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Saint Stephen of the Abyssinians | |
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Santo Stefano degli Abissini | |
41°54′06.47″N012°27′06.74″E / 41.9017972°N 12.4518722°E | |
Location | Vatican City, Rome, Italy |
Denomination | Eastern Catholic (Ethiopian Catholic Church) |
Tradition | Alexandrian (Coptic) Rite |
History | |
Status | national church of Ethiopia |
Architecture | |
Architectural type | Church |
Groundbreaking | 5th century [1] or 8th century |
Completed | 9th century |
Specifications | |
Length | 35 metres (115 ft) |
Width | 20 metres (66 ft) |
Nave width | 10 metres (33 ft) |
Saint Stephen of the Abyssinians (Italian : Santo Stefano degli Abissini) is an Ethiopian Catholic church located in the Vatican City. The church dedicated to Stephen the Protomartyr is the national church of Ethiopia. The liturgy is celebrated according to the Alexandrian rite of the Ethiopian Catholic Church. It is one of the only standing structures in the Vatican to survive the destruction of Old St. Peter's Basilica (c. 1505), and thus it is the oldest surviving church (in terms of architectural history) in Vatican City. [1]
The church was, by tradition, built by Pope Leo I (ca. 400–461), and named Santo Stefano Maggiore. [2]
In 1479, Pope Sixtus IV restored the church and assigned it to the Coptic Catholic monks in the city. It was at this time that the name was changed to reflect that it was served by Ethiopians (Abyssinians). Situated behind Saint Peter's Basilica, Santo Stefano had long been associated with the Ethiopian diaspora. To Italians, it was known as Santo Stefano dei Mori (Moors), degli Indiani (Indians), and degli Abissini. To Ethiopians, it was Däbrä Qeddus Esṭifanos (Amharic : ደብረ ቅዱስ እስጢፋኖስ), 'Monastery of Saint Stephen'; the church had been part of a monastery which was already in existence at the time of the constitutive synod called by Pope Gregory III in 732. [3] The biography of Pope Hadrian I, 772-795 names the site as Latin : monasterium S. Stephani cata Barbara patricia situm ad S. Petrum apostolum 'monastery of Saint Stephen associated with the noblewoman Barbara located next to <the church of> Saint Peter the apostle.' The last location mentioned is the Old Saint Peter's Basilica. [3] Other names through history attested in papal documents include "Monastery of Saint Stephen...which is called 'associated with the noblewoman Galla', "oratory of Saint Stephen by Saint Peter<'s Basilica> which is called 'The Greater'", and "Saint Stephen the Greater next to Saint Peter, of the Indians." [4] By the 1530s, it was the most famous community of free Africans in Europe and Leo Africanus referred to it in his Descrittione dell'Africa (1550), describing "certain religious who are friars and have their faces branded; they can be seen throughout Europe but especially in Rome." [5] The most notable Abyssinian monk at St. Stephens was Abba Täsfa Ṣeyon, also known as Pietro Abissino, a monk of Shewan origin who had served in the royal court of Dawit II. "The peak of Santo Stefano's intellectual influence was the mid-16th century, for it was in this period that Täsfa Ṣǝyon, who'd arrived in Rome by 1536 and died there in 1552, tirelessly disseminated knowledge of Ethiopian language and culture." [6]
It was altered under Pope Clement XI (1700–1721), and again in 1928.
The façade is in the style of the early 18th century. The 12th century doorway, decorated with the Lamb and the Cross, has been preserved.
The church has a single nave with ancient columns along the sides. The most important work of art is a fresco of the Madonna with Child in the Roman style from the 15th century.
The Feast of St. Stephen is celebrated on 26 December.
Pope Boniface IV, OSB was the bishop of Rome from 608 to his death. Boniface had served as a deacon under Pope Gregory I, and like his mentor, he ran the Lateran Palace as a monastery. As pope, he encouraged monasticism. With imperial permission, he converted the Pantheon into a church. In 610, he conferred with Bishop Mellitus of London regarding the needs of the English Church. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church with a universal feast day on 8 May.
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Pope Paschal I was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 25 January 817 to his death in 824.
The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran is the Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Rome in the city of Rome, and serves as the seat of the bishop of Rome, the pope. The only "archbasilica" in the world, it lies outside of Vatican City proper, which is located approximately four kilometres northwest. Nevertheless, as properties of the Holy See, the archbasilica and its adjoining edifices enjoy an extraterritorial status from Italy, pursuant to the terms of the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Dedicated to the Christ, in honor of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, the place name, Laterano (Lateran) comes from an ancient Roman family (gens), whose palace (domus) grounds occupied the site; the adjacent Lateran Palace was the primary residence of the pope until the Middle Ages.
The Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls is one of Rome's four major papal basilicas, along with the basilicas of Saint John in the Lateran, Saint Peter's, and Saint Mary Major, as well as one of the city’s Seven Pilgrim Churches. The basilica is the conventual church of the adjacent Benedictine abbey. It lies within Italian territory, but the Holy See owns the basilica and it is part of the Vatican's extraterritoriality.
Santo Stefano is the Italian name of Saint Stephen.
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Santi Quattro Coronati is an ancient titular and conventual minor basilica and Augustinian convent in Rome, Italy. The church dates back to the fourth or fifth century, and is devoted to four anonymous saints and martyrs. The complex of the basilica with its two courtyards, the fortified Cardinal Palace with the Saint Silvester Chapel, and the monastery with its cosmatesque cloister is built in a silent and green part of Rome, between the Colosseum and San Giovanni in Laterano.
The Basilica of St. Stephen in the Round on the Caelian Hill is an ancient basilica and titular church in Rome, Italy. Commonly named Santo Stefano Rotondo, the church is Hungary's "national church" in Rome, dedicated to both Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and Stephen I, the canonized first king of Hungary. The minor basilica is also the rectory church of the Pontifical Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum.
The Italian Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Italy, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome, under the Conference of Italian Bishops. The pope serves also as Primate of Italy and Bishop of Rome. In addition to the Italian Republic, two other sovereign states are included in Italian dioceses: San Marino and Vatican City. There are 225 dioceses in the Catholic Church in Italy, see further in this article and in the article List of Catholic dioceses in Italy.
Santo Stefano degli Ungheresi was the church of the Hungarians in Rome. Located next to the Vatican, the old church was pulled down in 1778, to make room for an extension of St. Peter's Basilica.
Casa di Santo Stefano or Szent István Ház is the Hungarian pilgrim's hostel in Rome, located in Via del Casaletto 481.
The Roman Colleges, also referred to as the Pontifical Colleges in Rome, are institutions established and maintained in Rome for the education of future ecclesiastics of the Catholic Church. Traditionally many were for students of a particular nationality. The colleges are halls of residence in which the students follow the usual seminary exercises of piety, study in private, and review the subjects treated in class. In some colleges there are special courses of instruction but the regular courses in philosophy and theology are given in a few large central institutions, such as Pontifical Urbaniana University, the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Pontifical Lateran University, and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, known as the Angelicum.
This is an index of Vatican City–related topics.
The Renaissance in Rome occupied a period from the mid-15th to the mid-16th centuries, a period which spawned such masters as Michelangelo and Raphael, who left an indelible mark on Western figurative art. The city had been a magnet for artists wishing to study its classical ruins since the early 15th century. A revived interest in the Classics brought about the first archaeological study of Roman remains by the architect Filippo Brunelleschi and the sculptor Donatello, both Florentines. This inspired a corresponding classicism in painting and sculpture, which manifested itself in the paintings of Masaccio and Uccello. Pisanello and his assistants also frequently took inspiration from ancient remains, but their approach was essentially cataloguing, acquiring a repertoire of models to be exploited later.
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