Of the sixteen columns in this church (45 feet in height, 16 feet in diameter), only the eight in the transept are of ancient Egyptian granite; the rest are in brick, stuccoed in imitation, and were additions of Vanvitelli. On the pavement is a meridian line, laid down in 1703.
"Quand Dioclétien faisait travailler les pauvres chrétiens à ses étuves, ce n'était pas son dessein de bâtir des églises à leurs successeurs; il ne pensait pas être fondateur, comme il l'a été, d'un monastère de Pères Chartreux et d'un monastère de Pères Feuillants.... C'est aux dépens de Dioclétien, de ses pierres et de son ciment qu'on fait des autels et des chapelles à Jesus-Christ, des dortoirs et des réfectoires à ses serviteurs. La providence de Dieu se joue de cette sorte des pensées des hommes, et les événements sont bien éloignés des intentions quand la terre a un dessein et le ciel un autre."—Balzac.
The Carthusian convent behind the church (ladies are not admitted) contains several picturesque fountains. That in the great cloister, built from designs of Michael Angelò, is surrounded by a group of huge and grand cypresses, said to have been planted by his hand.
"Il semble que la vie ne sert ici qu'à contempler la mort—les hommes qui existent ainsi sont pourtant les mêmes à qui la guerre et toute son activité suffirait à peine s'ils y étaient accoutumés. C'est un sujet inépuisable de réflexion que les différentes combinaisons de la destinée humaine sur la terre. Il se passe dans l'intérieur de l'âme mille accidents, il se forme mille habitudes, qui font de chaque individu un monde et son histoire."—Madame de Staël.
On a line with the monastery is a Prison for Women—then an Institution for Deaf, Dumb, and Blind—then the ugly Fountain of the Termini (designed by Fontana), sometimes called Fontanone dell' Acqua Felice, (Felice, from Fra Felice, the name by which Sixtus V. was known before his papacy,) to which the Acqua Felice was brought from Colonna 22 miles distant in the Alban hills, in 1583, by Sixtus V. It is surmounted by a hideous statue of Moses by Prospero Bresciano, who is said to have died of vexation at the ridicule it excited when uncovered. The side statues, of Aaron and Gideon, are by Giov. Batt. della Porta and Flaminio Vacca.
Opposite this, in the Via della Porta Pia, is the Church of Sta. Maria della Vittoria, built in 1605, by Carlo Maderno, for Paul V. Its façade was added from designs of Giov. Batt. Soria, by Cardinal Borghese, in payment to the monks of the adjoining Carmelite convent, for the statue of the Hermaphrodite, which had been found in their vineyard.
The name of the church commemorates an image of the Virgin, burnt in 1833, which was revered as having been instrumental in gaining the victory for the Catholic imperial troops over the Protestant Frederick and Elizabeth of Bohemia, at the battle of the White Mountain, near Prague. The third chapel on the left contains the Trinity, by Guercino; a Crucifixion, by Guido; and a portrait of Cardinal Cornaro, Guido. The altar-piece of the second chapel on the right, representing St. Francis receiving the Infant Christ from the Virgin, is by Domenichino, as are two frescoes on the side walls. In the left transept, above an altar adorned with a gilt bronze-relief of the Last Supper, by Cav. d'Arpino, is a group representing Sta. Teresa transfixed by the dart of the Angel of Death, by Bernini. The following criticisms upon it are fair specimens of the contrast between English and French taste.
"All the Spanish pictures of Sta. Theresa sin in their materialism; but the grossest example—the most offensive—is the marble group of Bernini, in the Santa Maria della Vittoria at Rome. The head of Sta. Theresa is that of a languishing nymph, the angel is a sort of Eros; the whole has been significantly described as 'a parody of Divine love.' The vehicle, white marble,—its place in a Christian church,—enhance all its vileness. The least destructive, the least prudish in matters of art, would here willingly throw the first stone."—Mrs. Jameson's Monastic Orders, p. 421.
"La sainte Thérèse de Bernin est adorable! couchée, évanouie d'amour les mains, les pieds nus pendants, les yeux demiclos, elle s'est laissée tomber de bonheur et d'extase. Son visage est maigri, mais combien noble! C'est la vraie grande dame qui a séché dans les feux, dans les larmes, en attendant celui qu'elle aime. Jusqu'aux draperies tortillées, jusqu'à l'allanguissement des mains défaillantes, jusqu'au soupir qui meurt sur ses levres entr'ouvertes, il n'y a rien en elle ni autour d'elle qui n'exprime l'angoisse volupteuse et le divin élancement de son transport. On ne peut pas rendre avec des mots une attitude si enivrée et si touchante. Renversée sur le dos, elle pâme, tout son être se dissout; le moment poignant arrive, elle gémit; c'est son dernier gémissement, la sensation est trop forte. L'ange cependant, un jeune page de quatorze ans, en légère tunique, la poitrine découverte jusqu'au dessous du sein, arrive gracieux, aimable; c'est le plus joli page de grand seigneur qui vient faire le bonheur d'une vassal trop tendre. Un sourire demi-complaisant, demi-malin, creuse des fossettes dans ses fraîches joues luisantes; sa flêche d'or à la main indique le tressaillement délicieux et terrible dont il va secouer tous les nerfs de ce corps charmant, ardent, qui s'étale devant sa main. On n'a jamais fait ce roman si séduisant et si tendre."—Taine, Voyage en Italie.
Close by is the handsome Church of Sta. Susanna, rebuilt by Carlo Maderno, for Sixtus V., on the site of an oratory founded by Pope Caius (A.D. 283), in the house of his brother Gabinus, who was martyred with his daughter Susanna because she refused to break her vow of virginity by a marriage with Maximianus Galerus, adopted son of the Emperor Diocletian, to whom this family were related. The bodies of these martyrs are said to rest beneath the high altar. The side chapel of St. Laurence was presented by Camilla Peretti, the sister of Sixtus V., together with a dowry of fifty scudi, to be paid every year to the nine best girls in the parish, on the festival of Sta. Susanna. The frescoes of the story of Susanna and the Elders, painted here on the side walls, from the analogy of names, are by Baldassare Croce; those in the tribune are by Cesare Nebbia.