Sant'Andrea Catabarbara

Sant'Andrea Catabarbara is a former church in Rome, on what is now the site of the Pontifical Oriental Institute on via Napoleone III, in the Esquilino district. It was first called 'Catabarbara or 'Cata Barbara Patricia' in the 8th century.

It was the first devotional church dedicated to saint Andrew in the city of Rome. Its foundation probably dates to the donation of an 'aula' or hall from the home of Junius Annius Bassus, the consul of 331, by the Goth general Valila. An inscription from the apse of the church possibly records the donation, though its meaning is uncertain. The church is therefore the result of the transformation from a secular home or house-church into a church, due to the work of pope Simplicius in the second half of the 5th century. The hall was turned into a monastery to serve the nearby basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. It and its rich decoration were demolished in 1930 to build the Pontifical Oriental Institute on Via Napoleone III.

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