Santa Maria della Vittoria
Santa Maria della Vittoria (Latin: Sanctae Mariae de Victoria ) is a Baroque church in Rome. It is located on Via XX Settembre in the north of the old city about 500 meters east of the Quirinal Palace and 150 meters north of the Piazza della Repubblica. The church is the titular church of Seán Patrick O'Malley.
The church was built by the architect Carlo Maderno in the years 1608-1620 for the Order of Discalced Carmelites. The facade of Roman travertine from Tivoli was added in the years 1624-1626 by Giovanni Battista Soria (1581-1651) commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese.
The church, dedicated to the Our Lady of Victory, replaced a chapel, which was the patronal feast of the Apostle Paul.
The image of Mary
On 8 November 1620, the Catholic League was victorious in the Battle of White Mountain on the Protestants. According to legend, the Carmelite brother Dominicus a Jesus Maria wore a picture of the Holy Family of the palace chapel in Stenovitz in the battle of the Protestants in all figures, except the child Jesus, his eyes were gouged out. This enraged the Catholic soldiers so much that they stormed with the battle cry of Santa Maria the hills of the Bohemian army, and this overpowered. On 8 May 1622 the portrait that set the spark to victory at White Mountain, carried into the new church in Rome and attached to the main altar, the Santa Maria della Vittoria ( Holy Mary of Victories ) has been called on it.
Equipment
The church consists of a nave space with eight side chapels. The interior decorations of the church follow the typical Baroque style, so stucco, Fries and colored marble. The ceiling fresco in the apse shows the arrival of the miraculous image in Prague and comes from Luigi Serra. The ceiling fresco in the nave Triumph of the Holy Virgin on the heresy comes from the brothers Giuseppe and Andrea Orzi. The chapels involve numerous works of art, including three paintings by Domenichino, the last works that the artist executed in Rome. The most famous works are, however, in the last two chapels in front of the choir.
In the Cappella San Giuseppe is a group of sculptures by Domenico Guidi the dream of St. Joseph Represents the work of art depicts the thematic counterpart to St. Teresa dar. Under the altar are the relics of the Roman martyr Victoria.
In the Cornaro chapel houses one of the most beautiful statues of Bernini, the Ecstasy of St. Theresa, which was executed about the year 1646. The chapel was donated by Cardinal Federico Cornaro the Venetian. On the sides members of the Cornaro family are shown in theater boxes, the view of the scene of St. Teresa.
In the sacristy there is a painting of the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, and other paintings, which commemorate battles Christian armies against the Ottomans, in particular Lepanto in 1571 and Petrovaradin in 1716, from which derives the Feast of the Rosary.
A part of the equipment of the apse and the original image of the Madonna were destroyed in a fire in 1833. The stained glass windows come from the years 1955 to 1956.
Others
In Vienna and Prague are dedicated to the same patron saint worship with contemporary copies of grace image from White Mountain.
Trivia
The church, especially the famous sculpture of Bernini, plays a central role in the novel Angels & Demons by Dan Brown.