San Bernardo alle Terme

San Bernardo alle Terme is a Baroque style, Roman Catholic abbatial church located on Via Torino 94 in the rione Castro Pretorio of Rome, Italy.

San Bernardo alle Terme
St. Bernard at the baths (in English)
Sancti Bernardi ad Thermas (in Latin)
Façade of San Bernardo
Religion
AffiliationRoman Catholic
DistrictLazio
ProvinceRome
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusTitular church
LeadershipGeorge Mar Alencherry
Location
Location Rome, Italy
Architecture
TypeChurch
StyleBaroque architecture
Groundbreaking1598
Tomb of Friedrich Overbeck

History

The church was built on the remains of a circular tower, which marked a corner in the southwestern perimeter wall of the Baths of Diocletian (its pendant is today part of a hotel building, 225 meters southeast from San Bernardo alle Terme). These two towers flanked a large semicircular exedra; the distance between the towers attests to enormous scale of the original structure.

In 1598, under the patronage of Caterina Sforza di Santafiora, this church was built for the French Cistercian group, the Feuillants, under the leadership of Giovanni Barreiro, abbot of Toulouse. Later, after the dissolution of the Feuillants during the French Revolution, the edifice and the annexed monastery were ceded to the Congregation of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, after whom the church is named.[1]

The current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Bernardi ad Thermas is George Mar Alencherry.

Art and architecture
The church

The structure of San Bernardo alle Terme is similar to the Pantheon, since it is cylindrical, with a dome and an oculus. The edifice has a diameter of 22 meters. The octagonal dome coffers recalls that of the Basilica of Maxentius. The interior is graced by eight stucco statues of saints, each housed in wall niches, the work (c. 1600) of Camillo Mariani. These are a good example of the Mannerist sculpture. The Chapel of St Francis is an addition to the ancient rotunda, and contains a sculpture of St Francis by Giacomo Antonio Fancelli. The large canvases in the lateral altars are by Giovanni Odazzi.

The German painter Johann Friedrich Overbeck, founder of the Nazarene art movement, is buried here. The abbot Barreiro is buried left of the main altar; also buried in the church are the cardinals Francesco Gabrielli and Giovanni Bona of Monreale.

List of Cardinal Protectors

This church is the seat of cardinalatial title of S. Bernardi ad Thermas.

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References
  1. Guida metodica di Roma e suoi contorni, by Giuseppe Melchiorri, Rome (1836); page 314.
  • Le chiese barocche di Roma, Federico Gizzi, Newton Compton, Rome, 1994

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