Column of the Immaculate Conception, Rome

The Column of the Immaculate Conception (Italian: La Colonna della Immacolata) is a nineteenth-century monument in central Rome depicting the Virgin Mary, located in what is called Piazza Mignanelli, towards the south east extension of Piazza di Spagna. It was placed aptly in front of the offices of the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide (offices for promulgating the faith), now renamed the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

The Virgin Mary as the Immaculate Conception carrying a wreath of flowers offered annually by the Roman firemen. Sculpture by Giuseppe Obici on top of the Corinthian column of the goddess Minerva.

The Marian monument was designed by the architect Luigi Poletti, the actual figure atop was sculpted by Giuseppe Obici and commissioned by Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies. In part, he wanted to put closure to the dispute between Naples and the Papal States that had developed in the last century, when Naples abolished the Chinea, a yearly tribute offered to the Pope as ultimate sovereign of Naples.

Since December 1953, Pontiffs have visited the monument annually and offered a bouquet of flowers at the base of the column with help of Roman firemen commemorating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

History and description

The column was dedicated on 8 December 1857, celebrating the recently adopted (1854) dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The dogma had been proclaimed ex cathedra in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus of Pope Pius IX. The structure is a square marble base with statues of biblical figures at the corners that uphold a column of Cipollino marble of 11.8 meters. Atop the column is a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary, the work of Giuseppe Obici. The standard imagery of the immaculate conception is used: a virgin on a crescent, atop the world, stomping a serpent (a symbol of the original sin assigned to all humans since Adam and Eve, except the Virgin Mary).

The Corinthian column itself was sculpted in ancient Rome, and was discovered in 1777 during the construction of the monastery of Santa Maria della Concezione located in this area, the site of the former Campus Martius. The original column once bore the goddess Minerva carrying a shield, now lost in history. At the base are four statues of Hebrew figures that gave portent of the virgin birth, each accompanied by a quote of a biblical verse in Latin, including David (by Adam Tadolini), Isaiah (by Salvatore Revelli), Ezekiel (by Carlo Chelli), and Moses (by Ignazio Jacometti). Around 1922-30, A replica of the column was raised on the campus of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois.

Biblical Statues located at the base of the Colonna della Immacolata
Patriarch Moses by Jacometti
Prophet Isaiah by Revelli
King David by Tadolini
Seer Ezekiel by Carlo Chelli


Column in front of the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide, with Spanish embassy to Vatican at right.

The whistle of Patriarch Moses

The statue of Moses was the source of a satirical joke involving the nearby statue of Pasquino, wherein the Roman statue was said to have tried to talk to the biblical statue, only to be replied with a whistle. When the Pasquino statue asked why he could not talk some mention was made to the sibilant posture of the statue's lips. In this piazza, now thronged with young tourists out on stroll, the whistling and horns may have other sexual connotations, resulting in the joke, that sometimes also includes a sexual reference to the horns on Moses' head as well as his forked beard. Without correlation, the biblical horns of light in traditional Catholic iconography is derived from the Vulgate translation of the Bible.

Association with Roman firemen

The column was erected by the city fireman. An eyewitness, Juliana Forbes writes, 'It was on its side and was raised perpendicular. It was raised by some firemen who turned some capstans and so raised it. There were sixteen men to each capstan and a great many capstans which, at the sound of a bugle, were turned round and round by the firemen.' This was on December 18.[1]

Every December 8, the day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a ceremony is held here, often with the Pope in attendance, where the head of the Italian fire department presents a bouquet with the motto "Flammas domamus, donamus Corda " (English: "We stop fires, giving our hearts") while a fire truck is used to place a bouquet around the right arm of the Virgin Mary statue and another bouquet decorated with SPQR label is placed on the bottom of the statue.

References
  1. Juliana Forbes, manuscript Diary

Sources
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