The Hospital-cum-Monastery at San Tommaso in Formis
Title
Description
Perched about halfway up the Caelian Hill is San Tommaso in Formis, built into the side of the Aqua Claudia. The history of the complex begins with John of Matha, a Provencal priest. Shortly after his ordination, he was inspired to found a religious order dedicated to ransoming captives from the Crusades. Innocent III confirmed John’s request. The new order – the Trinitarians – was the first of the major religious orders that would be founded over the course of the 13th and 14th centuries.The remains of the church were refurbished and a hospital was constructed next to it. The adjacent Arch of Dolabella – once part of Rome’s Servian walls – was also brought into service. John of Matha, after establishing the order, had become drawn to a life of monastic isolation. He retreated to a room over the arch until his death in 1213.
In many ways, the establishments of such “caritative” orders functioned more like franchises than outposts. Trinitarian branches, for instance, were responsible for funding themselves, which made them less inclined to obey central authority. San Tommaso was less a headquarters and more a working hospital. Nevertheless, the church’s location – immediately next to the major cardinal churches of San Stefano Rotondo and Santa Maria in Domnica, and a short walk from papal residence at the Lateran – seems unlikely to be a coincidence. Though the reason remains unclear, international missionary work was a top priority of Innocent III. As pope, he had some authority over the order, and would later influence staff appointments within the order itself. It is possible that the pope himself picked the location to easily observe and influence the order’s actions.
Finally, John of Matha’s decision to retreat to isolation testifies to a common tension in the early thirteenth century. He began a trend of activist religious orders, yet opted personally to live like a religious hermit of an older tradition. San Tommaso offered a unique space for this: Trinitarians entered the outside world in search of the sick, but they then brought the sick back behind their walls to provide care.
Abstract
Creator
Julia Tassava (2026)
Source
Brentano, Robert. Rome Before Avignon. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990.
Brodman, James W. “Community, Identity, and the Redemption of Captives: Comparative Perspectives Across the Mediterranean.” Anuario di Estudios Medievales 36 (June 2006), 241-252.
Brodman, James W. “Crisis in Charity: Centrifugal and Centripetal Influences upon Medieval Caritative Orders.” Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum 5 (2011): 163-173
Identifier
Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Description
Perched about halfway up the Caelian Hill is San Tommaso in Formis, built into the side of the Aqua Claudia. The history of the complex begins with John of Matha, a Provencal priest. Shortly after his ordination, he was inspired to found a religious order dedicated to ransoming captives from the Crusades. Innocent III confirmed John’s request. The new order – the Trinitarians – was the first of the major religious orders that would be founded over the course of the 13th and 14th centuries.The remains of the church were refurbished and a hospital was constructed next to it. The adjacent Arch of Dolabella – once part of Rome’s Servian walls – was also brought into service. John of Matha, after establishing the order, had become drawn to a life of monastic isolation. He retreated to a room over the arch until his death in 1213.
In many ways, the establishments of such “caritative” orders functioned more like franchises than outposts. Trinitarian branches, for instance, were responsible for funding themselves, which made them less inclined to obey central authority. San Tommaso was less a headquarters and more a working hospital. Nevertheless, the church’s location – immediately next to the major cardinal churches of San Stefano Rotondo and Santa Maria in Domnica, and a short walk from papal residence at the Lateran – seems unlikely to be a coincidence. Though the reason remains unclear, international missionary work was a top priority of Innocent III. As pope, he had some authority over the order, and would later influence staff appointments within the order itself. It is possible that the pope himself picked the location to easily observe and influence the order’s actions.
Finally, John of Matha’s decision to retreat to isolation testifies to a common tension in the early thirteenth century. He began a trend of activist religious orders, yet opted personally to live like a religious hermit of an older tradition. San Tommaso offered a unique space for this: Trinitarians entered the outside world in search of the sick, but they then brought the sick back behind their walls to provide care.
Creator
J.M. Hanley (2016)Julia Tassava (2026)
Coverage
1200sSource
Brentano, Robert. Rome Before Avignon. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990.
Brodman, James W. “Community, Identity, and the Redemption of Captives: Comparative Perspectives Across the Mediterranean.” Anuario di Estudios Medievales 36 (June 2006), 241-252.
Brodman, James W. “Crisis in Charity: Centrifugal and Centripetal Influences upon Medieval Caritative Orders.” Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum 5 (2011): 163-173