San Lorenzo in Panisperna
Title
Subject
Description
According to legend, San Lorenzo in Panisperna is located on the spot at which the martyr St. Lawrence of Rome was grilled to death and after became a moderately successful pilgrimage church due to the presence of his relics.
Much of the medieval art and architecture of the church has been covered up by later renovations, but the medieval houses that surround the church can still be seen.
In the late 13th century, Cardinal Giacamo Colonna renovated the monastery and ceded it to the Poor Clares, a female subgroup of the Franciscans. Some scholars argue that San Lorenzo was intended to be a “family church” like San Silvestro in Capite, a location where Colona family wealth could be displayed while looking pious rather than greedy. Others argue however that this interpretation minimizes some of the unique circumstances that are wrapped up in the convent’s founding.
Giancomo handpicked all of the nuns for the convent and gave them a degree of freedom from the papacy with carefully timed gifts of land. That coupled with Giancomo’s links to so-called “deviant” Franciscan groups who were slightly outside the religious norm indicates that rather than a family church, San Lorenzo in Panisperna may have been a sort of haven for female Franciscans who may have experienced conflict with religious authority, such as his sister, the Colona saint Margherita who had died several years prior. One of the convent’s most notable residents, Saint Bridget of Sweden, had much in common with Margherita and came to Rome after she experienced a divine vision instructing her to do so. Further strengthening this interpretation is the conflict that Giancomo experienced with Pope Boniface the VIII, indicating a potential wariness towards the papacy and a desire to create spaces outside of its direct control.
The church retained significance within the urban space due to its proximity to Santa Maria Maggiore and the city center. In fact, during the sack of Rome in 1527 the Clares at San Cosimato in Trastevere crossed the Tiber to take shelter in the more centrally located church.
Creator
Source
Graham, Emily E. “Memorializing Identity: The Foundation and Reform of San Lorenzo in Panisperna.” Franciscan Studies 75 (2017): 467-495. https://muse.jhu.edu/
Hart, Vaughan and Peter Hicks. Palladio’s Rome. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.
|Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Lowe, Kate. "Franciscan and Papal Patronage at the Clarissan Convent of San Cosimato in Trastevere, 1440–1560." Papers of the British School at Rome 68 (2000): 217-39.
Majanlahti, Anthony. The Families Who Made Rome. New York: Pimlico, 2006.
Date
Identifier
Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Description
According to legend, San Lorenzo in Panisperna is located on the spot at which the martyr St. Lawrence of Rome was grilled to death and after became a moderately successful pilgrimage church due to the presence of his relics.
Much of the medieval art and architecture of the church has been covered up by later renovations, but the medieval houses that surround the church can still be seen.
In the late 13th century, Cardinal Giacamo Colonna renovated the monastery and ceded it to the Poor Clares, a female subgroup of the Franciscans. Some scholars argue that San Lorenzo was intended to be a “family church” like San Silvestro in Capite, a location where Colona family wealth could be displayed while looking pious rather than greedy. Others argue however that this interpretation minimizes some of the unique circumstances that are wrapped up in the convent’s founding.
Giancomo handpicked all of the nuns for the convent and gave them a degree of freedom from the papacy with carefully timed gifts of land. That coupled with Giancomo’s links to so-called “deviant” Franciscan groups who were slightly outside the religious norm indicates that rather than a family church, San Lorenzo in Panisperna may have been a sort of haven for female Franciscans who may have experienced conflict with religious authority, such as his sister, the Colona saint Margherita who had died several years prior. One of the convent’s most notable residents, Saint Bridget of Sweden, had much in common with Margherita and came to Rome after she experienced a divine vision instructing her to do so. Further strengthening this interpretation is the conflict that Giancomo experienced with Pope Boniface the VIII, indicating a potential wariness towards the papacy and a desire to create spaces outside of its direct control.
The church retained significance within the urban space due to its proximity to Santa Maria Maggiore and the city center. In fact, during the sack of Rome in 1527 the Clares at San Cosimato in Trastevere crossed the Tiber to take shelter in the more centrally located church.
Creator
Spencer Lekki (2021)Date
1290Coverage
1200sSource
Graham, Emily E. “Memorializing Identity: The Foundation and Reform of San Lorenzo in Panisperna.” Franciscan Studies 75 (2017): 467-495. https://muse.jhu.edu/
Hart, Vaughan and Peter Hicks. Palladio’s Rome. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.
|Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Lowe, Kate. "Franciscan and Papal Patronage at the Clarissan Convent of San Cosimato in Trastevere, 1440–1560." Papers of the British School at Rome 68 (2000): 217-39.
Majanlahti, Anthony. The Families Who Made Rome. New York: Pimlico, 2006.