Santa Maria delle Lauretane is a lost 18th century Baroque hospital church that used to be at Via di San Giovanni in Laterano 33. This is in the rione Monti.
The dedication was to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Loreto.
History[]
The church served the Ospedale di Padre Angelo, which was a convalescent home for patients recovering after staying at the Spedale di San Giovanni in Laterano. It was founded in the early 18th century by Blessed Angelo Paoli, a Carmelite friar who was a nurse at the latter institution as well as a member of the community at San Martino ai Monti. He was beatified in 2010. The project was paid for by Princess Teresa Doria Pamphilj.
The dedication was to Our Lady of Loreto, hence the name. A small Baroque church was designed by Giuseppe Sardi, and completed in 1739. An active sisterhood, the Suore delle Lauretane, administered the hospital and used the church as their convent chapel.
It was restored in 1880 by an anonymous benefactor, but to no avail as it was deconsecrated before the end of the century.
It was finally demolished in 1959 to make way for tax offices. However the façade was preserved, and is an obvious feature of the streetscape if you walk west of San Clemente.
Appearance[]
The plan was elliptical, with the major axis longitudinal. There was no entrance vestibule, but there was an added semi-circular apse with a triumphal arch. The single altar had an altarpiece showing Our Lady of Loreto.
The surviving façade has a broken pediment with a recessed central section, supported by two Ionic columns which stand in front of the inner pair of four Ionic pilasters. An arched window crowned by volutes and a winged cherub's head is above the entrance, and extends into the pediment.
The church as an edifice did not have an independent architectural identity. It occupied the middle of the hospital building, which comprised one long block on the streetfront.