Santi Nereo e Achilleo

Santi Nereo e Achilleo is a 4th century basilica church in Rome.

The church is located in the rione Celio, close to the Baths of Caracalla. The current Cardinal Priest of the "Titulus Ss. Nerei et Achillei" is Theodore McCarrick.

History

A 377 inscription in the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura celebrates a dead man, Cinnamius, "lector" of a church known as "Titulus Fasciolae", built on the place where, according to tradition, St. Peter lost his foot bandage ("fasciola") on his way to escape martyrdom. In the acts of the synod of Pope Symmachus, in 499, the church is still listed with the same name, and is recorded as served by five priests.

This same building is recorded as "titulus Sanctorum Nerei et Achillei" in 595; therefore the dedications to Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, two soldiers and martyrs of the 4th century, must have happened during the 6th century.

In 814, Pope Leo III rebuilt the very close to the old titulus, to house the relics of the two martyrs from the Catacomb of Domitilla.

The church degradated with the time, and in 1320, according to the Catalogue of Turin, it was a presbyterial title with no priest serving. So Pope Sixtus IV restored the church in occasion of the Jubilee of 1475, while the Jubilee of 1600 was the occasion for the last major restoration, funded by Cardinal Cesare Baronio.

Interior

The church is built according to the typical basilica plan, with a single nave and two side aisles. The original columns where substituted in the 15th century with octagonal pillars, and the nave is characterized by the large fresco decorations commissioned by Cardinal Baronio.

The cardinal in his historical works emphasized the role of the Roman martyrs during the early centuries of Christianity. He defined an iconographical plan of Santi Nereo e Achilleo for the 1600 Jubilee centred on the martyrdom of the greatest early saints. The execution of the frescoes were entrusted to a minor painter, generally thought to be Nicolò Circignani. There are a lot of gruesome details and blood all over the walls, but the pastel colours soften somewhat a frightenig effect of the pictures.

The medieval ambo is put on a large, porphyr urn taken from the nearby Baths of Caracalla. The choir is made with spoiled Cosmatesque style walls. The ciborium, dating to the 16th century, is built over African marble columns.

The major altar, made of three Cosmatesque panels, houses the relics of Nereus, Achilleus, and of St Flavia Domitilla; all three of them where brought here from the Catacomb of Domitilla. Next to the altar there are two pagan stones depicting two winged spirits, taken from a nearby temple.

Behind the altar there is the episcopal throne with column-bearing lions, in Cosmatesque style - Vassalletto school - on which is inscribed the twenty-eight homily of St. Gregory the Great. Tradition says that he preached them in front of the relics of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus. When Cardinal Baronio ordered the inscription, he did not know that the relics were originally buried in the underground basilica of the Catacomb of Domitilla, so thought that this was the place St. Gregory preached.

The arch of the apsis has mosaics of the 9th century with the "Annunciation", the "Transfiguration", and the "Theotokos" (Madonna and child).

References

* "Roma", collection "L'Italia", Touring Editore, 2004, Milano.
* [http://roma.katolsk.no/nereoachilleo.htm "Santi Nereo e Achilleo"] , by Chris Nyborg.

ee also

*Pierfrancesco Scarampi (buried there)