Santi Nazaro e Celso

About

The Church of Saints Nazarius and Celsus (Italian: Chiesa dei Santi Nazaro e Celso) is a Catholic place of worship in Verona located in the Veronetta district, on the road leading to Porta Vescovo. Its origin can be traced to around the 7th century when an early, simple monastic building that was built in the Lombard era was erected at the foot of the overlooking Mount Castiglione. Part of this shrine, originally dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, still survives with its frescoes and mosaic floors. It was probably a martyrion dedicated to the veneration of the relics of Saints Nazarius and Celsus. Next to this first building was a church built by the monks during the Lombard rule, perhaps in the Romanesque style, of which nothing remains today except evidence of its existence in the Versus de Verona (late 8th century) and in the Raterian iconography (first half of the 10th century). The first archival mention of the attached monastic community dates from a document of 1035, while later sources report a developing monastery thanks to some beneficia. With a diploma of May 24, 1111, it came under the direct protection of Emperor Henry V in a true vassal-like relationship. In the 13th...

The present building dates from the 15th century but is only the latest in a series of religious buildings that followed one another over the centuries. The origin of the church of Saints Nazarius and Celsus is very ancient and can be traced back to the construction of an early, simple building at the foot of Mount Castiglione, in whose tuff the apse was excavated, and originally dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. It was probably a martyrion dedicated to the veneration of the relics of Saints Nazarius and Celsus and dating from the early Christian era, between the 6th and 7th centuries, at the dawn of Christianity. In addition to the apse, this building consisted of a dark cruciform masonry hallway with a transept and barrel-vaulted roof. The walls were decorated with cycles of frescoes in overlapping layers from various periods, some of which were detached in 1881 and moved to the former church of San Francesco al Corso at the Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle Fresco Museum, while parts of the mosaic floors remain in place. A rudimentary monastery must have stood next to this martyrion.

According to reconstructions by Carlo Cipolla, this sacellum (also referred to by some as a "grotto" or "chapel") was deeply damaged by the Hungarian invasions and in particular during the one of 933, only to be restored at the behest of the bishop of Verona Otberto, who also sponsored the creation of the frescoes. Cipolla deduces this thanks to an inscription from 996 found on the site and now lost, which read, "ANN. AB INCARNC dNi NRI DCCCCXCVI. INDIC X.” However, the two layers of plaster found suggest that additional ones were added to the early ancient frescoes that can be dated around 1180.

Late medieval period: early Romanesque building

No documents have come down about the early medieval monastic building, but the religious complex is mentioned in the Versus de Verona, a poem from the late 8th century, and is clearly recognizable in the so-called Raterian iconography, the oldest graphic representation of Verona, made by Bishop Ratherius around the first half of the 10th century.

In the early 11th century, the gradual increase in population prompted the Benedictine monks to promote the construction of a new building larger than the previous one. This initiative was completed during the last years of the episcopate of Bishop Giovanni, while its first abbot was a certain Mauro. In all likelihood this church was to be set on a traditional five-nave basilica plan and was to respect the characteristics of Romanesque architecture, but nothing more is known, just as nothing is known about the establishment of the Benedictine community on the site. The first known mention of the existence of the Benedictine monastic community attached to the church, in fact, dates back to a document of 1035 in which it is stated that the abbot at that time was the aforementioned Mauro. Subsequent sources report of a monastery that was clearly growing thanks to the attribution of a number of beneficia in the province granted by the bishops who succeeded one another at the head of the Veronese diocese.

With a diploma of May 24, 1111, the monastery came under the direct protection of Emperor Henry V : this act specified how no other authority, including the bishop, could claim any jurisdictional power over it and its property; it also gave the abbot the power to administer justice, both civil and criminal, in a true vassal-like relationship. This relationship was confirmed by certain obligations on the part of the abbot that, though little more than formal, were typical of this legal position. Among other obligations were that of celebrating one mass a day for the emperor and twelve on the anniversary of his departure, and providing a horse for the Veronese bishop whenever he had to move at the will of the emperor. The abbot also had the power to appoint knights and militia and thus to establish his own militia to defend the monastery.

A papal bull issued by Adrian IV on May 30, 1158 confirmed the monastery, then ruled by Abbot Clement, its privileges and assured papal protection. At that time the monastery possessed a hostel and a hospital, in which a German baron named Boniface, part of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa 's retinue in what would go down in history as the Third Crusade, was housed on December 3, 1174. Boniface died shortly thereafter, but before he died he decided to pay homage to the abbot who had assisted him, Father Adriano, of the bodies of the martyrs St. Blaise and St. Juliana that he had stolen from the Holy Land. The monks decided to temporarily store the precious relics under the high altar.

By the next century, the monastery had acquired such wealth and power that it led Ezzelino III da Romano, who had recently arrived in Verona, to order the exile of Abbot Bonifacio, who was considered politically adverse, and to confiscate the abbey's vast possessions. The monks had to wait for Mastino I della Scala 's rise to power to regain their possessions, but the Scaliger lordship avoided giving him any political power.

The 15th century was marked by a profound decline of the monastery, both in terms of its financial resources and the number of monks, which inexorably decreased. The efforts of Abbot Bartolomeo Mazzetti, who died in 1442, and of the benefits granted by Pope Martin V with the bull of January 11, 1419, were to no avail. In 1444 Pope Eugene IV ordered that the monastery of Saints Nazarius and Celsus be united with the prestigious abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua, which enjoyed far greater fortunes.

The construction of the present building

The union with the Paduan abbey gave new strength to the monastery, so much so that around the second half of the 15th century the construction of the present building proceeded. The beginning of the work, recorded in an inscription above the entrance portal of the facade, took place on October 15, 1464, shortly after the demolition of the previous Romanesque building. At that time, Guglielmo da Milano held the position of abbot. According to what is documented on the inscription, the work on the exterior walls was completed on April 6, 1466, however, the finishing work continued for about twenty years, during which times of interruption and resumption alternated. The opening for worship took place on January 19, 1483 in the presence of Abbot Gianfrancesco, Archbishop Marco Cattaneo of Durrës, vicar of the Verona bishop, and Cardinal Giovanni Michiel, who proceeded with the consecration.

The new construction was an opportunity to find a worthy location for the relics of the martyrs that had arrived from the Holy Land, which were greatly venerated by the people of Verona. It was therefore decided to entrust Beltrame Jarola (known as Beltramo da Valsolda) with the construction of a dedicated chapel; work began on March 7, 1488, with Girolamo da Piacenza at the head of the monastery. The following year a confraternity, called “ di San Biagio, ” was established and given the task of financing and overseeing the building. The chapel, in the Renaissance style and located at the end of the left arm of the transept, was completed twenty years later, and on April 24, 1508, the sacred relics were moved there. However, the consecration had already taken place on July 30, 1491.

In addition to these important events related to the building, in the same years the monastery was able to benefit from new benefits: on April 2, 1498 Pope Alexander VI gave it the jurisdiction of the Benedictine abbey of Badia Calavena ; Bishop Marco Corner granted it the title of parish with a baptismal font ; and finally Pope Paul IV subjected it to the parish of Santa Maria di Tregnago. The newfound economic prosperity allowed the monastery to build the present bell tower, to make some interventions in the interior and to commission the painter Paolo Veronese to paint The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee, to be placed in the refectory (now exhibited in the Savoy Gallery ). Several works were carried out in the second half of the 16th century, including the lengthening of the chancel and the covering of the choir and the chancel itself by vaults that would later be frescoed by Paolo Farinati in 1575.

The devastating plague epidemic that struck much of Europe in 1630 did not spare the monastery, which lost almost all of its monks. Restoration of the rectory was undertaken in 1736. At the behest of the Venetian government, the Benedictine monastery was finally suppressed in 1767, and the property acquired by the Venetian Republic ; four years later, by a deed notarized on October 28 and for the sum of 14,500 ducats, the Benedictine nuns of San Daniele took possession of the monastery and church, proceeding to carry out several restorations that many critics do not consider entirely respectful of the architectural whole. Finally, Napoleon 's edict of 1810 permanently dissolved the monastery, whose cloisters were shortly thereafter demolished to make way for the structure alone, which remained to perform the functions of a parish.

The present building dates from the 15th century but is only the latest in a series of religious buildings that followed one another over the centuries. The origin of the church of Saints Nazarius and Celsus is very ancient and can be traced back to the construction of an early, simple building at the foot of Mount Castiglione, in whose tuff the apse was excavated, and originally dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. It was probably a martyrion dedicated to the veneration of the relics of Saints Nazarius and Celsus and dating from the early Christian era, between the 6th and 7th centuries, at the dawn of Christianity. In addition to the apse, this building consisted of a dark cruciform masonry hallway with a transept and barrel-vaulted roof. The walls were decorated with cycles of frescoes in overlapping layers from various periods, some of which were detached in 1881 and moved to the former church of San Francesco al Corso at the Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle Fresco Museum, while parts of the mosaic floors remain in place. A rudimentary monastery must have stood next to this martyrion.

According to reconstructions by Carlo Cipolla, this sacellum (also referred to by some as a "grotto" or "chapel") was deeply damaged by the Hungarian invasions and in particular during the one of 933, only to be restored at the behest of the bishop of Verona Otberto, who also sponsored the creation of the frescoes. Cipolla deduces this thanks to an inscription from 996 found on the site and now lost, which read, "ANN. AB INCARNC dNi NRI DCCCCXCVI. INDIC X.” However, the two layers of plaster found suggest that additional ones were added to the early ancient frescoes that can be dated around 1180.

No documents have come down about the early medieval monastic building, but the religious complex is mentioned in the Versus de Verona, a poem from the late 8th century, and is clearly recognizable in the so-called Raterian iconography, the oldest graphic representation of Verona, made by Bishop Ratherius around the first half of the 10th century.

In the early 11th century, the gradual increase in population prompted the Benedictine monks to promote the construction of a new building larger than the previous one. This initiative was completed during the last years of the episcopate of Bishop Giovanni, while its first abbot was a certain Mauro. In all likelihood this church was to be set on a traditional five-nave basilica plan and was to respect the characteristics of Romanesque architecture, but nothing more is known, just as nothing is known about the establishment of the Benedictine community on the site. The first known mention of the existence of the Benedictine monastic community attached to the church, in fact, dates back to a document of 1035 in which it is stated that the abbot at that time was the aforementioned Mauro. Subsequent sources report of a monastery that was clearly growing thanks to the attribution of a number of beneficia in the province granted by the bishops who succeeded one another at the head of the Veronese diocese.

With a diploma of May 24, 1111, the monastery came under the direct protection of Emperor Henry V : this act specified how no other authority, including the bishop, could claim any jurisdictional power over it and its property; it also gave the abbot the power to administer justice, both civil and criminal, in a true vassal-like relationship. This relationship was confirmed by certain obligations on the part of the abbot that, though little more than formal, were typical of this legal position. Among other obligations were that of celebrating one mass a day for the emperor and twelve on the anniversary of his departure, and providing a horse for the Veronese bishop whenever he had to move at the will of the emperor. The abbot also had the power to appoint knights and militia and thus to establish his own militia to defend the monastery.