Santi Dodici Apostoli (Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles; Latin: SS. Duodecim Apostolorum), commonly known as Santi Apostoli, is a 6th-century Catholic parish and titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, the mother church of the Conventual Franciscan Order whose General Curia (world headquarters) is in the adjacent building. Dedicated originally to St. James and St. Philip, whose relics are kept here, and later to all Apostles, it is the Station church for Friday, the first week of Lent. The purported bodily material held at the Church of James was dated to AD 240–340. While the altar canal 267–539 and ceramic shard 314–746, which aligned with the timeframe of when Pope Pelagius I consecrated and moved Christian remains to the basilica.
The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus XII Apostolorum is Angelo Scola. Among the previous Cardinal Priests are Pope Clement XIV, whose tomb by Canova is in the basilica, and Henry Benedict Stuart.
History
The first church dedicated to the Holy Apostles was one built under Pope Julius I in the mid-fourth century near Trajan's Forum. It is listed as "Titulus SS Apostolorum" in the acts of the synod of 499. Its successor was built by Pope Pelagius I, on the present site, to celebrate the victory of Narses over the Ostrogoths at the Battle of Taginae in 552. General Narses contributed to the construction of the building. It was dedicated around 570 by Pope John III to St. James and Saint Philip the Apostle. Santi Apostoli was ruined by the earthquake of 1348, and left abandoned.
In 1417, Pope Martin V, whose Colonna family owned the adjacent Palazzo Colonna, restored the church. The Franciscans took charge of the church in 1463. A more extensive restoration was undertaken by Pope Sixtus IV and his nephew, Giuliano della Rovere, from 1471 to 1484.
The inscriptions found in SS. XII Apostoli, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella.
Architecture
The 15th-century portico that precedes the present facade is by Baccio Pontelli. In 1665, Carlo Rainaldi walled up the arches in the upper level and installed statues on the parapet. The church was later restored, with the facade completed by Giuseppe Valadier in 1827.
On the wall of the portico on the right side, there is an antique bas-relief of an eagle surrounded by an oak crown that it holds in its talons. Opposite is the monument of the Venetian engraver Giovanni Volpato sculpted and erected by his friend and countryman Antonio Canova. It consists of a large bas-relief, representing "Friendship in Mourning" in the form of a woman weeping before the bust of the deceased Volpato.
Interior
Around 1700, Pope Clement XI instigated dramatic renovations of the church. A new Baroque interior was designed by Carlo Fontana and completed in 1714. The fresco on the vaulted ceiling is the Triumph of the Franciscan Order by Baciccio. Above the sanctuary is a fresco from 1709 by Giovanni Odazzi, representing the "Fall of Lucifer and his Angels".
There are also later frescoes of the Evangelists by Luigi Fontana in the apse. The main altar had a baldacchino with four porphyry columns. The altarpiece is by Domenico Maria Muratori and depicts the
Martyrdoms of the Apostles Philip and James the Less.
To the right of the high altar are the tombs of Count Giraud de Caprières (died 1505) and Cardinal Raffaele Riario (died 1521), tentatively attributed to Michelangelo. To the left is a monument to Cardinal Pietro Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, by the school of Andrea Bregno and possibly designed by Andrea Bregno himself. There is also a Madonna by Mino da Fiesole.
Next to a pier of the nave on the right-hand side, near the first chapel, is enshrined the heart of Maria Klementyna Sobieska, wife of the Old Pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart. Her tomb is in St Peter's Basilica. Her monument is by Filippo della Valle. Her husband used to pray here every morning; it was his parish church when he lived at the nearby Palazzo Muti.
The confessio was constructed in 1871. During its construction, the relics of St James and St Philip, which were taken from the catacombs in the 9th century to protect them from invaders, were rediscovered under the high altar. The wall paintings are reproductions of ancient catacomb paintings. An inscription explains that Pope Stephen IV walked barefoot in 886 from the catacombs to the church carrying the relics on his shoulders.
Frescoes of Melozzo da Forlì
About 1472, Melozzo da Forlì was commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Riario to paint the vault of the apse, his subject being the Ascension of Christ. It is one of the earliest known examples of perspective applied to the human figure on a roof or ceiling decoration.
According to Giorgio Vasari, "the figure of Christ is so admirably foreshortened as to appear to pierce the vault; and in the same manner the angels are seen sweeping through the field of air in two opposite directions."
This fresco was taken down in 1711 when Clement IX enlarged the choir. The figure of Christ is now in the Quirinal Palace. Some of the other portions, which influenced Raphael, are in the sacristy of St Peter's. A hall in the Vatican Museums holds designs of angels and apostles by Melozzo, taken from the same fresco.
Chapels
The twelve side chapels were reduced in number during the renovations of Clement IX.
Pope Clement XIV (1769–1774) is buried at the end of the left side aisle, near the door of the sacristy. His Neo-Classical tomb is by Antonio Canova, made in 1783-1787. Besides the statue of that Pope, there are two uncommonly fine figures of "Temperance" and "Clemency". This was the first major work Canova did in Rome.
- The first chapel on the right-hand side of the nave is dedicated to St Bonaventure. The altarpiece is by Niccolò Lapiccola. It also contains Antoniazzo Romano's Madonna, moved from the Bessarion chapel.
- The second chapel on the right is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception; the altarpiece is by Corrado Giaquinto.
- The third chapel of the left is dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua; the altarpiece (1723) is by Benedetto Luti. It is the chapel of the Odescalchi, whose palazzo was nearby.
- Behind the Odescalchi chapel is the funerary chapel of Cardinal Bessarion. Antoniazzo Romano completed the decoration in 1467. It contained a 15th-century Madonna donated by Bessarion, now relocated to the Chapel of St. Bonaventure.
- The Chapel of the Crucifixion is to the right of the main altar. Designed as a small basilica, it has a nave and two aisles. The 8 columns are from the 6th-century church.
Burials
For a short time, the basilica housed the tomb of Michelangelo, before its transportation to the Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze. Upon the death of James Francis Edward Stuart in 1766, his body lay in state here before he was buried with his wife at St. Peter's Basilica.
List of Cardinal-priests since 1059
List of the cardinal titulars of the church