Santi Apostoli

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Baroque ceiling.

The Basilica dei Santi Apostoli is a 6th century basilica in Rome, dedicated originally to St. James and St. Philip and later to all Apostles. Today, the bascilica is the headquarter of the Franciscan Order in Rome.

Built by Pope Pelagius I to celebrate a Narses victory over the Ostrogoths, and dedicated by Pope John III to St John and St Philip Apostles, the basilica is listed as Titulus SS Apostolorum in the acts of the synod of 499. Santi Apostoli was ruined by an eathquake in 1348, and abandoned.

In 1417, Pope Martin V, whose Colonna family owned the adjacent Palazzo Colonna, restored the church, while the facade was built at the end of the same century by Baccio Pontelli. The church was dedicated to all the apostles.

For a short time, the basilica housed the tomb of Michelangelo, before its transportation to Santa Croce. Also buried there is the heart of Clementina Sobieska, whife of the Old Pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart. Upon the death of James III, his body was laid in state in 1776 before he was buried with his wife at St. Peter's. The Baroque interior was designed by Carlo and Francesco Fontana, and was completed in 1714.

The fresco in the vault of the central nave is by Baciccia, painted in 1707. It depicts the Triumph of the Order of St Francis. There are also frescoes of the Evangelists by Luigi Fontana. Above the sanctuary is a fresco from 1709 by Giovanni Odazzi, the Rebel Angels. Frescoes by Melozzo da Forli were removed. The church was again restored in the 17th century, with the facade completed by Valadier in 1827.

The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus XII Apostolorum is Angelo Scola. Among the previous Cardinal Priests, Pope Clement XIV, whose tomb by Canova is in the basilica, and Henry Benedict Stuart.