The Churches of Rome: A Lifetime Mission

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In the Middle Ages, hundreds of thousands of devoted Christians walked the entire length of Europe, sometimes in bare feet and with only the food they could scrounge from other semi-starving pilgrims, to pay homage in the holy shrines of the Eternal City. It might take them up to a year to complete their arduous journey and thus lay claim to their rightful place in paradise.

Today, despite the many advances of modern transportation, the pilgrimage can take much, much longer. It is possible to be consumed by an unflagging obsession to see the interior of a certain church, and though you may spend decades trudging, bussing, phoning, pleading, bellringing and doorpounding, you will still fail. Ask any one of your faithful writers. Each of us has at least one gem that continues to stand just outside our reach. Like the devout Muslims of the Orient, we are pledged to do everything in our power to complete the pilgrimage in our lifetimes. In case you would like to embark upon a pilgrimage of your own, we offer you some of the Roman churches that we have slowly crossed off our lists - and a few that continue to taunt us.

The churches of Rome fall into several broad categories. For instance, if you would like to conduct your quest in a chronological manner, you could follow this progression:

San Clemente

Christian churches that predate Christianity (at least partially).
S. Clemente, the most spectacular example, incorporates a pagan mithraeum, a titular church (see below) and a medieval masterpiece.
S. Nicola in Carcere is tiny and insignificant by comparison, but all you have to do is stand outside to see a combination of ancient temple, medieval watchtower and Baroque façade.

SS. Nereo e Achilleo

The titular churches. The 25 original churches of Rome, many of which began as secret meeting places in the homes of citizens who later became saints. Obviously, these churches are repositories of history and offer relics and artworks that span two millennia.
S. Cecilia in Trastevere
S. Maria in Trastevere
S. Lorenzo Fuori Le Mura
S. Sabina
SS. Giovanni e Paolo
SS. Nereo e Achilleo

Early Christian churches. In a city of resplendent Baroque and gleaming ancient marble, it takes most people a while before they get to this category, whose façades are often lined with unassuming red bricks and graced by few decorations. Yet we have found that these are the churches whose magic is the most powerful. They have won our hearts for several different reasons.

Santa Prassede

Mosaics
S. Maria in Cosmedin
S. Prassede
S. Saba
S. Pudenziana
S. Maria in Domnica
SS. Cosma e Damiano

SS. Quattro Coronati

Setting
S. Bibiana
S. Balbina
S. Saba
S. Cesario

All-around best marks
SS. Quattro Coronati

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Gothic churches. This list is very short in Rome.
S. Maria Sopra Minerva

Il Gesù

Baroque churches. These are the most visible, the most striking, the most loaded-with-artistic-masterpieces. They rose out of the ashes of the Sack of Rome and the demise of Catholicism, and they were meant to prove that nothing could vanquish the wealth and power of the Popes who sponsored them.
S. Lorenzo in Lucina
S. Luigi dei Francesi
Chiesa Nuova
S. Ignazio
Il Gesù
S. Andrea della Valle
SS. Apostoli
S. Susanna
S. Maria del Popolo
S. Andrea delle Fratte
S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
S. Andrea al Quirinale
S. Maria in Campitelli
S. Maria in Aracoeli
S. Ignazio

A few other churches made our list for less academic reasons.

Churches that harbor surprises.
S. Maria degli Angeli: behind its relatively small portals stretch the cavernous chambers of an ancient thermal establishment; Michelangelo turned the frigidarium into a church in 1561.
S. Martino ai Monti: the 18th-century façade looks fairly uninteresting, but one of Rome's loveliest Renaissance ceilings is inside this titular church.
S. Maria in Via: a minuscule Baroque extravaganza where you can serve yourself a drink of real spring water.
S. Agostino: with its severe late Renaissance façade, you'd never dream it's home to the city's most elaborate collection of ex votos.
S. Giovanni dei Genovesi: one of the prettiest cloisters anywhere is behind its tiny green door.

Churches that practice quaint rituals.
Sant'Eusebio: Every year on the Sunday closest to Saint Anthony Abbot's Feast Day (January 17), the annual blessing of the animals takes place. The event is so popular that the assembly of dogs, cats, canaries and goldfish can no longer fit inside the church, so the benediction takes place outside in Piazza Vittorio.

Santo Stefano Rotondo

Churches that are almost never open or are at the end of a long bus ride.
S. Costanza
S. Stefano Rotondo

S. Ivo alla Sapienza

Churches that have memorable façades (it's okay if you skip the interior).
S. Ivo
S. Maria Maddalena
S. Giorgio della Divina Pietà, whose Hebrew inscription admonished the inhabitants of the Jewish ghetto to give up their sinful ways.
S. Maria della Pace

Best old friend we miss.
S. Giorgio in Velabro, horribly disfigured by a bomb in 1993.

San Giorgio in Velabro

Best news since we first printed this article in July, 1998.
Although the portico of our favorite church (pictured at right) was completely destroyed by the bomb (attributed to the Italian Mafia in reprisal to Pope John Paul II's stern statements), it has since been restored by painstakingly piecing together infinite minuscule fragments. Welcome back, old friend!

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