Sant'Agostino, Rome

The Order of St. Augustine was founded in 1244 and its first church and monastery were the ones of Santa Maria del Popolo next to the Porta del Popolo on the Roman wall. The friars of the newly founded mendicant order, however, desired to have their main house closer to the Pope and the administration of the Church.[1]

In 1286, a Roman nobleman named Egidio Lufredi donated several houses in the area of Campo Marzio to the Order. The friars requested authorization to construct a church and a monastery on this land; Pope Honorius IV, however, only authorized the construction of the monastery because a new church would be too close to the Church of St. Tryphon in Posterula, at the corner of the current Via dei Portoghesi and Via della Scrofa. Instead, the Pope entrusted the already existing church, which preserved the relics of martyrs Saints Tryphon, Respicius, and Nympha, to the Augustinians.[1]

The construction of the church was funded by Guillaume d'Estouteville, Archbishop of Rouen and Cardinal Camerlengo (1477-1483).[2] The façade was built in 1483 by Giacomo di Pietrasanta, using travertine taken from the Colosseum. The design of the church is attributed to the late 15th century architect Baccio Pontelli, with later 18th century restorations of the interior by Luigi Vanvitelli.[3] It is a plain work of the early Renaissance style.[4]

The title of Sant'Agostino has been held by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard since 2006. It is the station church of the first Saturday in Lent.

Madonna di Loreto, by Caravaggio

A very prominent work of art presently in the church is the Madonna di Loreto in the Cavalletti Chapel (first chapel on the left), an important early Baroque painting by Caravaggio.[5]

The church also contains a Guercino canvas of Saints Augustine, John the Evangelist and Jerome; a fresco of the Prophet Isaiah by Raphael on the third pilaster of the left nave;[6] and the statue of Saint Anne and Virgin with Child, by Andrea Sansovino.

The sculpture of the Madonna del Parto (Our Lady of Childbirth) by Jacopo Sansovino based, according to a legend, on an ancient statue of Agrippina holding Nero in her arms, is reputed by tradition to work miracles in childbirth. The statue is laden with thank-offerings and always surrounded by offerings of flowers and candles.

In 1616, the 17th-century Baroque artist Giovanni Lanfranco decorated the Buongiovanni Chapel (in the left transept) with three canvases and a ceiling fresco of the Assumption.

The church also houses Melchiorre Caffà's sculpture "St. Thomas of Villanova Distributing Alms", completed by his mentor Ercole Ferrata.

The church contains the tomb of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine, that of Fiammetta, lover of Cesare Borgia and a famous courtesan, and that of Olav Trondsson, archbishop of Norway 1459 - 1473. His tombstone has the inscription "CVI DEDERAT SACRAM MERITO NORVEGIA SEDEM HIC TEGIT OLAVI FRIGIDVS OSSA LAPIS", meaning: "Here a cold stone covers the bones of Olav, to whom Norway rightly gave the holy chair."[7]

The inscriptions found in S. Agostino, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella.[8]

In 1741, Pietro Bracci designed and sculpted the polychrome tomb of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali, who died on 15 January 1737.[9]

Guillaume d'Estouteville (c. 1412–1483), a leading bishop and cardinal, also is buried here.

Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590) established the titular church of a cardinal priest in April 1587.

• Burials at the Basilica of Sant'Agostino

• P Antonino Ronci and D. Torre, S. Agostino in Campo Marzio, Roma (Roma: D. Torre, [1950?]).