San Lorenzo in Damaso - Tuesday, Fourth Week of Lent
- Rick Bessey
- Mar 17
- 2 min read
The Basilica of San Lorenzo in Damaso gets its name from Pope Damasus I, who held the papacy from 366 to 384 AD. He is known as the pope who commissioned Jerome to translate the Bible into the Latin Vulgate. Unlike the other churches bearing the name of Lorenzo, there are no relics or physical elements related to Saint Lawrence. Instead, Damasus was an admirer of Saint Lawrence and built the church over his own home. San Lorenzo in Damaso is a titulus church.
Move forward to the Renaissance, where Cardinal Riario, nephew to Pope Sixtus IV—the same pope responsible for the Sistine Chapel—wanted to construct a grand residence for himself in the center of Rome. The ancient church, however, was taking up space where he wanted his massive palazzo erected. Cardinal Riario commissioned Bramante, one of the most noted architects of the Renaissance, to move the church, rebuilding it within his new Palazzo. It is this structure that you see today!
Consider the layers of history present in this one structure! We have one of the most ancient churches incorporated into one of the newest (in the time of the Renaissance) palaces in Rome: the Palazzo della Cancelleria. And, this explains why the church does not have its own structure in the piazza; it shares the facade with Cardinal Riario's palace.
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