The Monastery Church of the Assumption in Bominaco, Italy

Following up on yesterday’s post about the Oratory of St Pellegrino in Bominaco, Italy, here are some pictures of the main church of the monastery to which the oratory was attached, which is dedicated to Our Lady’s Assumption. The church was built sometime around 1200 in the Romanesque style; subsequent interventions have not modified is basic character very much at all. (All images from this page of Wikimedia Commons, by Pietro, CC BY-SA 3.0)

The façade is a classically Romanesque nearly solid wall.  

As in many Romanesque churches, the windows are quite small, making for a very dark interior.

The clerestory windows are also small and few. Originally, all of the white stone work seen here would have been frescoed over.

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The Basilica of St Christina in Bolsena, Italy

Today is the feast of St Christina, a less well-known member of the illustrious company of ancient virgin martyrs whose true histories have been lost in the mists of time. The pre-Tridentine Roman breviary gives three brief lessons about her, which state that she took from her father, the prefect of the area around the lake of Bolsena in northern Lazio, some idols made of gold and silver, had them destroyed, and used the precious metal to benefit the poor. For this, her father had her tortured her in various ways, and then attempted to kill her by drowning her in the lake. As is so often the case in such legends, nature refused to cooperate with the persecution of God’s saints, and Christina was rescued from drowning by an angel; eventually her father’s successor as prefect had her killed by being shot full of arrows. This is said to have taken place during the persecution of Diocletian, at the very beginning of the 4th century.

St Christina Giving Her Father’s Golden Idols to the Poor; first half of the 17th century, by an anonymous Flemish follower of the Neapolitan painter Massimo Stanzione (1585-1656).

The editors of the Tridentine breviary, recognizing the legendary character of the story, which has likely been confused with that of another Saint of the same name from Tyre in Lebanon, reduced her feast to a commemoration on the vigil of St James the Greater. However, her church in the town of Bolsena (about 69 miles north north-west of Rome) is famous as the sight of the Eucharistic miracle which is traditionally said to have given rise to the feast of Corpus Christi, and one can still see the altar within it at which this miracle is said to have taken place. (As painful as it is to impugn this beautiful story, the bull of Pope Urban IV which promulgated the feast makes no mention of it, nor does St Thomas Aquinas, who composed the Mass and Office of the feast at his behest. The story does not appear in any source, in fact, until quite some time later.) It was originally consecrated by Pope St Gregory VII in 1077, and the interior preserves the form of an early central Italian Romanesque basilica. A lovely Renaissance façade was added to it by the Florentine architects Francesco and Benedetto Buglioni in 1492-94, at the behest of the papal legate to nearby Viterbo, Cardinal Giovanni di Medici, the future Pope Leo X. The bell-tower was added in the 13th century. (All photos by Nicola de’ Grandi.)

The large chapel on the left of the main church is the original site of the Eucharistic miracle, completely rebuilt in the Baroque period.

The oratory on the right is dedicated to St Leonard.

The relics of St Christina are now within the reliquary in this side-altar.

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The Cathedral of St Vigilius in Trent

Last month, we published pictures of the basilica of St Simplician in Milan, which houses the relics of Ss Sisinnius, Martyrius and Alexander, a group missionaries who were martyred at Anaunia, north of Trent, where they had been sent by St Ambrose at the behest of St Vigilius, the bishop of Trent. Today is the feast of Vigilius himself, who followed in their footsteps, and was also martyred while preaching to the pagans, in the year 405. The cathedral of Trent is dedicated to him, and is of course is also famous as the site of the great ecumenical council of the 16th century. Here are some photos taken by Nicola de’ Grandi.

The church was begun in the year 1212 at the initiative of bishop Federico Vanga, under the architect Adamo D’Arogno, to replace a much older structure. The Romanesque façade was meant to be seen up close, since the piazza in front of it was quite small until the 19th century. The original plan was to have a bell-tower on either side, but only one was completed; in the 18th century, it was capped with an onion dome of the kind seen all over the Adige valley. (In point of fact, this architectural form, which is thought of as typically Russian, was introduced into that country by Italian and German architects during the great Westernization movement of Tsar Peter I.)

The north side of the church, with a rose-window designed to represent the Wheel of Fortune, and the bishop’s palace behind the church (to the left in this photo).

The “bishops’ door”, which they would use to enter the church for major ceremonies, made in the 16th century with several pieces reused from an earlier version: the image of St Vigilus above the door, the two lions on which the front columns rest, and the lunette above the door with Christ the Pantocrator and the symbols of the Four Evangelists. 

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The Church of San Miniato al Monte in Florence

Today, the city of Florence keeps the feast of St Miniatus (or Minias; “San Miniato” in Italian), who was martyred there during the persecution of Decius in 250-51 A.D. The authentic story of his martyrdom is now lost to us; he is traditionally said to have been either a Roman soldier, or, in another version, the son of an Armenian king, and was beheaded for being a Christian after various torments. He was buried on the large hill that looms over the city on the far side of the Arno river; a small shrine was built over the site of his burial, but replaced in the early 11th century by a magnificent basilica, one of the finest examples of Romanesque art in all of Italy. His relics today are kept in the crypt of the church. In a city much more famous as the home of so many of the great artworks of the Renaissance, San Miniato al Monte serves as a reminder of an earlier and no less glorious artistic past. Since the 14th century, the basilica has been the home of a community of Olivetan monks, who still sing the much of the Mass and Office in Latin and with Gregorian chant. (Unfortunately, Romanesque churches tend to have fewer and smaller windows than a modern photographer would consider ideal.)

The façade, built towards the end of the 11th century, is decorated with a classically Tuscan mix of local white and green marbles, as can also be seen in the city’s Baptistery and the façade of Santa Maria Novella.

As in many Italian Romanesque churches, the choir and principal sanctuary are significantly higher than the floor of the nave, with a crypt directly below them, much lower than the floor of the nave. The relics of San Miniato are in the altar of the crypt-chapel. The small aediculum seen in the middle used to house a famous crucifix. St John Gualbert, a Florentine monastic reformer of the 11th century, once came to pray before it and ask whether he was indeed called to become a monk; his vocation was confirmed when the figure of Christ on the Cross nodded to him.

The nave seen from the choir.

The apsidal mosaic (1297), showing Christ and the Virgin Mary, with the symbols of the Four Evangelists, and St Miniatus, who is here labelled “King of Armenia.”

The choir of the church contains a great deal of very beautiful and elaborate inlaid marble work from the early 13th century, as seen here on the side of the main pulpit.

The balustrade of the choir. The crucifix in the background is attributed the famous Della Robbia workshop, better known for their colored terracotta work.

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Romanesque Sculptures in the Baptistery of Parma

As a follow-up to our recent posts about the cathedral and baptistery of Parma, Italy, here are some final pictures which give us a closer view of some of the sculptures by the original architect of both buildings, Benedetto Antelami (ca. 1150-1230). Many of the great medieval churches are decorated with sculptures of subjects that are not immediately and specifically religious, such as the months and seasons of the year, the labors of man etc. The great French art historian Émile Mâle offers an explanation of this in his magnificent book The Gothic Image.

“The whole world is a symbol. The sun, the stars, the seasons, day and night, all speak in solemn accents. Of what were the Middle Ages thinking in the winter time when the days were shortening sadly and the darkness seemed to be triumphing for ever over the light? They thought of the long centuries of twilight that preceded the coming of Christ, and they understood that in the divine drama both light and darkness have their place. They gave the name of Advent (Adventus) to those weeks of December, when by means of the liturgy and lessons from Scripture they expressed the long waiting of the ancient world. It was at the winter solstice, at the time when light begins to reappear and the days to lengthen, that the Son of God was born. Even the round of the year shadows forth man’s course upon earth, and recounts the drama of life and death. Spring, which gives new life to the world, is the symbol of baptism which renews the spirit of man at his entrance into life. Summer too is a type, for its burning heat and light are reminders of the light of another world and of the ardent love of the eternal life. Autumn, season of harvest and vintage, is the dread symbol of the last Judgment—that great Day on which men will reap as they have sown. Winter is a shadow of that death which awaits mankind and the universe. Thus the thinker moved in a world of symbols, thronged by forms pregnant with spiritual meaning.”

In this spirit which Mâle describes so beautifully, Antelami created a series of sculptures which represents the months of the year as figures performing an agricultural labors typical of each of them.  These kinds of figures are usually placed on the outside of building, but have been inside the baptistery from time out of mind, and normally live in the lower rank of niches seen here.

Nicola took these pictures recently when they were moved down to the floor (temporarily, I believe.) March is represented as a young shepherd playing a pipe, the first month of the year, and the traditional beginning of the zodiacal cycle with Aries. Several of the niches have representations of the signs of the zodiac in the wall beneath them, but in others, as seen below, the sign is incorporated into the symbol of the month. 

April

May

June, the first wheat harvest. 

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The Baptistery of Parma

This post completes our series of photos taken by Nicola de’ Grandi of the cathedral complex of the city of Parma in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy: the previous posts covered the cathedral and the diocesan museum. The baptistery was commissioned in 1196 from the architect and sculptor Benedetto Antelami, and completed according to his design around 1270, about 40 years after his death. Its unusual appearance results from the combination of Romanesque architectural elements, arranged according to the sensibility of the Gothic style, particularly in regard to its height. It also preserves in remarkably good condition a magnificent frescoed cupola of the later 13th century, while the lower part of the interior, arranged in a series of niches, is filled with frescoes of the 13th and 14th century.

The ceiling is arranged in six bands. The red circle in the middle is the upper heaven, the band below it, with the blue background and rhombuses with stars in them, the lower heaven. These are followed by the Twelve Apostles and the Four Evangelists; Ss Paul and Barnabas are included among the former, since Matthew and John are with the latter. The fourth band shows a deesis scene, Christ with the Virgin and the Baptist to either side of Him (slightly to the right in the photo below); the remaining 13 spaces are occupied by as many prophets. In the fifth band, the life of St John the Baptist is depicted in the full panels; those which are pierced with windows have two Saints on either side, including the Doctors of the Church. The sixth has episodes from the life of Abraham in the full arches; the alternating arches either side of them have Virgin Saints, the four elements, and the four seasons.

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Artistic Treasures from the Diocesan Museum of Parma

Following up on yesterday’s post about the cathedral of Parma, here are Nicola’s photos from the diocesan museum. This gilded copper angel, made in the 15th century, used to stand on top of the belltower, until it was damaged by a lightning bolt in 2009, and removed to the museum for preservation. (The tower now has a copy.) 

The original architect of the cathedral, Benedetto Antelami (1150-1230 ca.), was also a sculptor; this Deposition from the Cross was part of a pulpit which he made for the church, dismantled in 16th century.  

A cast of a Romanesque baptismal font (date uncertain: 9th-12th cent.), decorated with figures of the clergy serving at the blessing of the font during the Easter vigil. Originally located in the parish of St Germinianus in Vicofertile. 

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The Cathedral of Parma

For a random day in the Marian month of October, here are some pictures which Nicola de’ Grandi took of the cathedral of Parma, Italy, which is dedicated to the Assumption. This will be followed up with pictures from the diocesan museum, and an updated set from the marvelous Romanesque baptistery, which is full of frescos in a fairly good state of preservation.  

The façade, completed in 1178, and the belltower, seen from one of the narrow medieval streets across the piazza. The tower was built in 1284-94, and was originally supposed to have a twin on the opposite side of the church, but this was never even begun.

Lions, copied from Roman sarcophagi, were a popular motif in the Italian Romanesque, and often placed to either side of the main door of church with columns resting on their back to hold up a porch above it.  

The interior decorations are largely the result of a massive renovation and restoration of the 16th century. The vault of the nave was frescoed with prophets, angels and symbolic figures of the virtues by an artist native to the city, Girolamo Bedoli (1500 ca. - 1569), between 1555-57.

The illusionistic fresco of the Assumption inside the cupola is by Parma’s best known artist of the High Renaissance, Antonio Allegri (1499-1534), generally known as il Correggio. (Gregorio Allegri, composer of the famous Miserere, was of the same family, but born half a century after his death.)
  

The preaching pulpit, 1613, by Paolo Froni

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The Cathedral of Pistoia

Following up on yesterday’s post about the relic of St James the Greater kept at the cathedral of St Zeno in Pistoia, here are some photos of the main church which I took during a wonderful nighttime tour some years ago. These hardly show all of the church’s artistic treasures, some of which could not really be photographed in the low light.

The Romanesque bell-tower and façade, both of the mid-twelfth century, with considerable alterations and additions made in subsequent centuries.

The high altar, with the Sacrament chapel on the left. The whole medieval sanctuary, including a 13th-century apsidal mosaic by Jacopo Torriti, was demolished between 1598 and 1614 and replaced in the Baroque style. Interventions of this sort were sadly very common in Medicean Tuscany.

The left aisle. The monument seen on the right commemorates Pope Leo XI, né Alessandro de’ Medici, bishop of Pistoia for just over 10 months, from March 9, 1573 to January 15, 1574, before his appointment as Archbishop of Florence. During his 31 year reign in the latter See, the Carmelite Saint Maria-Magdalene de’ Pazzi predicted to him that he would be elected Pope, but that his reign would be brief. This prophecy was realized in 1605; elected Pope on April 1st, and choosing the name Leo in honor of the first Medici Pope, Leo X (1513-21), he was crowned on April 10th, and died on the 27th. His papal reign is the eighth shortest in history!

A Madonna of the 15th century.

On the counter-façade, a 13th century fresco of the cathedral’s titular Saint, Zeno, who was a bishop of Verona in the 4th century, and evidently holy enough to be adopted by a city 150 miles away. The tomb of St Atto, shown more clearly in the next photo, is on the lower left.

The tomb of St Atto, bishop of Pistoia from 1134-53, who obtained the cathedral’s famous relic of St James the Greater. His relics were discovered in the church of St John in Corte, and enshrined in this tomb in 1337. In 1786, the tomb was transferred to the cathedral, and the colored marble panel added.

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