The Church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in the Via Veneto in Rome is mostly famous for its Capuchin Crypt. The church itself contains artworks by Guido Reni, Andrea Sacchi, Domenichino and others. The crypt has been turned into the main attraction of a small museum dedicated to the Capuchin Order in Lazio.
A brief history of the church of Santa Maria della Concezione
The church was commissioned in 1626 by Pope Urban VIII, a member of the Barberini family. The church was designed and built by the papal architect Michele da Bergamo, a Capuchin friar.
The Pope’s brother, Antonio, was a Capuchin priest himself. In 1631 Antonio, then Cardinal, ordered the remains of numerous Capuchin friars to be exhumed and transported from the friary in the Via dei Lucchesi to the crypt. From then on, until 1870, the friars buried all their dead (as well as the bodies of poor Romans) here.
What to see
The church consists of a single nave, flanked by 5 chapels on each side. Vittorio Nave was responsible for the pulpit and the wooden altars of the side chapels. Liborio Coccetti painted the “Assumption” decorating the barrel vault ceiling. Almost the entire surface is taken up by floor tombs.
Cappella di San Michele Arcangelo
The Cappella di San Michele Archangelo (1st right) contains Guido Reni‘s “San Michele Arcangelo” (1630-1636), Gherardo delle Notti‘s “Jesus Mocked” (left) and tempera paintings by Nicolò Mattonelli (vault). The tomb of Father Mariano da Torino, who died in 1972 and was known as the “Capuchin of Italian TV” is placed against the left wall.
Reni‘s Archangel is depicted crushing the devil’s face under his foot. The work had been commissioned by Antonio Barberini, who earlier had somehow been offended by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamhilj, member of another influential family. According to contemporary lore, the devil had been given the cardinal’s features in revenge.
Cappella della Trasfigurazione
The altarpiece of the Cappella della Trasfigurazione (2R) was the work of Mario Balassi. The chapel is further decorated by a “San Bernardo da Corleone” (right wall, Fra’ Felice da Sambuca) and a “Natività” (left wall, Giovanni Lanfranco, 1932). The 3rd century AD Roman sarcophagus contains the mortal remains of Father Francesco da Bergamo.
Balassi‘s “Transfiguration” (1635) was originally intended to be a copy of a similar painting by Raphael (now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana). In the end Balassi created a new work, although incorporating elements of Raphael‘s version. The composition is pyramidal, with Christ at the top, between Moses and Elijah. The figures at the bottom of the painting are the disciples Peter, James and John.
Cappella di San Francesco
Both the altarpiece (“San Francesco Receiving the Stigmata”) and the fresco on the left wall of the Chapel of St. Francis (3R) were painted by Domenichino. Fra Luigi da Crema was responsible for the “San Crispino da Viterbo in Discussion with the Theologians” (right wall). The relics of San Crispino are preserved below the altar.
Cappella dell’Orazione di Gesù nell’Orto degli Ulivi
The altarpiece of the Chapel of the Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (4R) was the work of Baccio Ciarpi. The neoclassical basrelief (A. Bissetti, left wall) and the “Jesus Crowning Santa Veronica Giuliana with a Crown of Thorns” (Peter Herzog, right wall) date back to the 19th century.
Cappella di Sant’Antonio da Padova
Decorations in the Chapel of St. Anthony of Padova (5R) include Andrea Sacchi‘s “St. Anthony Raising a Dead Man” (altarpiece), “San Fidele da Sigmaringen” (right wall, 17th century) and “San Serafino da Montegranaro” (Fra Raffaele Minossi, also known as Raffaele da Roma, 18th century). The statuette on the altar is known as the “Infant Jesus of Prague”.
Presbytery
The altarpiece, “Immaculate Conception” was painted by Gioacchino Bombelli in 1814. It replaced Lanfranco‘s original, which did not survive a fire. The 17th century tabernacle is the work of Mastro Vito Trentacapelli. Rest material of the Palazzo Vaticano was used to make the altar and the tabernacle.
Norberto Baumgartner, a capuchin priest from Vienna, was resposible for the ovals (“St. Peter” and “Mary Magdalen”) above the doors flanking the presbytery.
Jean François Courtois painted the “St. Francis” and “Santa Chiara” next to the presbytery arch.
The tomb of Cardinal Antonio Barberini below the main altar bears the inscription, “Here lie dust, ashes, and nothing”.
Camillo Rusconi made the tomb of prince Alessandro Sobieski to the left of the presbytery (1714).
Cappella di San Bonaventura
The Chapel of San Bonaventura (5L) contains an altarpiece “Apparition of the Virgin to Saint Bonaventura” by Andrea Sacchi. Other decorations include a “Communio of San Lorenzo da Brindisi” (right wall, Padre Raffaele Minossi da Roma) and a “San Giuseppe da Leonessa” (attributed to Fra’ Serafino da Belluno, left wall).
Cappella della Madonna della Speranza
The Chapel of the Madonna of Hope (4L) contains a 19th century votive image of the Madonna.
Cappella della Pietà
The altarpiece in the Cappella della Pietà (3L) was painted by Andrea Camassei. Gerolamo Muziano’s “St. Francis Receiving the Stimmate” (16th century) originally decorated the Convent of San Bonaventura.
Cappella di San Felice di Cantalice
The Chapel of San Felice da Cantalice (2L) is dedicated to the very first Capuchin saint, whose mortal remains are preserved in a marble sarcophagus below the altar. The altarpiece by Alessandro Turchi depicts “San Felice being handed the infant Jesus by Maria”. The saint was famous for healing sick children. The painting on the left wall (by Fra’ Luigi da Crema) depicts him restoring a child’s eyesight, while the one on the right wall, attributed to Fra’ Semplice da Verona, shows him healing a lame person.
Cappella di San Paolo
Pietro da Cortona painted the altarpiece of the Chapel of St. Paul (“St. Paul is baptized by Ananias of Damascus and regains his sight”). Ananias baptizing Saul (Acts 9:10-19) is a pivotal moment in the New Testament. After the restoration of his sight, Saul of Tarsus, persecutor of Christians, becomes Paul the Apostle, one of the most influential figures in early Christianity. The vault fresco by Jean François Courtois depicts “St. Paul being carried away to the third heaven”. The crucifix on the right wall dates from the 16th century.
Capuchin Crypt
The crypt contains the bones of some four thousand dead Capuchin monks, arranged to form decorations referring to themes to do with life, death and time passing, a theme which is made perfectly clear in an inscription on a plaque in one of the chapels, stating “What you are now, we once were; what we are now, you shall be.” Each one of the 5 chapels contains one skeleton left intact, still dressed in Franciscan attire.
Address, opening hours and admission
Address: Via Vittorio Veneto, 27 – Rome. Opening hours and admission: From 7.00 till 13.00 and from 15.00 till 18.00. Closed: December 25. Admission to the church is free. The Capuchin Crypt is now part of the Museum and Crypt of the Capuchins next to the church. Admission is 10 Euros.
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