La nostra Chiesa
“Il Signore mi donò dei fratelli per vivere secondo il Vangelo”
La chiesa di San Francesco a Ripa Grande in Trastevere è la prima chiesa francescana di Roma, il luogo, oggi Santuario, dove soggiornò San Francesco. La facciata della chiesa (dell’architetto Mattia de Rossi, 1682) è barocca, semplice e a due ordini, con lesene doriche che dividono il piano inferiore in cinque scomparti, mentre il piano superiore è limitato alla navata centrale. Il campanile a vela, edificato nel 1734, sostituisce quello medievale. L’interno è a tre navate con croce latina e presenta tre cappelle nella navata destra e tre in quella sinistra. Le navate sono divise da pilastri reggenti il cornicione, sul quale poggia la volta a crociera. L’ambiente è quello tipico francescano, privo di sfarzo o lusso, ma tuttavia arricchito da numerose opere e monumenti funebri che adornano pilastri e pareti.
All’ingresso si possono vedere due monumenti funerari del senatore Tommaso Raggi e di sua moglie Ortensia Spinola, attribuiti a Gerolamo Lucenti, risalenti al XVII secolo. Per quanto riguarda i pilastri, sul secondo a sinistra troviamo il monumento al ven. Innocenzo da Chiusa, frate santo e grande mistico, di G. B. Mola, mentre sul secondo a destra c’è il monumento al predicatore, mistico e poeta Bartolomeo Cambi da Salutìo, con ritratto su tela, fatto erigere dal Papa Benedetto XIV. L’Altare Maggiore, barocco con marmi policromi, è dell’architetto francescano fr. Secondo da Roma (1746). Al centro si può notare la statua lignea di San Francesco in estasi sostenuto dagli angeli, dello scultore francescano fr. Diego da Careri, risalente a prima del 1660. Ai lati possiamo vedere le due statue, sempre in legno, ancora di fr. Secondo da Roma, raffiguranti la Fede e la Carità, risalenti al 1751.
San Francesco a Ripa
1000
The Hospice of San Biagio
In the years 936-949 the Count Benedetto di Campania built a Benedictine monastery, named after the two medical brothers SS Cosma e Damiano (San Cosimato). This monastery immediately felt its influence in the district as the monks wanted to work for the benefit of poor sick and pilgrims, erecting a hospice-hospital. The San Biagio Hospital was built very close to the Tiber (Ripa Grande) and, for this reason, it became very important for pilgrims.
1209
The arrival of Saint Francis
1229
First Franciscan monastery in Rome
The Count Pandolfo dell’Anguillara, when the Church, with adjoining hospice, passed by order of Gregory IX to the Franciscans, provided for the enlargement of both. There was a fresco depicting the Count, dressed as a Tertiary, offering the new church to San Francesco. The Church of San Biagio was rebuilt from its foundations, to the Roman basilica form was added some changes according to the needs of the Franciscans, dedicated not to the monastic life, but to the apostolic life. The choir, for example, which stood before was placed behind the altar; he enriched himself with the marvelous paintings of Cavallini that recalled the life and the miracles of San Francesco; the Tabernacle, above the High Altar, originally dates back to that of the ancient Basilica; finally, on the right side of the Church, the first Franciscan convent of Rome was formed.
1400
The Cloister
In 1400, especially following the reformation movement of the Osservanza, San Francesco a Ripa underwent considerable development and was built the magnificent cloister on the right of the Church, reduced then in the seventeenth century following the formation of the chapels of the right aisle.
1500
The chapels of the left aisle
In the sixteenth century we find already indicated the body of the chapels on the left. The Chapel of the Crucifix, was built by the Lords Della Cetra or Cetera before the end of the fifteenth century; around 1560 it was built and embellished that of the Immaculate, a few years later those of the Annunciation and the Savior (later called Pietà). In 1579, the Church and Convent definitively passed to the PPs. Reformed Franciscans. The need to expand the choir was imposed, due to the increase in the number of religious. While Monsignor Vipereschi started the Infirmary, which from Piazza San Francesco extended to Via San Michele for over 110 meters, Monsignor Biscia, on the design of the architect. Longhi, wanted to provide for the expansion of the Choir and of the High Altar. The project involved the destruction of the garden and the demolition of the Cella di San Francesco: the friars opposed and Intervenese Card. Mattei, protector of the Order. The original drawings were correct and the choir, extended to the detriment of the garden alone, was covered with a vault at the height of the central nave; around it, in place of the original seats, others were prepared in walnut. The High Altar was executed in gilded wood; on it remained the old painting depicting the Virgin in the middle, with at the sides San Francesco and San Biagio, later replaced with the statue of San Francesco. Paolo Guidotti frescoed in the side pillars San Giovanni Battista and San Lorenzo with Angels adoring the SS. Sacrament, while on the front of the arch the Eternal Father was admired. On the side of the choir, other adoring angels completed the beautification of the major altar.
1600
The Baroque arrives
From 1600 until 1675, when it was also called the great Gian Lorenzo Bernini (link) to sculpt the statue of Blessed Albertoni, the chapels of the left aisle were retouched in architecture and embellished by various artists. In 1675 Card. Lazzaro Pallavicini financed the rebuilding of the Church by the architect Mattia De Rossi .. The church vaults and the façade were completely replaced and built “ex novo” the chapels on the right, while the magnificent columns that divided the aisles and the cruise were only fortified and, in part, incorporated into the current pillars. All Cavallini’s frescoes disappeared. The Church becomes baroque and needs a new consecration, which took place in 1701, thanks to the Most Eminent Cardinal Sperelli of Assisi.
1700
Reconsecration
From 1737 to 1746 the High Altar was twice destroyed and rebuilt: to that of Msgr. Biscia in gilded wood was replaced by another of stucco. Consecrated in 1738, the statue of Saint Francis was transferred to the altar on the right, together with the ancient indulgences conferred with the bull of Clement XII. There was also an antependium with a grating and two angels with candlestick were placed on the two marble side doors. All this did not have much appeal to the religious, who in 1746 gave the famous Franciscan architect Fra Secondo da Roma the task of demolishing the previous altar and, with another design, to make it in marble. As soon as the work was finished, everything was rededicated again on 17 September of that year. Guidotti’s paintings on the side pillars of the arch disappeared and an Angel was placed in support of the Statue of Saint Francis, while another smaller one at the Saint’s feet held a skull and a book in his right hand. There was also a change regarding the side altars: the right one was dedicated to Saint Anthony and the statue of the Saint was brought there, the one on the left dedicated to Santa Giacinta Marescotti, and the statue of the Saint was placed there (1751 ). Meanwhile, the eighteenth century was closing, with the overwhelming revolts of the French Revolution and already in the air we heard the hints of the furious storm that had to be demolished on religious orders.
1800
The attack on the Franciscans
On 17 May 1809 the State of the Church was declared ruled by Napoleon and the Religious of San Francesco a Ripa were particularly targeted. Later, in 1849, the Garibaldini hunted the Religious and camped in the walls of the Convent, thus leaving the Church closed; finally finally demolished the Papal State, with the occupation by the Piedmontese troops of 1870, the Religious of San Francesco a Ripa had the intimation to leave the Convent on 12 November 1873.
Pope Pius IX benignly granted to the Superior Father some rooms in Via della Luce, where they were able to reside six religious for the service of the Church.
Previously, as a work of arrangement, the floors of the Church were redone in 1866, replacing the ancients with today’s marble; subsequently, in 1882, when Beato Carlo da Sezze was beatified, the Chapel of Pietà was restored by the architect Paolo Belloni, who retained as much as he could the ancient frescoes.
1900
From 1900 to today
From the last century to today there have been no major changes. In 1906, San Francesco a Ripa became a parish and welcomed the beautiful baptismal font. In 1931 the new marble balustrade of the High Altar was built and the iron gates disappeared in different chapels. The cell of San Francesco is restored, the organ is renewed and the Crib passes from the Chapel of the Immaculate to that of the Annunciation. The last century many friars were formed in San Francesco a Ripa, among them, Father Ginepro Cocchi da Artema (Rome), who died a martyr in China in 1939.