Basilica of Saint Sabina

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The Basilica of Saint Sabina (Latin: Basilica Sanctae Sabinae, Italian: Basilica di Santa Sabina all'Aventino) is a historic church on the Aventine Hill in Rome, Italy. It is a titular minor basilica and mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans. Santa Sabina is the oldest extant ecclesiastical basilica in Rome that preserves its original colonnaded rectangular plan with apse and architectural style. Its decorations have been restored to their original restrained design. Other basilicas, such as Santa Maria Maggiore, have been ornately decorated in later centuries. Because of its simplicity, the Santa Sabina represents the adaptation of the architecture of the roofed Roman forum or basilica to the basilica churches of Christendom. It is especially well-known for its cypress wood doors carved in AD 430-432 with biblical scenes, the most famous being the first known publicly displayed depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the two thieves. Santa Sabina is perched high above the Tiber to the north and the Circus Maximus to the east. It is next to a small public park, the Giardino degli Aranci ("Garden of Oranges"), which has a scenic...

The church was built on the site of early Imperial houses, one of which is said to be of Sabina, a Roman matron originally from Avezzano in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Sabina was beheaded in AD 126 under Emperor Hadrian, because she had been converted to Christianity by her servant Serapia, who also had been beheaded in AD 119. Sabina and Serapia were later declared Catholic saints.

Santa Sabina was built by Peter of Illyria, a Dalmatian priest, between 422 and 432 near a temple of Juno on the Aventine Hill in Rome.

Pope Celestine I established the cardinal title of Santa Sabina with its seat here in 423 AD.

In the 9th century, it was enclosed in a fortification area as a result of war. [ citation needed ]

in 1216 Pope Honorius III approved the Order of Preachers, now commonly known as the Dominicans, which was "the first order instituted by the Church with an academic mission". Honorius III invited Saint Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, to take up residence at the church of Santa Sabina in 1220. The official foundation of the Dominican convent at Santa Sabina with its studium conventuale, the first Dominican studium in Rome, occurred with the legal transfer of property from Honorius III to the Order of Preachers on 5 June 1222 though the brethren had taken up residence there already in 1220.

The church was the seat of a papal conclave in 1287, although the prelates left the church after an epidemic killed six of them. They later returned to the church, and elected Nicholas IV as pope on 22 February 1288.

Its interior was renovated by Domenico Fontana in 1587 (after being commissioned by Pope Sixtus V in 1586) and Francesco Borromini in 1643.

The Kingdom of Italy conquered Rome in 1870; expelled the Dominicans; and converted the church into a lazaretto (quarantine station for maritime travelers). [ citation needed ]

Italian architect and art historian Antonio Muñoz (1884-1960) restored the original simplistic medieval appearance of the church in 1914-1919. French architect P. Berthier completed its restoration in 1936-1938.

Among those who have lived in its adjacent convent were Saint Dominic (1220-1221), St Thomas Aquinas (1265-1268), Blessed Ceslaus, Saint Hyacinth, and Pope Pius V.

The Minor Basilica of Santa Sabina is built in the manner of an Ancient Roman secular basilica, or covered forum. The characteristics are a long central nave with a lower aisle on each side. Above the aisles, the walls of the nave are pierced by a row of large clerestory windows. The brick walls are mostly unrendered, and the windows are made of selenite, not glass, making the building look much as it did when it was built in the 5th century.

The building has a colonnaded porch opening propped onto a cloister, and at the other end, a semi-circular apse.

The campanile (bell tower) was originally built in the 10th century; but was rebuilt in the 17th century in the Baroque style.

The wooden door of the basilica is generally agreed to be the original door from 430 – 432, although it was apparently not constructed for this doorway. Eighteen of its wooden panels survive — all but one depicting scenes from the Bible. Most famous among these is one of the earliest certain depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the two thieves. Other panels have also been the subjects of extensive analysis because of their importance to the study of Christian iconography.

Above the doorway, the interior preserves an original dedication in Latin hexameters.

The interior has basilical form, with a central nave divided from the side aisle by two rows of columns,on which rests an arcade. Above the arcade is a row of large clerestory windows. The twenty four columns of Proconnesian marble with perfectly matched Corinthian capitals and bases, were reused from the Temple of Juno. A framed hole in the floor exposes a Roman era temple column that pre-dates Santa Sabina. This appears to be the remnant of the Temple of Juno erected on the hilltop site during Roman times, which was likely razed to allow construction of the basilica.

There is an apse at the eastern end. The original fifth-century apse mosaic was replaced in 1559 by a fresco by Taddeo Zuccari. The composition probably remained unchanged: Christ is flanked by a good thief and a bad thief, seated on a hill while lambs drink from a stream at its base. The iconography of the mosaic was very similar to another 5th-century mosaic, destroyed in the 17th century, in Sant'Andrea in Catabarbara.

The interior cells of the Dominican convent are little changed since the earliest days of the Order of Preachers. The cell of St. Dominic is still identified, though it has since been enlarged and converted to a chapel. Also, the original dining room still remains, in which St. Thomas Aquinas would dine when he lived in Rome. [ citation needed ]

The Minor Basilica of Santa Sabina is built in the manner of an Ancient Roman secular basilica, or covered forum. The characteristics are a long central nave with a lower aisle on each side. Above the aisles, the walls of the nave are pierced by a row of large clerestory windows. The brick walls are mostly unrendered, and the windows are made of selenite, not glass, making the building look much as it did when it was built in the 5th century.