Santissimo Nome di Maria al Foro Traiano Church

Church of the Most Holy Name of Mary at the Trajan Forum Santissimo Nome di Maria al Foro Traiano (Italian) Ss. Nominis Mariae ad forum Traiani (Latin)
File:Santissimo-nome.JPG
Basic information
Location	Rome, Italy
Geographic coordinates
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Titular Church
Leadership	Darío Castrillón Hoyos
Architectural description
Architect(s)	Antoine Derizet
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	Baroque
Direction of façade	SE
Groundbreaking	1736
Completed	1751
Specifications
Length	30 metres (98 ft)
Width	25 metres (82 ft)

The Church of the Most Holy Name of Mary at the Trajan Forum (Italian: Santissimo Nome di Maria al Foro Traianocode: it is deprecated , Latin: Ss. Nominis Mariae ad forum Traiani) is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, Italy. This church should not be confused with the church Santissimo Nome di Maria in Via Latina in south-east Rome. The pale marble church stands in front of the Column of Trajan, a few dozen steps from the similarly domed, but externally more colorful, church of Santa Maria di Loreto.

The feast of the Holy Name of Mary was instituted by Pope Innocent XI after the victory of the Austrian-Polish armies under the command of John III Sobieski over the Turks at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Abbot Giuseppe Bianchi instituted devotion to the most holy name of Mary in 1685 at Santo Stefano del Cacco, and soon afterwards established the Congregation of the Most Holy Name of Mary, which was formally approved in 1688.

History

In 1694, the congregation moved to San Bernardo a Colonna Traiani, but the next year, realizing that they needed to build a new church, they acquired the adjacent plot and had Santissimo Nome di Maria built by the Frenchman Antoine Derizet (1736-1741). In 1748, seven years later, San Bernardo was demolished, but the icon of Mary had been transferred from it to the new church in 1741. Once a year, it is carried in solemn procession from the site of San Bernardo to its present place above the high altar of Santissimo Nome di Maria.

The interior is elliptical. There are seven small chapels, decorated in polychrome marble.

Titular holders

Cardinal holders of the Titular Church of Santissimo Nome di Maria al Foro Traiano:

• Sergio Guerri (28 April 1969 – 15 March 1992)
• Darío Castrillón Hoyos (21 February 1998 – present)