Santa Sabina de Rome Church — Wikipedia

L’ Church of Santa Sabina (In French Sainte Sabine) is a minor basilica located in Rome on the Aventine, near the Tiber. It is also the conventual church of the Homonym convent of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) since the XIII ^{It is} century. This convent now houses the government of the order.

Built under the low-empire at IN ^{It is} century, and restored at the beginning of XX ^{It is} A century to withdraw some subsequent additions and sets, it is today one of the best preserved and most representative basilical plan churches of the Paleochrétian architecture of Rome.

The church is built under the pontificate of Célestin I ^is , between 422 and 432 by Bishop Pierre d’Illyrie, from Dalmatia, on the site of an old title ( title ). From the outset, it was dedicated to Saint Sabine, a Christian martyrdom of II ^{It is} century. It was built according to a rectangular basilical plan with twenty-four marble columns.

At X ^{It is} century, a campanile was assistant to the church, then modified to XVII ^{It is} century.

In 1219, Pope Honorius III gave the Church to Saint Dominique, to install the order of the preachers he had just founded. He built a cloister and conventual buildings there.

At XVI ^{It is} Century, the emperor Charles V had the interior of the ancient basilica considerably transformed, by adding decorations in the style of the counter-reform.

The baroque additions were removed during an important restoration, which gave the church its primitive simplicity and whiteness. Only the baroque chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine de Siena, dating from XVII ^{It is} century was preserved.

The decoration in the work of the purple On the arcades of the central nave, with red and green porphyry, is original ( IN ^{It is} century). The false joints between the false stone stones in white marble are also in porphyry.

The cypress wood door of the basilica is the original door dating from the IN ^{It is} century (around 430). It consists of two beats (5.35 × 3.35 m) which contain 28 panels, 18 of which have kept their sculptures in bas-relief representing scenes from the Bible ^{[ first ]} : Ten small panels measuring 0.33 m width on 0.24 m height, and eight large panels with the same width and 0.80 m height. That of the upper left angle of the left leaf is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and would be the oldest example of such a representation ^{[ 2 ]} . In front of a wall reminiscent of Jerusalem, an athletic Christ, dressed in the subligaculum, is surrounded by the two thumbs with the beardless face. “The crosses are strangely absent. The face of Christ is of Syro-Palestinian, bearded, surrounded by long hair. The arms have the position of the orant … The palms of the hands turned towards the spectator show the rounded head of the nails … The feet of the three crucified rest on the bottom frame and are not nailed ^{[ 3 ]} » . There is also a worship of the Magi.

Inside, the top of the door is decorated with a mosaic presenting the original dedication of the church, in Latin hexammeters. The frieze of the central nave is also a vestige of IN ^{It is} century. The sentence is framed by two female figures, which correspond to the personification of the allegorical figures of the ecclesia ex circumcision and the ecclesia ex gentibus.

The cells of the Dominican convent have changed little since the beginnings of the order of preachers. Saint Dominique’s cell is still present, although it has been enlarged and transformed into a chapel. Likewise, the original dining room remains, where Saint Thomas Aquinas took his meals when he was in Rome. Cardinal Howard de Norfolk died at the convent in 1694. The cloister of the convent still houses a monastic life.

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  Portal (general view).

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  Portal (detailed view).

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  Crucifixion panel.

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  Paleochrétienne facade.

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  Interior of the Sainte-Sabine church.

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