and a cantharus (water vessel). Its decoration includes the coat of arms and the dedication to the titular cardinal who paid for the facade, Francesco Cardinal Acquaviva d'Aragona.

Among the artifacts remaining from the 13th century edifice are a mural painting depicting the Last Judgment (1289–93) by Pietro Cavallini in the choir of the nuns, and the ciborium (1293) in the presbytery by Arnolfo di Cambio which is surrounded by four marble columns white and black, decorated with statuettes of angels, saints, prophets, and evangelists.

The Last Judgement fresco which remains today, covering the entire width of the west wall of the entrance, is likely part of a cycle of Old and New Testament scenes by Cavallini on the north and south nave walls, based on remaining fragments of an Annunciation scene and stories of the life of Jacob. The frescoes were plastered over in a remodeling under Cardinal Francesco Acquaviva in 1724, which included building an enclosed choir, the floor of which cuts off part of the Last Judgement. Rediscovered in 1900, the fresco may be viewed during limited weekday hours for a small euro fee paid to the Benedictine nuns of the church. Luigi Vanvitelli also did a altarpiece, Apparition of the Angel to St. Cecili, and a fresco, Angels Musicians, located in the Chapel of the Relics, just some of his few surviving paintings. ^[6]

The apse has remains of 9th century mosaics depicting the Redeemer with Saints Paul, Cecilia, Paschal I, Peter, Valerian, and Agatha .

The ceiling of Cappella dei Ponziani was decorated God the Father with Evangelists (1470) by Antonio del Massaro (Antonio da Viterbo or il Pastura). The Cappella delle Reliquie was frescoed and provided with an altarpiece by Luigi Vanvitelli. The nave is frescoed with the Apotheosis of Santa Cecilia (1727) by Sebastiano Conca. The church contains two altarpieces by Guido Reni: Saints Valerian and Cecilia and a Decapitation of Saint Cecilia (1603). ^[7]

Saint Cecilia , by Stefano Maderno

Under the ciborium of Arnolfo di Cambio that shelters the main altar is a glass case enclosing the white marble sculpture of St. Cecilia (1600) by the late-Renaissance sculptor Stefano Maderno. A marble slab in the pavement in front of the case quotes Maderno's sworn statement that he has recorded the body as he saw it when the tomb was opened in 1599. The statue depicts the three axe strokes described in the 5th-century account of her martyrdom. It also underscores the incorruptibility of her cadaver (an attribute of some saints), which miraculously still had congealed blood after centuries. This statue could be conceived as proto-Baroque, since it depicts no idealized moment or person, but a theatric scene, a naturalistic representation of a dead or dying saint. It is striking because it precedes by decades the similar high-Baroque sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (for example, his Blessed Ludovica Albertoni ) and Melchiorre Cafà ( Santa Rosa de Lima ).^{[ citation needed ]}

The crypt is decorated in cosmatesque style, and contains the relics of St. Cecilia and her husband St. Valerian. In the apse of the crypt are the remains of an altar whose inscription indicates that it was dedicated by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) on 3 June 1080. ^[8]

List of cardinal-priests

List of cardinal-priests at Santa Cecilia in Trastevere since 761 ^[9]

Picture	Name	Dates	Notes
	Stefano	761 – 768	Elected Pope Stephen III
	Desiderio	6 March 1059 – 24 May 1086	Elected Pope Victor III
	Octaviano de' Monticelli	2 March 1151 – ?	Elected antipope Victor IV
	Pelagio Galvani	1210 – 1212	Appointed Bishop of Albano
	Simon de Brion	17 December 1261 – 22 February 1281	Elected Pope Martin IV
	Jean Cholet	12 April 1281 – 2 August 1293	Died
	Tommaso d'Ocre	18 September 1294 – 29 May 1300	Died
	Guillaume de Pierre Godin	23 December 1312 – 4 June 1336	Died
	Guy de Boulogne	20 September 1342 – 25 November 1373
	Bertrand Lagier	1375 – 8 November 1392	Died
	Bonaventura Badoaro de Peraga	18 September 1378 – 10 July 1381	Died
	Giovanni Stefaneschi	1385 – 1388	Died
	Adam Easton	18 December 1389 – 15 August 1398	Died
	Guillaume de Vergy	1393 – 1407	Died
	Antonio Caetani	27 February 1402 – 12 June 1405	Appointed Bishop of Palestrina
	Antoine de Challant	19 March 1412 – 4 September 1418	Died
	Pedro Fernández de Frías	26 June 1419 – 19 September 1420	Died
	Louis Aleman	27 May 1426 – 16 October 1450	Died
	Rinaldo Piscicello	21 March 1457 – 4 July 1457	Died
	Niccolò Fortiguerra	19 March 1460 – 21 December 1473	Died
	Giovanni Battista Cibo	January 1474 – 29 August 1484	Elected Pope Innocent VIII
	Giovanni Giacomo Sclafenati	17 November 1484 – 8 December 1497	Died
	Lorenzo Cybo de Mari	9 December 1497 – September 1500	Resigned
	Francisco de Borja	5 October 1500 – 11 August 1506	Translated to Santi Nereo e Achilleo
	Francesco Alidosi	11 August 1506 – 24 May 1511	Died
	Carlo Domenico del Carretto	June 1513 – 15 August 1514	Died
	Thomas Wolsey	10 September 1515 – 29 November 1530	Died
	Gabriel de Gramont	9 January 1531 – 26 March 1534	Died
	Francesco Cornaro	27 April 1534 – 5 September 1534	Translated to San Ciriaco alle Terme Diocleziane
	Jean du Bellay	31 May 1535 – 26 October 1547	Translated to San Pietro in Vincoli
	Charles de Lorraine	4 November 1547 – 11 December 1555	Translated to Sant'Apollinare
	Robert de Lénoncourt	11 December 1555 – 13 March 1560	Appointed Bishop of Sabina
	Alfonso Gesualdo	10 March 1561 – 17 October 1572	Translated to Santa Prisca
	Niccolò Sfondrati	14 January 1585 – 5 December 1590	Elected Pope Gregory XIV
	Paolo Emilio Sfondrati	14 January 1591 – 14 February 1618	Died
	Giambattista Leni	5 March 1618 – 3 November 1627	Died
	Federico Baldissera Bartolomeo Cornaro	15 November 1627 – 26 April 1629	Translated to San Marco
	Giandomenico Spinola	30 April 1629 – 11 August 1646	Died
	Michele Mazzarino	16 December 1647 – 31 August 1648	Died
	Gaspare Mattei	28 September 1648 – 9 April 1650	Died
	Francesco Angelo Rapaccioli	21 November 1650 – 16 May 1657	Died
	Ottavio Acquaviva d'Aragona	18 March 1658 – 26 September 1674	Died
	Philip Thomas Howard	23 March 1676 – 25 September 1679	Translated to Santa Maria sopra Minerva
	Giambattista Spinola	22 September 1681 – 20 February 1696	Translated to Sant' Agnese fuori le mura
	Celestino Sfondrati	20 February 1696 – 4 September 1696	Died
	Giacomo Antonio Morigia	11 April 1699 – 8 Obctober 1708	Died
	Francesco Acqaviva	28 January 1709 – 9 January 1725	Died
	Filippo Antonio Gualtieri	29 January 1724 – 31 July 1726	Translated to Santa Prassede
	Cornelio Bentivoglio	25 June 1727 – 30 December 1732	Died
	Troiano Acquaviva d'Aragona	19 January 1733 – 20 March 1747	Died
	Joaquín Fernández de Portocarrero y Mendoza	10 April 1474 – 22 June 1760	Died
	Giorgio Doria	3 January 1757 – 31 January 1759	Died
	Cosimo Imperiali	12 February 1759 – 13 October 1764	Died
	Giuseppe Maria Feroni	17 December 1764 – 15 November 1767	Died
	Ferninando Maria de Rossi	14 December 1767 – 4 February 1775	Died
	Girolamo Spínola	13 March 1775 – 22 July 1784	Died
	Hyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil	20 September 1784 – 12 August 1802	Died
	Giuseppe Doria Pamphilj	20 March 1802 – 10 February 1816	Died
	Giorgio Doria Pamphilj Landi	16 March 1818 – 16 November 1837	Died
	Giacomo Luigi Brignole	13 September 1838 – 21 February 1853	Died
	Giovanni Brunelli	22 December 1853 – 21 February 1861	Died
	Karl-August von Reisach	27 September 1861 – 22 June 1868	Appointed Bishop of Sabina
	Innocenzo Ferrieri	24 September 1868 – 13 January 1887	Died
	Mariano Rampolla	26 May 1887 – 16 December 1913	Died
	Domenico Serafini	28 May 1914 – 5 March 1918	Died
	Augusto Silj	18 December 1919 – 27 February 1926	Died
	Bonaventura Cerretti	24 June 1926 – 13 March 1933	Appointed Bishop of Frascati
	Francesco Marmaggi	18 June 1936 – 3 November 1949	Died
	Gaetano Cicognani	29 October 1953 – 14 December 1959	Appointed Bishop of Frascati
	Albert Gregory Meyer	17 December 1959 – 9 April 1965	Died
	John Cody	29 June 1967 – 25 April 1982	Died
	Carlo Maria Martini	2 February 1983 – 31 August 2012	Died
	Gualtiero Bassetti	22 February 2014 – today	Current cardinal-priest

References

1. Beneath, in the remains of Roman construction, are cylindrical well-like granaries in opus spicatum (illustration).^{[ citation needed ]}
2. Cavagna Sangiuliani di Gualdana, Antonio (1899). Cosmos catholicus. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Roma : Tipografia vaticana.
3. Forcella, p. 23, no. 75.
4. the monastery next to Santa Cecilia
5. V. Forcella, Inscrizioni delle chese e d' altre edifici di Roma, dal secolo XI fino al secolo XVI, Volume II, Fratelli Bencini, Rome 1873, pp. 17–46.
6. Santa Cecilia Basilica in Trastevere, Flavor of Italy
7. Romecity entry on Santa Cecilia
8. Forcella, p. 19, no. 56.
9. "Santa Cecilia (Cardinal Titular Church) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2025-08-15.

Sources

• Jacobus Laderchius, S. Cæciliæ virg. et mart. acta et Transtyberina basilica, 2 vols., Pagliarini, Rome 1723).
• Vincenzo Forcella, Inscrizioni delle chiese di Roma, Roma 1873, pp. 17–46. (The inscriptions found in the church)
• Bertha Ellen Lovewell, The Life of St. Cecilia, Lamson, Wolffe and Company, Boston-New York-London 1898.
• Torquato Picarelli, Basilica e casa romana di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Romana, Rome 1904.
• Torquato Piccarelli, Monografia storica anecdotica della chiesa, cripta, e casa di S. Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome 1922.
• Hüls, Rudolf, Kardinal, Klerus und Kirchen Roms: 1049–1130, Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 1977 (in German).
• Neda Parmegiani and Alberto Pronti, Il complesso di S. Cecilia in Trastevere (Roma : Sydaco Editrice, 1997).
• Anna Maria Panzera, The Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Nuove Edizioni Romane, Rome 2001.
• Valentina Oliva, La basilica di Santa Cecilia (Edizioni d'arte Marconi, No. 73), Marconi arti grafiche, Genoa 2004.

External links

Inscription of Gregory VII, founding an altar

• Official website with visiting hours
• "Beggar's Rome" - A self-directed virtual tour of St. Cecilia in Trastevere and other Roman churches
• Chris Nyborg, "Santa Cecilia in Trastevere"
• (in Italian) Armellini, Mariano, "S. Cecilia in Trastevere", Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX, Tipografia Vaticana, 1891. Through Bill Thayer's site, Lacus Curtius.
• Kunsthistorie.com Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine , photogallery

Media related to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by San Carlo al Corso

Landmarks of Rome Santa Cecilia in Trastevere

Succeeded by Santi Celso e Giuliano