| Church of Saint Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian Chiesa di Santa Susanna alle Terme di Diocleziano (Italian) |
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Baroque façade of Santa Susanna by Carlo Maderno (1603). |
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| Basic information | |
| Location | Rome, Italy |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Year consecrated | 330 |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Titulus, Rectory Church, National church of the United States of America |
| Leadership | Bernard Francis Law |
| Website | www.santasusanna.org |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) | Carlo Maderno |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Architectural style | Baroque |
| Direction of façade | SE |
| Groundbreaking | 4th century |
| Completed | 1603 |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 45 metres (148 ft) |
| Width | 17 metres (56 ft) |
The Church of Saint Susanna at the baths of Diocletian (Italian: Chiesa di Santa Susanna alle Terme di Diocleziano) is a Roman Catholic parish church on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, with a titulus associated to its site that dates back to about 280. The modern church dedicated to Saint Susanna was rebuilt in 1585–1603.
In 1921, Pope Benedict XV authorized the Paulist Fathers to use Santa Susanna to create the national church in Rome of the United States of America.[1] The first public Mass for the American community was celebrated by Cardinal William Henry O'Connell on February 26, 1922 and until today, the English–speaking Roman parish ministers to American Catholics living in or visiting Rome.
From 1958 to 1985, the post of Cardinal Priest of the titulus Sancta Susannae was given to the Archbishop of Boston on his creation as cardinal. The most recent such appointment was that of Bernard Francis Law, who in 2002 resigned the archbishopric but kept the titulus of Santa Susanna.[2] The Paulist Fathers have served Santa Susanna since the 1920s.
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About 280, an early Christian house of worship was established on this site, which, like many of the earliest Christian meeting places, was in a house (domus ecclesiae). According to the sixth-century acta of Susanna, the domus belonged to brothers named Caius and Gabinus, prominent Christians. Caius has been identified both with Pope Saint Caius and with Caius, who was a prefect who is a source of information on early Christianity.[3][4] Gabinus or Gabinius is the name given to the father of the semi-legendary Saint Susanna. Her earliest documented attestations identify her as the patron of the church, not as a martyr[5] and previously the church was identified in the earliest, fourth-century documents by its titulus "of Gaius" by the Baths of Diocletian or as "ad duas domos" ("near the two houses"). It is mentioned in connection with a Roman synod of 499.
Traditionally, the structure officially became a church around 330, under Constantine I, when the basilicas of numerous house churches came to be adapted for liturgical use. The basilica was T-shaped with a central nave with twelve columns on each side, flanked by side aisles. All that are left of these two side aisles, after the late 16th century rebuilding, are the two side chapels of the basilica church. From the synod of 565, the church appears under the titulus of Susanna; the veneration of Susanna has been localized on this site without a break ever since. In the acta, Susanna is martyred with her family when the girl refuses to marry the son of emperor Diocletian; the occasion of Susanna's martyrdom is a literary trope that is familiar in other passions of virgins in the Roman Martyrology [6]
Pope Sergius I restored it at the end of the 7th century, but Pope Leo III, the fourth pope who had been pastor of this church, rebuilt it from the ground in 796, adding the great apse and conserving the relics of the saints in the crypt. A vast mosaic of Christ flanked by Leo and the Emperor Charlemagne and Saints Susanna and Felicity on the other was so badly damaged in the 12th century by an earthquake, that the interior was plastered over in the complete renovation that spanned the years 1585–1602 and frescoed by Cesare Nebbia (1536–1614).
A façade, in travertine, remained to be constructed. The present church of Santa Susanna on its ancient foundations was the first independent commission in Rome for Carlo Maderno, who had trained as an assistant to his uncle Domenico Fontana, the chief architect of Pope Sixtus V. In 1603, Maderno completed the façade, a highly influential early Baroque design. The dynamic rhythm of columns and pilasters, crowding centrally, and the protrusion and increased central decoration add further complexity to the structure. Notice the interplay of relationships, none exactly symmetric on any one mirror side. The entrance and roof are surrounded by triangular pediments. The windows replaced by niches. There is an incipient playfulness with the rules of classic design, still maintaining rigor. The statues of the higher level (Pope Saint Caius and Saint Genesius of Rome) are by Giovanni Antonio Paracea, those of the lower level (Saint Susanna and Saint Felicitas of Rome) are by Stefano Maderno.
The church of Saint Susanna was accounted so successful that in 1605 Pope Paul V named Maderno architect of Saint Peter's Basilica, where he completed the nave and constructed the great façade.
The church consists of a single nave, with a circular apse forming two side-chapels. The frescoes of the central nave by Baldassare Croce represent six scenes from the life of Susanna found in the Book of Daniel. The frescoes on the curved side of the apse shows Saint Susanna being threatened by Maximian, but defended by the angel of God and to the right, Susanna refusing to worship the idol Jupiter. Nebbia's frescoes of the dome of the apse depict Santa Susanna flanked on either side by angels with musical instruments. Behind the high altar, the painting depicting the beheading of Santa Susanna is by Tommaso Laureti.
The chapel of our Lady of Graces (a former painting on the altar) has on its walls two recent frescoes of Saint Benedict and Saint Bernard.
Domenico Fontana constructed the second side-chapel to the left dedicated to Saint Lawrence, commissioned by Camilla Peretti, sister of Pope Sixtus V. The paintings are by the Milanese artist Giovanni Battista Pozzo (1563–1591). The altar painting by Cesare Nebbia depicts the martyrdom of St. Lawrence. In this chapel are venerated Saint Genesius of Rome, patron of actors, in the act of receiving baptism, and the bishop Pope Saint Eleuterus.
The presbytery is decorated with two frescoes. To the left, Baldassare Croce depicts the martyrdom of Saint Gabinius, while to the right, Paris Nogari shows the martyrdom of Saint Felicitas of Rome and her seven sons.
The valuable ceiling of the nave and of the presbytery is made in polychromed gilt wood, carved to the design of Carlo Maderno.
List of the cardinal titulars of the church [8][9][10]
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