Church of St. Peregrine (Vatican)

The Church of St. Peregrine in Rome was built during the years of the pontificate of Leo III . Initially, the church, which was part of a large complex of Christian religious buildings around St. Peter's Basilica , was called the “Church of St. Peregrine in Navmachia” ( Italian: San Pellegrino in Naumachia ), since it was built on the site of the water stadium of Navmachia , where sea parties were played during the Roman Empire battles ^[1] . The church, now standing on Via dei Pellegrino, was located next to the inn for pilgrims (pilgrims), which perhaps explains the choice of its heavenly patron, whose name bears the same meaning ^{[2] [3]} . Already in 800, according to existing legend, Emperor Charlemagne, in honor of his coronation, presented this church with the gift of the relics of St. Peregrine himself, who was the first bishop of Auxerre and who suffered martyrdom in the 4th century. Leo III himself also made the church of St. Peregrine a gift - a silver lamp ^[1] .

Pope Leo IV transferred the church of St. Peregrine to the jurisdiction of the nearby monastery of San Stefano Maggiore ^[3] . Subsequently, she continued to serve the pilgrims until she became the property of the Holy See. In 1657, Pope Alexander VII made it a chapel ( oratorio ) for the soldiers of the Papal Swiss Guard . Since that time, the church served not only as a house of worship, but also as the burial place of the guards, as evidenced by the numerous tombstones in its crypt ^[1] . During this period, the church of St. Peregrine was also considered the official national church of the Swiss in Rome, and several generations of representatives of the Swiss family Pfiffer von Altishoffen were buried in it ^[2] . After the signing of the Lateran Accords and the formation of the sovereign state of the Vatican, the church also served as the papal gendarmerie , whose barracks were located nearby. In 1977, the church of St. Peregrine was assigned to the corps of gendarmes, and the Swiss kept the church of St. Martin in the neighboring quarter ^[1] .

The Church of St. Peregrin, the second oldest surviving churches of the Vatican ^[2] , is an architecturally simple religious building with a single nave and apse . Despite numerous reconstructions, the church of St. Peregrine partially retains the features of the original architecture of the Carolingian Renaissance . The upper tiers of the walls of the nave and the apse are still a typical example of Carolingian brickwork; the lower tiers are composed of massive blocks, formerly part of the buildings of the imperial era, and the southern wall of the nave is based on the foundation of such a building ^[3] .

The apse of the church preserved frescoes of the XIV century, depicting Christ the Almighty , surrounded by saints Peter , Paul and two other apostles. The figure of Christ, which is part of these frescoes, dates from an even earlier period and dates back to the 9th century, which possibly means that the composition of the fresco has been preserved since the construction of the church ^[3] . Christ sitting on the throne is depicted in a typical Carolingian manner, with large expressive eyes, hair parted in the middle, and a curly beard. Above the church’s altar is a fresco of the first half of the 15th century, depicting the Madonna and Child Christ under a canopy, which the angels support. The fresco belongs to the brush of a master from Central Italy. Of interest is also the image of the heavenly patron of the church above its main entrance, made of majolica . Saint Peregrine is depicted holding a book with his motto - Nulla mihi patria nisi Christus, nec nomen aliud quam Christianus (“I have no other house except Christ, and no other name except the Christian”) ^[2] . Since the church serves as an official oratorio of the Vatican gendarmes and firefighters, it contains images of the archangel Michael , the patron saint of the gendarmerie, and St. Barbara , who patronizes the firefighters ^[1] .