The church Santa Maria della Scala is located on the square of the same name. It was built under the patronage of Pope Clement VIII between 1593 and 1610 to house a miraculous icon of the Madonna. Tradition holds that a midwife with a dying child in her arms prayed under the stairs of a house where the image of the Madonna was present, and the child was immediately revived.[2] Consecrated to Mary, mother of Jesus, the church enshrines that icon in the north transept, alongside a baroque statue of St John of the Cross. The church was built on the site of a house once bequeathed to a Casa Pia founded by Pope Pius IV in 1563 for reformed prostitutes. In 1597, the church was granted to the Discalced Carmelites.[3]
Bronze statues of the Twelve Apostles were stolen from the sacristy during the Napoleonic era, and subsequently replaced by papier-mâché.[citation needed]
In 1849, during the last stages of the revolutionary Roman Republic's resistance to the invading French forces, Santa Maria della Scala was used as a hospital where Garibaldi's soldiers, who were wounded fighting in the Trastevere, were treated.[citation needed]
Cardinal protectors
Santa Maria Nuova
Pagano (1088 or later - 1101)
Teobaldo (about 1102 - 1121)
Aimerico, C.R.L. (1121 - 1143)
Giovanni, Can.Reg.S.Fred. (17 December 1143 - 1153)
Giovanni Pizzuti, C.R.S.V.P. (December 1155 - 1157)
Girolamo, Can.Reg.S.Fred. (1164 - before 1177)
Lanfredo (1166 - about 1168), pseudo-cardinal of Antipope Paschal III
Engraving of the church from c. 1670 (by Giovanni Battista Falda, who is buried in the church)
The two-story travertine facade was completed in 1624. The Baroque Madonna and Child in the niche over the entrance was sculpted by Francesco di Cusart in 1633. In 1650, nearly fifty years after the buildings completion, Carlo Rainaldi designed for the church a tempietto-shaped baldachino with 16 slender jasperCorinthian columns and a high altar.[3] Four statues of the Evangelists were looted in 1849 and replaced by terracotta ones.
Interior
The interior has a nave with three chapels on each side. Its choir, nave and north transept's vaults are decorated with paintings intended to resemble moldings, whilst the south transept has actual stucco relief moldings.
Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel – the first chapel on the left has a painting of the Carmelite Simon Stock by Cristoforo Roncalli.
Chapel of the Assumption – lawyer Laerzio Cherubini had commissioned a painting from Caravaggio suitable as an altarpiece for the second chapel on the left.[11][12] This was the Death of the Virgin. Rumors held that Caravaggio had used a prostitute as a model for the dead virgin. The Carmelites rejected the painting, which was then purchased by Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. When Caravaggio's "Death of the Virgin" was rejected in 1606, it was Carlo Saraceni who provided an acceptable substitute, which remains in situ. Above the altar is a statue of the Infant Jesus of Prague.
Chapel of the Crucifixion
Chapel of St John the Baptist – the first chapel on the right is dedicated to St John the Baptist. The altarpiece, the "Beheading of St. John the Baptist", is by Gerrit van Honthorst.[3]
Chapel of St Hyacinth – the second chapel on the right is dedicated to St Hyacinth; the altarpiece of "Our Lady with SS Hyacinth and Catherine of Siena" is by Antiveduto Grammatica.
Chapel of St Joseph – the third chapel on the right contains Giovanni Odazzi's Dream of Joseph.
Chapel of Our Lady of the Stairs – the left side transept holds the original miraculous icon.
Chapel of the Relic - left of the sanctuary, this chapel contains a relic of St Teresa of Avila.
Chapel of St Teresa of Jesus – the right transept altar is dedicated to St Teresa of Avila.
San Giuseppe Hall houses a collection by Tito Sarrocchi.
The miraculous image of Madonna della Scala, Crowned by the Vatican Chapter in 1646 with decree from Pope Innocent X
Around 1600, the friars built a monastery next door famous for containing the Papal court's 17th century pharmacy(Antica Spezieria di Santa Maria della Scala) on the second floor. The friars prepared their medicines with herbs from the attached garden. In the 18th century, the apothecary also began to train future pharmacists. In 1873 the convent and garden was confiscated by the government and the convent turned into a police station; the Carmelites retained the church.
The former pharmacy now houses a museum, containing the herbarium, and the original scales for weighing medicines, the machines for making pills, oil mills, mortars, and alembic stills.[14] The furnishings, shelves, showcases and counter are from the eighteenth century.
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