Wednesday of Third Week: Sant' Andrea della Valle

Today we're taking a detour.  The originally listed station church, San Sisto, was not available to us due to renovations.  So we went off to Sant Andrea della Valle instead.  I love this church!  It's so beautiful.  Plus its patron is St. Andrew, who is my Confirmation saint.

Sant' Andrea della Valle

I don't have much on this church since it is not part of our Procedamus station church booklet, but I can fill in a few details (thank you Google).  This church is super new in the scheme of things.  Its construction only began in the year 1590 and it was completed 60 years later.  The Baroque facade which you see today was added a few years after its dedication, between 1655 and 1663.  The duchess of Amalfi, Donna Costanza Piccolomini d'Aragona, bequeathed her palace and the adjacent church of San Sebastiano on this site to the religious order of the Theatines for the construction of a new church.  Amalfi's patron saint is St. Andrew, and so this church was planned in his honor.

The Theatines are also known as the Congregation of Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence.  They were founded by St. Cajetan and his companions on May 3, 1524, and were approved by Pope Clement VII only a few months later on June 24.  Their order sought to reform the life of both clergy and lay faithful with a call to greater conversion and the practice of virtue.  The order quickly became quite successful, and this church was one of the early fruits of its labors.

There are tons of beautiful things to see in this church, definitely one to put on the list.  But the ambiance is quite unique compared to other Baroque churches because all the windows along the vaulted ceiling and in the apse are stained a light yellow.  So when you walk in on a sunny day you see the whole place flooded with yellow light -- the effect is worth a good look.