San Marcello al Corso

San Marcello al Corso, facade by Carlo Fontana.

San Marcello al Corso, a church in Rome, Italy, is a titular church whose cardinal-protector normally holds the (intermediary) rank of cardinal-priest.

The church, dedicated to Pope Marcellus I, is located just inset from Via del Corso, in ancient times called via Lata, and which now connects Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo. It stands diagonal from the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata and two doors from the Oratory of Santissimo Crocifisso.

History

While the tradition holds that the church was built over the prison of Pope Marcellus I (d. 309), it is known that the Titulus Marcelli was present no later then 418, when Pope Boniface I was elected there. The "Septiformis" litany, commanded by Pope Gregory I in 590, saw the men moving from San Marcello.

Pope Adrian I, in the 8th century, built a church on the same place, which is currently under the modern church.

The corpse of Cola di Rienzo was held in the church for three days after his execution in 1354. On 22 May 1519, a fire destroyed the church. The money collected for its rebuilding was used to bribe the landsknechts, who were pillaging the city during the Sack of Rome (1527). The original plan to rebuild the church was designed by Jacopo Sansovino, who fled the city during the Sack and never returned to finish it. The work was continued by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who rebuilt the church, but a Tiber flood damaged it again in 1530. It was only in 1592–1597 that the church was completed with a facade by Carlo Fontana, commissioned by Monsignor Marcantonio Cataldi Boncompagni. The exterior travertine statues were sculpted by Francesco Cavallini, and the stucco bas-relief over the entrance, with depicts San Filippo Benizio, was created by Antonio Raggi. Benizio had been a member of the Servite order.

St Philip Benizi refuses the papal tiara, by Raggi, façade of San Marcello.

Under the main altar, decorated with 12th century opus sectile, are the relics of several saints, which include those of Pope Marcellus as well as Digna and Emerita. The last chapel on the left is dedicated to St Philip Benizi. The late-Baroque decoration contains sculptures by Francesco Cavallini and reliefs by Ercole Ferrata and Antonio Raggi. The first chapel on the left has the double tomb of Cardinal Giovanni Michiel and his grandson Antonio Orso sculpted by Jacopo Sansovino.

Behind the facade is a Crucifixion (1613) by Giovanni Battista Ricci. The tomb of Cardinal Cennino was sculpted by Giovanni Francesco de'Rossi (la Vecchietta). Along the right, the first chapel of Marchese Maccarani holds an Annunciation by Lazzaro Baldi; in the second Martyrdom of Sts. Digna and Emerita (1727) of Pietro Barbieri (architecture by Francesco Ferrari); in the third Madonna with the Child, a fresco from the late 14th century, episodes of the life of the Virgin by Francesco Salviati, fresco and paintings of Giovan Battista Ricci; in the fourth chapel a Creation of Eve and the evangelists Mark and John, frescoes by Perino del Vaga, Matthew and Luke begun by Perino del Vaga and finished by Daniele da Volterra. Inside is a cyborium (1691) designed by Carlo Bizzaccheri; in the fifth chapel is a monument to the Cardinal Fabrizio Paolucci (1726) by Pietro Bracci with an altarpiece by Aureliano Milani and lateral paintings by Domenico Corvi; and a monument to cardinal Camillo Paolucci by Tommaso Righi (1776) and wall paintings by Aureliano Milani. On the left nave, in the fifth chapel, is a San Filippo Benizi (1725) by Pier Leone Ghezzi and Gagliardi; in the fourth Conversion of Saint Paul (1560) by Federico Zuccari and his brother Taddeo and, on the sides, of History of Saint Paul. Inside of the chapel has busts of Muzio, Roberto, Lelio Frangipane by Alessandro Algardi (1630–40). In the third chapel on the left is a Doloroso by Pietro Paolo Naldini, Sacrifice of Isaac and discovery of Moses by Domenico Corvi; in the first, Madonna and seven Saints by Agostino Masucci.

The church is administered and owned by the Servite Order since 1369.

Cardinal Protectors

(Cardinal-priests, unless otherwise specified, and italicized like other special cases) with county of origin

no incumbents recorded until the 12th century

• (Italy?) Cardinal-priest Giulio (1144.02.08 – 1158)
• Germany Cardinal-priest Konrad von Wittelsbach (1163 – 1163)
• France Cardinal-priest Mathieu d’Anjou (1178.12 – 1183)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Adelardo Cattaneo (1185.03.06 – 1188)
• Italy Cardinal Fidanzio (1193.02.20 – 1197.02.19)
• France Cardinal-priest Gérard, Cistercians (O. Cist.) (1199 – 1200)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Pietro Capuano (1200 – 1214.08.30)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Leone (1221 – 1228?)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Niccolò Conti di Segni (1228.12 – 1239.12.27)
• France Cardinal-priest Pierre de Bar (1244.05.28 – 1252.02?)
• France Cardinal-priest Guillaume de Vicedominis (1275.06.07 – 1276.09.06 in commendum)
• Italy Cardinal-dean Giacomo Colonna (1278.04? – 1294 in commendum; pro illa vice Deaconry)
• France Cardinal-priest Nicolas l’Aide (1294.09.18 – 1294.10)
• France Cardinal-priest Arnaud de Canteloup (1305.12.15 – 1313.12.14)
• France Cardinal-priest Bertrand du Pouget (1316.12.17 – 1327.12.18)
• France Cardinal-priest Androin de la Roche, Benedictine Congregation of Cluny (O.S.B. Clun.) (1361.09.17 – 1369.10.29)
• France Cardinal-priest Jean Lefèvre (1371.05.30 – 1372.03.06)
• France Cardinal-priest Jean de la Grange, O.S.B. Clun. (1375.12.20 – 1394)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Bartolomeo Mezzavacca (1378.09.18 – 1383.10.15)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Antonio Casini (1426.05.27 – 1439.02.04)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Niccolò d’Acciapaccio (1440.01.08 – 1447.04.03)
• Switzerland Pseudocardinal François de Meez, O.S.B. Clun. (created by antipope Felix V 1440.10.02 – 1444.03.07), (former) Bishop of Genève (Switzerland) (1426.03.04 [1427.06.23] – 1444.03.07)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Bartolomeo Roverella (1462.01.26 – 1476.05.02)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Giovanni Michiel (1484 – 1491.03.14)
• Spain Cardinal-priest Pedro Luis de Borja Llançol de Romaní, Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (O.E.S.S.H.) (1503.12.07 – 1511.10.04)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Francisco de Remolins (1511.10.27 – 1517.03.16)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Enrique Cardona y Enríquez (1527.11.24 – 1530.02.07)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Egidio di Viterbo, Augustinians (O.E.S.A.) (1530.05.09 – 1532.11.12)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Dionisio Neagrus Laurerio, Servites (O.S.M.) (1540.01.28 – 1542.09.17)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Marcello Crescenzi (1542.11.06 – 1552.05.28)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Miguel da Silva (1552.06.27 – 1553.11.29)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Girolamo Verallo (1553.11.29 – 1555.10.10)
• Italy Cardinal Girolamo Dandini (1555.10.25 – 1559.12.04)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Giovanni Andrea Mercurio (1560.01.19 – 1561.02.02)
• Italy Cardinal-dean Marco Antonio Amulio (1561.03.10 – 1561.03.17 pro illa vice Deaconry, 1561.03.17 – 1572.03.17)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Marcantonio Bobba (1572.06.02 – 1575.03.18)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Giambattista Castagna (later Pope Urban VII) (1584.01.09 – 1590.09.15)
• Greece Cardinal-priest Benedetto Giustiniani (1591.01.07 – 1599.03.17)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Paolo Emilio Zacchia (1599.03.17 – 1605.05.31)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Innocenzo del Bufalo-Cancellieri (1605.06.01 – 1606.01.30)
• France Cardinal-priest François d’Escoubleau de Sourdis (1606.01.30 – 1621.03.29)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Francesco Cennini de’ Salamandri (1621.04.19 – 1641.02.25)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Pierdonato Cesi (1642.02.10 – 1656.01.30)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Camillo Melzi (1657.04.23 – 1659.01.21)
• France Cardinal-priest Giovanni Battista Spada (1659.01.27 – 1673.09.25)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Federico Baldeschi Colonna (1675.01.28 – 1685.04.09)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Pier Matteo Petrucci, Oratorians (C.O.) (1687.06.09 – 1701.07.05)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Gianalberto Badoaro (1706.06.25 – 1712.07.11)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Luigi Priuli (1712.07.11 – 1714.05.28)
• Czechia Cardinal-priest Wolfgang Hannibal von Schrattenbach (1714.12.07 – 1738.07.22)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Raffaele Cosimo De Girolami (1743.09.23 – 1748.02.21)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Mario Millini (1748.04.01 – 1756.07.25)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Antonio Maria Erba-Odescalchi (1759.11.19 – 1762.03.28)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Ludovico Merlini (1762.04.19 – 1762.11.12)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Giuseppe Simonetti (1766.12.01 – 1767.01.04)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Carlo Francesco Caselli, Servites (O.S.M.) (1802.09.20 – 1828.04.20)
• England Cardinal-priest Thomas Weld (1830.07.05 – 1837.04.10)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Chiarissimo Falconieri Mellini (1838.02.15 – 1859.08.22)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Mariano Falcinelli Antoniacci, Cassinese Benedictine Congregation O.S.B. Cas. (1874.05.04 – 1874.05.29)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Salvatore Nobili Vitelleschi (1875.09.23 – 1875.10.17)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Luigi Di Canossa (1877.03.20 – 1900.03.12)
• Italy Cardinal-priest Casimiro Gennari (1901.04.18 – 1914.01.31)
• Germany Cardinal-priest Franziskus von Bettinger (1914.05.28 – 1917.04.12)
• Italy Francesco Ragonesi (7 March 1921 - 14 Sep 1931)
• Italy Maurilio Fossati, Oblates of Saints Charles and Gaudentius of Novara (O.Ss.G.C.N. ) (13 March 1933 - 30 March 1965)
• Italy Carlo Grano (26 June 1967 - 2 April 1976)
• Nigeria Dominic Ekandem (24 May 1976 - 24 Nov 1995)
• Canada Edouard Gagnon Sulpicians (P.S.S.) (29 Jan 1996 - 25 Aug 2007)
• Spain Agustín García-Gasco Vicente (24 Nov 2007 - 1 May 2011)
• Italy Giuseppe Betori (18 Feb 2012 - ... )

References

• "San Marcello al Corso", Chris Nyborg.

Sources and External links

• GCatholic

Media related to San Marcello al Corso at Wikimedia Commons