Santa Maria Egiziaca was the dedication of the ancient rectangular temple on the Piazza della Bocca della Verità when it was in use as an oriental-rite church. This is in the rione Ripa. Piranesi engraving on Wikimedia Commons. [1]
The dedication was to St Mary of Egypt (not the Blessed Virgin Mary).
Temple
The temple was built in the first century BC and was dedicated to Portunus, the god of harbours (not to Fortuna Virilis, as formerly asserted). This was because the main harbour of ancient Rome was just to the north, where transhipment boats from the seagoing ports at Ostia and Porto tied up. There is an English Wikipedia article on it. [2]
It was built to a cheap design. Instead of having a cella (the room containing the divine image) surrounded by detached columns on all sides, it has four fully round Ionic columns at the entrance, a pair behind these flanking the entrance portico and then four half-round columns attached to the cella on each side. Finally, another four half-round columns decorate the back. There are candelabra and festoons carved on the frieze, also lion protomes. The bulding materials are travertine limestone and tuff, which gives the edifice a rough appearance but there would have been an original coating of stucco possibly painted in colours.
The whole edifice is on a high plinth, and the entrance is approached by a flight of stairs.
History of church
Conversion of temple to church
To convert the building to a church, the entrance wall of the cella was demolished and the gaps between the columns of the portico filled in so as to create one large room. This was done in 872 by a benefactor named Stephen, and the dedication was originally to Our Lady under the title of Santa Maria in Gradellis. The church was also known as Santa Maria in Secundicerio (the name refers to an office-holder at the Papal court).
An epigraph recording the foundation was dug up here in 1571. Hülsen transcribed part of it, as follows:
Hoc dudum fuerat fanum per tempora prisca, Constructum Phoebo mortifero Iovi, Quod Stephanus veteri purgavit iudex atque decora....
("This once used to be an ancient temple, constructed [to the honour of] Phoebus and the death-dealing Jupiter, which the judge Stephen purified from the old shit and beautiful things...[put in?]")
Mary of Egypt
The dedication to St Mary of Egypt is first recorded in 1492. She was a 5th century prostitute of Alexandria, who was converted at the Holy Sepulchre during a visit to Jerusalem and who then fled into the Judean desert to be a hermit and to do penance until she died there.
Her major interest in art history is that she was confused with St Mary Magdalen in western Europe in the Middle Ages, and many of the famous paintings of the Penitent Magdalen in a cave or hut actually refer to her.
By this time, the church was parochial and had the Bocca della Verità area as its parish.
Armenians
In 1560 one of the rulers of Armenia, under attack by both Turks and Persians, sent an ambassador called Saphar Abgaro to Pope Pius IV. The Armenians have had an independent church since the beginning of the 4th century, using the Armenian rite, but an Armenian Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See has existed since the 13th century (this began in the Kingdom of Cilicia or Sis).
The pope granted the Catholic Armenians the church of San Lorenzo dei Cavallucci. This little church, a dependency of San Nicola in Carcere, was very near the north end of the Ponte Fabrizio. However, when Pope Pius V enlarged the Jewish Ghetto this area was included, and the church was deconsecrated as were all the others in the Ghetto zone. In compensation, the pope granted the Armenians the church of Santa Maria Egiziaca after suppressing the parish (which was taken over by Santa Maria in Cosmedin). A hospice for Armenian pilgrims run by Armenian monks was built next door.
Pope Clement XI (1700-21) ordered a restoration, and the provision of a new hospice and convent.
In 1921 the building was sequestered by the government, deconsecrated and converted back into a temple by removing the blocking between the front columns and re-building the entrance wall to the cella. Also, the convent and hospice was completely demolished and the little enclosed terrace in front was destroyed by excavating the old staircase.
The Armenians were compensated by being granted the church of San Nicola da Tolentino agli Orti Sallustiani, to which they removed any artwork that could be transported. The Armenian College is now adjacent to this church.
Appearance
The convent was built immediately to the east, incorporated the east wall of the church and was higher than it. In its fabric was a side chapel which was accessed immediately to the left inside the church's main entrance. Its own entrance was double, separated by one of the ancient portico columns. Outside the entrance of the church was a little terrace surrounded by a low wall, created by raising the ground level and burying the ancient temple's entrance staircase. The main entrance to the Armenian hospice was also off this, just to the left of the church façade.
A comparison between old photos of the mid 19th century (see links below) and the Piranesi engraving of the mid 18th century is instructive. The latter does not show the entrance columns, but simply has a row of three large rectangular windows over a pedimented entrance doorway. This was because there used to be an entrance foyer in front of the old temple façade, which was demolished and the old façade restored around the period of the French occupation.
Fragments of medieval frescoes survive, depicting Our Lady with saints and also more recent ones showing St Mary the Egyptian.
Bibliography
Coarello, P: Rome and Environs, An Archeological Guide, English trans. UCP 2007
External links
"Vedute di Roma" photo gallery