Santissima Trinità Church

About

The Church of the Holy Trinity is a religious building in the Baroque style located in the historic center of Crema, in the province of Cremona, Italy.

The first mention of the existence of a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity in Crema is a papal bull dated March 16, 1095, signed by Pope Urban II. It lists 133 monasteries under the jurisdiction of the Abbey of Cluny ; among these there are also three monasteries in the Crema area : San Pietro near Ombriano, San Pietro di Madignano and the monastery of the Holy Trinity of Crema, all under the authority of the monastery of San Paolo d'Argon.

Therefore, in that year there was already a church and a monastery, certainly not prior to 920, the year in which the worship of the Holy Trinity was introduced by Stephen, bishop of Liège; the church could likely have been built between the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century; it is impossible to know when the Cluniacs settled there; to establish a direct link with the abbey of San Paolo d'Argon, this certainly took place after the year of foundation of the monastery in Bergamo by Ghisalberto in 1079.

Other known documents date back to the bulls of Pope Callixtus II (1120 and 1121) and Pope Honorius II (1125) in which the chapels and churches under the authority of San Paolo d'Argon are listed, while later it is known that some assets were transferred to Ombriano, Bagnolo Cremasco, Capergnanica and Chieve, while retaining control of the town church.

The church was probably destroyed (and later rebuilt) after the siege of Barbarossa in 1159/1160; in fact, a bull issued by Pope Alexander III in the year 1178 lists the dependencies of San Paolo d'Argon, also citing those that no longer belonged to it, but the Holy Trinity is not mentioned in it. During the reconstruction of the city (1185-1199) the area where the church once stood was included in the expansion of the protected area and a second church dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre began to be documented, located outside the defenses, probably built to provide spiritual support to the inhabitants living in the countryside just outside Porta Ombriano.

The monastery was inhabited by Cluniac monks perhaps until before the year 1314; in fact, in a document dated July 9th of that year, the name of the secular parish priest of San Sepolcro - Fasano da Lodi - is reported, residing, however, at the Santissima Trinità. Subsequent references to the parish priests of San Sepolcro also mention that they resided in a house adjacent to the urban church.

A bequest in the will of the nobleman Venturino Gambazocca dated 1393 allowed money to be set aside for its reconstruction: the reasons for this are deduced by the historian Terni who describes the building as fallen into ruin citing the year 1407. It was from this building - probably in ruins - in the year 1402 that Giovanni Antonio Marchi, considered the founder of a noble family from Crema, fired a shot from a catapult in the context of the struggle between the Guelph and Ghibelline factions, in the direction of the castle of Porta Ombriano, seriously wounding the leader of the Bergamo Ghibellines, Gentilino Soardo, who had come to the aid of the people of Crema.

From 1462 the church became the official seat of the parish, replacing the church of San Sepolcro, while in 1466 the monastery of San Paolo d'Argon was transformed into a commenda, entrusting it to the first commendatory, Monsignor Giovanni Battista Colleoni, apostolic protonotary and canon of the Bergamo cathedral. In 1477, he had to deal with the first urgent situation for the church in Crema: in fact, due to the consequences of an exceptional snowfall, the building collapsed again; therefore, with a deed dated June 30, 1479 the master mason Giuliano Ogliari was entrusted with the design of the new building, which was completed in 1486.

Monsignor Colleoni encouraged the transfer to Crema, in the Vicinia degli Spoldi, of the Cluniac Benedictine nuns who until 1489 lived in San Fabiano near Farinate; a place probably considered unsafe and remote, subject to raids by armies; however, as their numbers grew, they asked and obtained permission in 1493 to occupy the space of the convent of the Holy Trinity.

In 1498 Monsignor Colleoni renounced the commenda which was then ceded to the Cassinese monastery of Santa Giustina of Padua ; the nuns, no longer having Benedictine representatives, obtained permission from Pope Leo X in 1507 to become Dominican nuns ; they then had a new convent built in the area to the north of the old town center, which was incorporated into the new Venetian walls, and settled there after 1520. The various properties of the former commenda, on the other hand, were assigned to the dioceses and transformed into simple benefices.

From the eighteenth-century reconstruction to the present day

From the year 1515 the Consortium of the Blessed Sacrament, a confraternity, was active to promote the cult of the Eucharist, but it also carried out administrative and financial roles, increasing in importance over time, appointing “priors” from among its members. In 1736 they allocated the sum of 45,000 Venetian lire to build a new church, entrusting the project to the architect Andrea Nono; the following year demolition and rebuilding work began; however, during construction, noting the inadequacy of the previous bell tower in 1738 it was decided that architect Nono should be entrusted with the construction of a new tower.

The church was finished and consecrated in 1740 while the bell tower was completed the following year; the final costs rose to 89,000 Venetian lire due to both the construction of the new bell tower and the addition of the numerous pieces of marble used inside the church. There was also a dispute with the architect Nono, which was resolved through an agreement.

During the course of the 18th century, the interior decorations were entrusted to the Galliari brothers, followed by the frescoes and the completion of the altars. The pipe organ was installed in 1783 by the Serassi family (who also restored the instrument in 1835 and 1840). The current organ, however, was built by the Benzi e Franceschini company in 1909 and restored by the Inzoli company in 2006.

The windbreak rooms at the two entrances were created by Antonio Antolini in 1803, while the two pulpits by Giovanni Annessa date back to 1830.

In 1822 the body of St. Theodore the Martyr was laid to rest in the church, who, as stated in an explanatory picture, came from the catacombs of Saint Agnes in Rome and was brought to Crema by his father, Filippo Premoli, a Barnabite in 1761. It is a child's body and was placed in a cast urn in 1923 on the occasion of the centenary of the translation.

Significant conservative restoration work was undertaken in 1885, in the years 1954-1958, in the two-year periods 1982-1983 and 2004-2005.

In 2018 the pastoral unit was formed with the parish of the Crema Cathedral.

The first mention of the existence of a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity in Crema is a papal bull dated March 16, 1095, signed by Pope Urban II. It lists 133 monasteries under the jurisdiction of the Abbey of Cluny ; among these there are also three monasteries in the Crema area : San Pietro near Ombriano, San Pietro di Madignano and the monastery of the Holy Trinity of Crema, all under the authority of the monastery of San Paolo d'Argon.

Therefore, in that year there was already a church and a monastery, certainly not prior to 920, the year in which the worship of the Holy Trinity was introduced by Stephen, bishop of Liège; the church could likely have been built between the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century; it is impossible to know when the Cluniacs settled there; to establish a direct link with the abbey of San Paolo d'Argon, this certainly took place after the year of foundation of the monastery in Bergamo by Ghisalberto in 1079.