San Francesco Borgia is a Roman Catholic church located on Via Crociferi #7, adjacent to the former Collegio Gesuita, and parallel to San Benedetto, and about a block south on Crociferi of the church and convent of San Giuliano, in the city of Catania, region of Sicily, southern Italy. The church is mainly used for exhibits, but still holds much of the original Jesuit artwork.
When the Jesuits arrived in the mid-16th century to Catania, they were assigned the ancient church of the Ascencione located at this site. Corresponding to their growing influence, they commissioned a new church dedicated to Saint Ignatius Loyola, a few blocks from here, on the present via Etna, completed by 1578 and designed by Tommaso Blandino. When that building was razed by the 1693 Sicily earthquake, they chose the site of the Ascencione church to build a new baroque church was designed by the fellow Jesuit Angelo Italia, begun in 1698, and completed by 1736.
In 1767, the Jesuit order was expelled from the Kingdom of Naples; the college and church became government property, and were used for diverse schools and charitable organizations. In 1867, the Collegio building was used to house the Grande Ospizio di Beneficenza, which cared for abandoned infants (esposti) once they reached school age. It had room for 600 illegitimate abandoned children, boys only, aged 7 through 18, who were trained as typesetters, shoemakers, tailors, carriage makers, ironworkers, and furniture makers. The foundling home had a gym and musical training. [1]
Since 1995, the college has been used by the region's cultural offices, and houses a regional library. The church is presently deconsecrated and used for cultural activities by the Soprintendenza Regionale ai Beni Culturali. [2]
The facade has a more classical front, lacking curved lines, but has flanking columns to the portal, which above has a broken pediment. The facade has five statues of Jesuit saints. The center one over the portal is the titular saint, while the flanking lower two are Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier; the upper statues depict Aloysius Gonzaga and Stanislaus Kostka.
The interior layout is of a Latin cross with a central nave and two aisles with chapels. Most of the work was completed by 1740. The first altar on the right has an altarpiece depicting the Vision of the Madonna and Child to San Giovanni Francesco Regis while in agony by Luciano Foti (1694-1779). The second altar on the right depicts the Saints Stanislaus Kostka and Aloysius Gonzaga by Giovanni Tuccari (1667- 1743). The main altar is rich in polychrome marble and sculptural decorations by Giovanni Battista Marino. Part of it was vandalized in the 1980s. The main altarpiece is a copy (1567) of the Madonna della Neve found in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome. The work was donated by Francesco Borgia himself. The transept has two chapels decorated with polychrome marble and large marple sculptural reliefs depicting on the right Francis Xavier baptizing the King of India by Marino and on the left, the Apotheosis of St Ignatius with the four corners of the world by Ignazio Francesco Marabitti.The reliefs are each flanked by four green marble Solomonic columns.
The base of the dome has statues of the four evangelists also by Marino, with stucco decoration by Giuseppe Serpotta. The frescoes depict the Triumph of St Ignatius and the Jesuits over heresy with a glory of Saints and Martyrs painted by Olivio Sozzi. The apse has painted curtains in a trompe-l'œil effect.
In the altars of the left are two altarpieces: St Agatha visited in jail by St Peter by Daniele Monteleone; and a Glory of St Joseph by Giuseppe Guarnaccia. [3]
The adjacent former Collegio Gesuiti is notable for a Vaccarini courtyard with a white and blackstone decoration, similar to that seen in the Palazzo Cutelli in town.
The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius is a Latin Catholic titular church, of deaconry rank, dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, located in Rome, Italy. Built in Baroque style between 1626 and 1650, the church functioned originally as the chapel of the adjacent Roman College, which moved in 1584 to a new larger building and was renamed the Pontifical Gregorian University.
The Church of the Gesù is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a Catholic religious order. Officially named Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù, its façade is "the first truly baroque façade", introducing the baroque style into architecture. The church served as a model for innumerable Jesuit churches all over the world, especially in the central Europe and then in the Portuguese colonies. Its paintings in the nave, crossing, and side chapels became models for Jesuit churches throughout Italy and Europe, as well as those of other orders. The Church of the Gesù is located in the Piazza del Gesù in Rome.
The Church of Saint Andrew on the Quirinal is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, Italy, built for the Jesuit seminary on the Quirinal Hill.
Andrea Pozzo was an Italian Jesuit brother, Baroque painter, architect, decorator, stage designer, and art theoretician.
Gesù Nuovo is the name of a church and a square in Naples, Italy. It is located just outside the western boundary of the historic center of the city. To the southeast of the spire, one can see a block away the Fountain of Monteoliveto and the piazza of the church of Sant'Anna dei Lombardi. The square is a result of the expansion of the city to the west beginning in the early 16th century under the rule of Spanish viceroy Pedro Alvarez de Toledo. The square of Gesù Nuovo contains three prominent landmarks:
The Basilica di Sant'Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane-Alessandrine is a titular church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to St Apollinare, the first bishop of Ravenna.
San Francesco della Vigna is a Roman Catholic church in the Sestiere of Castello in Venice, northern Italy.
San Benedetto is a late-Baroque architecture, Roman Catholic church and former Benedictine monastery in the city Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. The church facade faces Via Crociferi, parallels across via San Benedetto the former-Jesuit church of San Francesco Borgia, and both are about a block south along Crociferi from the church and convent of San Giuliano. Entrance to church and monastery appear to be through Piazza Asmundo #9 near the apse of the church.
The church of Santa Maria Assunta, known as I Gesuiti, is a religious building in Venice, Italy. It is located in the sestiere of Cannaregio, in Campo dei Gesuiti, not far from the Fondamenta Nuove.
The Abbey of Santa Giustina is a 10th-century Benedictine abbey complex located in front of the Prato della Valle in central Padua, region of Veneto, Italy. Adjacent to the former monastery is the basilica church of Santa Giustina, initially built in the 6th century, but whose present form derives from a 17th-century reconstruction.
San Bartolomeo is a Baroque church in Modena.
The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Brescia is located on at the west end of Via Elia Capriolo, where it intersects with the Via delle Grazie. Built in the 16th century and remodeled in the 17th century, it still retains much of its artwork by major regional artists, including one of its three canvases by Moretto. The other two are now held at the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo. The interior is richly decorated in Baroque fashion. Adjacent to the church is the Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a neo-gothic work.
Sant'Ignazio is a Baroque architecture-style Roman Catholic church, located in Busseto, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
San Pietro is a Roman Catholic church in central Piacenza, Emilia Romagna, Italy. The church was built over the site of an ancient church titled San Pietro in Foro.
San Vigilio is a Renaissance and Baroque style, Roman Catholic church located on Via San Vigilio, Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy. The exterior has a sober classical facade, while the interior has rich Baroque decorations. The church is dedicated to the Bishop and martyr St Vigilius; it now serves as the chapel for the University of Siena. It stands across the street from the Castellare Ugurgieri, and down the street from the Palazzo Bandini Piccolomini found on the junction with Via Sallustio Bandini.
The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta is a Gothic church located in Sermoneta, southern Lazio, Italy. The church is often referred to as a cathedral ("cattedrale") but has never been the seat of a bishop. It is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
The Chiesa del Gesù is a Catholic church located in Alcamo, in the province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy. It is the second largest church in Alcamo, after the basilica di Santa Maria Assunta.
San Filippo is a Baroque-style, Roman Catholic church located on Piazza della Repubblica in the town of Treia, province of Macerata, region of Marche, Italy.
San Giuliano is a Roman Catholic church and attached convent located on Via Crocifero #36 of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It stands across from the Collegio dei Gesuiti, whose church of San Francesco Borgia also faces Crociferi. Two blocks north on Crociferi is the baroque church of San Camillo de Lellis.
Sant'Agata al Collegio is a Roman Catholic church building at the end of Corso Umberto, intersection with via Re D'Italia, in the town of Caltanissetta, in the province of same name, Sicily.
37°30′14″N15°05′05″E / 37.50398334003049°N 15.084769940260623°E