Posted on 02/23/2012 2:10:22 PM PST by NYer
Surrounded by the ruins of the empire that put its patron to death, the humble church of St. George in the Velabrum is a continuing reminder of the faith and sacrifice of that great saint. As we head away from the river in the direction of the church, we see the Arch of Janus (late third/early fourth century after Christ) with its many niches, marking the site of the Forum Boarium, the cattle market of the ancient city. This was located in the area of the city known as the Velabrum, possibly so-called because of the yellow sand (from the Etruscan word velum, “marsh,” and Latin aurum, “gold) that gathered there. Right next to the church itself is a smaller arch built in honor of Septimus Severus by the moneychangers in the market in A.D. 204. This is almost exactly a century before the martyrdom of St. George. While very little of his actual story has come down to us, it can be known for certain that he suffered near the current location of Lod, Israel, most likely in the late third or early fourth century. While many of the stories about him are largely fictional, they seem to indicate that he was a soldier, possibly of Cappadocian descent, and also that he suffered many tortures before his death. He later became a popular patron of soldiers, who looked to him as a model for strength in the spiritual life. His cult became especially popular in Europe when it was brought back with the returning Crusaders.
While the church is currently named for St. George, it has traditionally also been linked with the martyr St. Sebastian. This is due to the church’s proximity to the location where the battered corpse of the saint was thrown into the Cloaca Maxima, the ancient sewer running underneath the site which still functions today. The first Christian structure on this site was a diaconia (deaconry), thought to have been established here in the late fifth century. This was a social services center of the early Roman church, including a distribution center with supplies for the needy, as well as a small chapel. This may have been placed under the patronage of St. George by the first half of the seventh century, when mention of such was made. Pope Leo II undertook a restoration in 682-683 and dedicated the church to Ss. Sebastian and George, a title it would retain into the medieval period. In 741 or 742 a relic of the head of St. George was discovered at the Lateran and brought here by Pope Zachary. Although a popular saint in the East at the time, he was still relatively unknown in the West. Therefore, this church marks one of the first places of devotion to this saint in the Latin Church.
Pope Gregory IV undertook a complete restoration and enlargement of the old deaconry in the years 827-844, effectively turning it into the structure we see today. Although it no longer served as a deaconry, it retained some of its earlier characteristics common to that type of building, such as square clerestory windows and an overall appearance that aimed more for functionality than aesthetic appeal. He also decorated the inside of the basilica with frescoes. Sometime later a marble chancel screen was added, later removed in the thirteenth century. The medieval period left a significant mark on the church, with the addition of a porch and campanile on the outside, and the redecoration of the interior with a ciborium over the altar and new frescoes in the apse, thought to be by Piero Cavallini. Different restorations and minor reconstructions, including roof repairs and a raising of the nave floor, were carried out in subsequent centuries. In 1787, the original columns of the ciborium were taken elsewhere and replaced with the current ones. Structural restorations and strengthening took place throughout the nineteenth century. The current façade is thought to date from this time period as well. In 1909-1910, the apse fresco was restored, and from 1923-1925, a larger restoration was carried out that gave the church the appearance it has today. This included lowering the floor to its original level. In 1993, a bomb placed by the mafia exploded in front of the church, causing heavy damage. A restoration was able to bring the church back to its previous appearance.
Located in the Velabrum, on the Via del Velabro in the Rione Ripa, San Giorgio in Velabro is situated at the south end of the street, in the square near the ancient Forum Boarium. Its axis runs exactly from S. to N. It is next to the third century arch that is believed to have marked the entrance to the Forum Boarium, and is also near the Arch of Janus. San Giorgio in Velabro was originally located in the Greek quarter of Rome surrounded by many Greek merchants.
Pope St Gregory established a diaconia, an institution that cared for the poor, at the site of this church. The area has a special place in the history of Rome, as an ancient tradition claims that it was here that Romulus killed his brother Remus before founding the city.
According to a 10th century copy of an older document, the first church here was built in the 7th century or earlier, possibly under Pope Leo II (682-683), originally as the San Sebastiano. There is a hint of an even older church or chapel at the site in an inscription from 482 in the Catacombs of Callixtus; it mentions a lector named Augustus as "lectoris de bela bru". San Giorgio in Velabro, founded by Pope Leo II, is believed to have been built in the 7th century. The Liber Ponificalis, a 10th century explanation of Leo II’s life, explains the origins of the church and confirms Leo II’s role in its construction. The verb “aedificare” in the Liber Ponificalis’, “huius …iussu aecclesia iuxta velum aureum in honore beati Sebastiani edificata est, necnon in honore martyris Georgi” ensures new building work being done in Leo II’s life. Scholars suggest that it was a privately funded work as the word “iussu” which implies that Leo’s role was to grant the permit for construction. Pope Leo dedicated the church to both St. Sebastian, the saint believed to have saved Italy from the plague of 680, and St. George of Capadoccia. St. George was considered an Eastern military saint and his remains are believed to be still in the church. In 741, Pope Zacharias I (741-752) ordered relics of S. Giorgio, including the head, from the Lateran to S. Giorgio in Velabro. Every year on his feast day, April 23rd, the Major Litany was announced at the church.
The present dedication is unusual for an early church in the West, as there was little devotion to St George in the West until the Crusaders brought it with them from the East.
Though this church was built in the 7th century, many sources attribute it to the 13th century because of the amount of work and additions made to San Giorgio in Velabro during this time period. San Giorgio in Velabro has had the least altering of the other early churches. The most significant amount of restoration was done to the church under Antonio Munoz between 1923 and 1926 because he wanted to reestablish its medieval association. Munoz eliminated many of the elaborate decorations that had been added since the original construction of the church and transformed it back to its original simple construction. The church we see today is highly representative of Munoz’s reconstruction.
Some important restoration dates of the church are as follow:
682-83 -Construction of a church of SS. Sebastian and St. George under Leo II
741-52 Discovery of the head of St. George in the Lateran. Pope Zacharias I ordered
relics of S. Giorgio from the Lateran to S. Giorgio in Velabro.
784-91 Mention of a mass “to the saint George” in the second version of the codified
under Hadrian I.
827-44 Complete restoration under Gregory IV. Created apse and the three aisles
which still exist today. Construction of a new sacristy decorated with frescoes of the aisles; gifts of curtains.
741-52 Discovery of the head of St. George in the Lateran. Pope Zacharias I ordered
relics of S. Giorgio from the Lateran to S. Giorgio in Velabro.
784-91 Mention of a mass “to the saint George” in the second version of the codified
under Hadrian I.
827-44 Complete restoration under Gregory IV. Apse and aisles and Construction of a new
sacristy decorated with frescoes of the aisles; gifts of curtains
872-82 Greek inscriptions of the time of John VIII reused in the rear floor
Early 13th century: façade, and bell tower, and portico added during reconstruction. Construction
of a porch
1259 Cardinal Pietro Capocci first offers a piece of land adjacent to the Bell Tower
1295-1343 Cardinal Giacomo Gaetano Stefaneschi is said to give the church a fresco in
the apse of which was attributed to Cavallini and his school
1347 Cola di Rienzo posted his notice warning of the coming revolt on the architrave above the portico of the church
1477-1521 Restoration of the roof; company of Cardinal Raffaele Riario
1601 Rise of the floor
1611 Restoration at the expense of Cardinal Jacopo Serra
1665-69 Restoration of the porch under Clement IX
1704 Restoration at the expense of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali
1774 The ceiling of the nave was repainted by Benedict Fabiani
1787 Four columns raised by ciborium
1819- Pope Pius VII granted the church to Pius Union and the children
1828 Restoration of the church carried out by G. Valadier, completed under Leo XIII.
1837- Restoration under Gregory XVI, works at the Campanile, retaining wall length,
opening doors and windows, construction of stairs.
1869 - Restoration of Pius IX
1909 -1910 Restoration of the fresco in the apse, Rome, Ministry of Public Instruxione
Archive
1923-25 Reinforcement (1923) and very complete restoration of the church (1924-25),
directed by Antonio Munoz who was commissioned by Pope Pius XI. The object of the restoration was to restore it back to its original state.
On 27 July 1993, the portico and the generalate were damaged by a bomb. One theory is that the location of the bombing was chosen because of the legend of Romulus and Remus mentioned above; in other words, it may have been a symbolic attack on Rome as the centre of the Italian government. It was restored in 1997.
Among the former titular deacons of the church is John Henry Cardinal Newman (died 1890), one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. The current titular of the church is H.E. Cardinal Alfons Maria Stickler, S.D.B.
San Giorgio in Velabro is considered one of the earliest Christian edifices in Rome. Its original construction was of a simple basilican plan consisting of a nave with one aisle on either side, which led to an apse. Leo II’s first construction measured 23 meters by 14.3 meters with and apse of 5 meters in diameter. Though it was simply structured it was, considered very noble.
The bell tower and the portico are the main body of the church. These were added in the early 13th century. The facade of the church is preceded by this portico. The floor of the portico is 0.15 meters below street level. The original portico floor was discovered in 1924 and was 0.25 meters under the current level and therefore was 0.55 meters above the level of the Roman road. A rectangular window to the right of the portico appears to date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, along with the upper part of the façade on the side of the portico.
The façade has a 16th century inscription, purporting to be from the 13th century. It dates the campanile and the façade, but since it is a much later inscription than it claims to be, the dates are uncertain. The five-storey campanile can be dated to the 12th or 13th century. The date of the portico and façade is more difficult to ascertain.
Adjacent to the church, actually built into it, is the Arco degli Argentari, or Arch of the Moneychangers. It was erected in AD 204 in honour of Emperor Septimius Severus and the imperial family.
There is little decoration, but the church gives a feeling of antiquity and serenity that may be worth a little of your time.
The fresco in the apse depicts Christ, the Blessed Virgin and St George, St Peter and St Sebastian. They are from the 13th century, and have been attributed to both Cavallini and Giotto. They are heavily restored, and it is difficult to decide with certainty who the artist was, although there seems to be a majority in favour of Cavallini.
Evidence supports that the three side aisles, which exist today, are the same ones that were constructed by Pope Gregory IV when he reconstructed the church from 827 to 844. The spolia elements that exist in the church today dated from the 4th century and were also reused by Pope Gregory IV in his reconstructions.
Today, walking through the church one would see a modernized atrium and vestibules. Baseless Corinthian columns support plain round arches, and space lies between the arcades and the clerestory. This all leads up to a simple, flat, wooden roof. The apse opening by the arch is the same size of the nave. The apse mosaic was made by Pietro Cavallini and his school of art in the 12th century, and is displays Christ in the middle surrounded by St George with a white horse and the Virgin on one side and St Peter and St Sebastian on the other. The High Altar under the baldacchino has pillars supporting an entablature rather than arches. The colonnades are not trabeated, but arcaded. Today there still remains seven steps connecting the nave to the elevated apse from the reconstruction after 1924.
Parts of St George's skull is preserved in the confessio beneath the altar. The Cosmatesque baldachino, high altar and confessio are from the 12th or 13th century.
The church narrows towards the apse - you can see this by looking at the ceiling where there are fewer compartments over the altar than at the door. The central aisle is 9.15 metres at its widest and 7.30 at its narrowest; the right aisle goes from 7.50 metres to 3. The left aisle deviates very little.
The church is very popular for weddings, and one is held here almost every Saturday.
The feast of St George is celebrated on 23 April.
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