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St Mark's English Church, Florence
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Saint Marks English Church is an Anglican church in Florence, Italy. The church forms part of the chaplaincy of St Marks Florence with St Peters Siena, the chaplain is Father William Lister. The average congregation is about 150, the church ministers to the homeless in Florence. It is also used for music concerts and opera, with a resident opera company. St Marks was founded by the Reverend Charles Tooth as a centre of worship for Anglo-Catholic members of the Anglican Church in Florence and he started a house church at 1 Via dei Serragli in 1877 to teach Anglo-Catholic principles and celebrate the Holy Eucharist daily during the week. In 1880, Tooth purchased a 15th-century palazzo to meet the new congregations needs, J R Spencer Stanhope designed and created the wall and ceiling decorations at his own expense. The first Holy Eucharist was celebrated there on 1 May 1881, although chaplain, the premises were extended by the purchase of 16 Via Maggio in 1906. The church was damaged by the 1966 Flood of the Arno River, resulting in the loss of G F Bodleys 19th-century stencil work on the lower walls, Marks was the second Anglican church to be built in Florence. The British community in Florence has a long history, the chaplaincy began in the late 1820s. The first church, Holy Trinity, opened in the 1840s, rebuilt in the 1890s, Holy Trinity Church on the Via Lamarmara, is today a Waldensian Church. The white marble statue in the niche over the door is Apotheosis of Saint Mark by Jason Arkles. This is the first work by an American sculptor to have a permanent public location in Florence, the building was altered by Tooth, who turned the ground floor into a church with nave, aisles, transept and chancel, about 90 feet long and seating 400. The interior is decorated in the Pre-Raphaelite style and the reaches of the church have floral motifs with, as described by art historian Berenice Schreiner. Citations Official website Previous website at the Wayback Machine
2.
Florence
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Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Church (building)
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A church building, often simply called a church, is a building used for Christian religious activities, particularly worship services. The term in its sense is most often used by Christians to refer to their religious buildings. In traditional Christian architecture, the church is arranged in the shape of a Christian cross. When viewed from plan view the longest part of a cross is represented by the aisle, towers or domes are often added with the intention of directing the eye of the viewer towards the heavens and inspiring church visitors. The earliest identified Christian church was a church founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, a cathedral is a church, usually Roman Catholic, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox, housing the seat of a bishop. In standard Greek usage, the word ecclesia was retained to signify both a specific edifice of Christian worship, and the overall community of the faithful. This usage was retained in Latin and the languages derived from Latin, as well as in the Celtic languages. In the Germanic and some Slavic languages, the word kyriak-ós/-ē/-ón was adopted instead, in Old English the sequence of derivation started as cirice, then churche, and eventually church in its current pronunciation. German Kirche, Scottish kirk, Russian церковь, etc. are all similarly derived, according to the New Testament, the earliest Christians did not build church buildings. Instead, they gathered in homes or in Jewish worship places like the Second Temple or synagogues, the earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church, the Dura-Europos church, founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, in addition to being a place of worship, the cathedral or parish church was used by the community in other ways. It could serve as a place for guilds or a hall for banquets. Mystery plays were performed in cathedrals, and cathedrals might also be used for fairs. The church could be used as a place to thresh and store grain, a common architecture for churches is the shape of a cross. These churches also often have a dome or other large vaulted space in the interior to represent or draw attention to the heavens. Other common shapes for churches include a circle, to represent eternity, or an octagon or similar star shape, another common feature is the spire, a tall tower on the west end of the church or over the crossing. The Latin word basilica was used to describe a Roman public building
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Convent
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A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers or religious sisters, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion. The term derives via Old French from Latin conventus, perfect participle of the verb convenio, meaning to convene, the original reference was to the gathering of mendicants who spent much of their time travelling. Technically, a monastery or nunnery is a community of monastics, whereas a friary or convent is a community of mendicants, and a canonry a community of canons regular. The terms abbey and priory can be applied to both monasteries and canonries, an abbey is headed by an Abbot, and a priory is a dependent house headed by a Prior. In English usage since about the 19th century the term convent almost invariably refers to a community of women, in historical usage they are often interchangeable, with convent especially likely to be used for a friary. When applied to houses in Eastern Orthodoxy and Buddhism, English refers to all houses of male religious as monasteries. Christian monasticism Enclosed religious orders Herbermann, Charles, ed. Convent, carmelite Monastery of the Sacred Hearts —- an example of a modern-day convent Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Convent
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Dominican Order
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Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally carry the letters O. P. after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning of the Order of Preachers. Membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, the order is famed for its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers. The Dominican Order is headed by the Master of the Order, in the year 2000, there were 5,171 Dominican friars in solemn vows,917 student brothers, and 237 novices. By the year 2013 there were 6,058 Dominican friars, a number of other names have been used to refer to both the order and its members. In England and other countries the Dominican friars are referred to as Black Friars because of the black cappa or cloak they wear over their white habits, Dominicans were Blackfriars, as opposed to Whitefriars or Greyfriars. They are also distinct from the Augustinian Friars who wear a similar habit and their identification as Dominicans gave rise to the pun that they were the Domini canes, or Hounds of the Lord. The Dominican Order came into being in the Middle Ages at a time when religion began to be contemplated in a new way, men of God were no longer expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister. Instead, they travelled among the people, taking as their examples the apostles of the primitive Church. Out of this emerged two orders of mendicant friars, one, the Friars Minor, was led by Francis of Assisi, the other. Dominics new order was to be an order, trained to preach in the vernacular languages. Rather than earning their living on vast farms as the monasteries had done, at the same time, Dominic inspired the members of his order to develop a mixed spirituality. They were both active in preaching, and contemplative in study, prayer and meditation, the brethren of the Dominican Order were urban and learned, as well as contemplative and mystical in their spirituality. While these traits affected the women of the order, the nuns especially absorbed the latter characteristics, in England, the Dominican nuns blended these elements with the defining characteristics of English Dominican spirituality and created a spirituality and collective personality that set them apart. The orders origins in battling heterodoxy influenced its development and reputation. Many later Dominicans battled heresy as part of their apostolate, indeed, many years after St. Dominic reacted to the Cathars, the first Grand Inquistor of Spain, Tomás de Torquemada, would be drawn from the Dominican Order. As an adolescent, he had a love of theology. During his studies in Palencia, Spain, he experienced a famine, prompting Dominic to sell all of his beloved books. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five, he was ordained to the priesthood, at that time the south of France was the stronghold of the Cathar or Albigensian heresy, named after the Duke of Albi, a Cathar sympathiser and opponent to the subsequent Albigensian Crusade
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Fra Angelico
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Fra Angelico was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having a rare and perfect talent. He was known to contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole and Fra Giovanni Angelico, in modern Italian he is called il Beato Angelico, the common English name Fra Angelico means the Angelic friar. In 1982 Pope John Paul II proclaimed his beatification in recognition of the holiness of his life and he is listed in the Roman Martyrology as Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus—Blessed Giovanni of Fiesole, surnamed the Angelic. Fra Angelico was born Guido di Pietro at Rupecanina in the Tuscan area of Mugello near Fiesole towards the end of the 14th century, nothing is known of his parents. He was baptized Guido or Guidolino, the earliest recorded document concerning Fra Angelico dates from October 17,1417 when he joined a religious confraternity or guild at the Carmine Church, still under the name of Guido di Pietro. The first record of Angelico as a friar dates from 1423, Fra, a contraction of frater, is a conventional title for a mendicant friar. According to Vasari, Fra Angelico initially received training as an illuminator, possibly working with his older brother Benedetto who was also a Dominican and an illuminator. The former Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence, now a state museum, the painter Lorenzo Monaco may have contributed to his art training, and the influence of the Sienese school is discernible in his work. He had several important charges in the convents he lived in, but this did not limit his art, according to Vasari, the first paintings of this artist were an altarpiece and a painted screen for the Charterhouse of Florence, none such exist there now. Between 1418 and 1436 he was at the convent of Fiesole, where he executed a number of frescoes for the church and the Altarpiece. A predella of the Altarpiece remains intact and is conserved in the National Gallery, London and it shows Christ in Glory surrounded by more than 250 figures, including beatified Dominicans. In 1436, Fra Angelico was one of a number of the friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built convent or friary of San Marco in Florence, in 1439 Fra Angelico completed one of his most famous works, the San Marco Altarpiece at Florence. The result was unusual for its time, but in this instance, the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if they were able to converse about the shared experience of witnessing the Virgin in glory. Paintings such as this, known as Sacred Conversations, were to become the major commissions of Giovanni Bellini, Perugino and Raphael. In 1445 Pope Eugene IV summoned him to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peters, later demolished by Pope Paul III. Vasari claims that at this time Fra Angelico was offered the Archbishopric of Florence by Pope Nicholas V, the story seems possible and even likely. However, if Vasaris date is correct, then the pope must have been Eugene IV and not Nicholas, moreover, the Archbishop in 1446–1459 was the Dominican Antoninus of Florence, canonized by Pope Adrian VI in 1523. In 1447 Fra Angelico was in Orvieto with his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli, among his other pupils were Zanobi Strozzi
8.
Girolamo Savonarola
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Girolamo Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of art and culture. He denounced clerical corruption, despotic rule and the exploitation of the poor and he prophesied the coming of a biblical flood and a new Cyrus from the north who would reform the Church. In September 1494, when Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, while Savonarola intervened with the French king, the Florentines expelled the ruling Medici and, at the friars urging, established a popular republic. In 1495 when Florence refused to join Pope Alexander VIs Holy League against the French and he disobeyed and further defied the pope by preaching under a ban, highlighting his campaign for reform with processions, bonfires of the vanities, and pious theatricals. In retaliation, the Pope excommunicated him in May 1497, a trial by fire proposed by a rival Florentine preacher in April 1498 to test Savonarolas divine mandate turned into a fiasco, and popular opinion turned against him. Savonarola and two of his supporting friars were imprisoned, under torture, Savonarola confessed that he had invented his visions and prophecies. On 23 May 1498, Church and civil authorities condemned, hanged, Savonarola was born on 21 September 1452, in Ferrara. His grandfather, Michele Savonarola, was a physician and polymath. Savonarolas mother Elena claimed a lineage from the Bonacossi family of Mantua and she and her husband Niccolo had seven children, of whom Girolamo was third. His grandfather was a successful physician who oversaw his education. His family had amassed in his grandfathers footsteps, at some point, however, he abandoned his career intentions. In his early poems, he expresses his preoccupation with the state of the Church and of the world. He began to write poetry of a bent, notably On the Ruin of the World and On the Ruin of the Church. About the same time, he seems to have been thinking about a life in religion, as he later told his biographer, a sermon he heard by a preacher in Faenza persuaded him to abandon the world. True or not, in a letter he wrote to his father when he left home to join the Dominican Order he hints at being troubled by desires of the flesh. There is also a story that on the eve of his departure he dreamed that he was cleansed of such thoughts by a shower of icy water which prepared him for the ascetic life. In the unfinished treatise he left behind, later called De contemptu mundi, or On Contempt for the World, he calls upon readers to fly from this world of adultery, sodomy, murder and envy
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Michelozzo
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Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi was an Italian architect and sculptor. Considered one of the pioneers of architecture during the Renaissance. He was a pupil of Lorenzo Ghiberti in his early years, known primarily for designing Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, he is often overshadowed by his contemporaries Donatello in sculpture and Brunelleschi in architecture. He remained for his biographers a shadowy, active, competent, second-rate figure, Michelozzo was born in Florence in 1396. He was the son of Bartolomeo di Gherardo Borgognone and Antonia, Borgognone was of French origin and arrived in Florence from Burgundy at an unknown date. Borgognone lived and worked in the Santo Croce quarter of Florence as a tailor, Michelozzo had three brothers named Leonardo, Zanobi, and Giovanni. By 1391, Michelozzos family had moved to the San Giovanni quarter, as an engraver, Michelozzo learned how to cast, chase, and gild copper and bronze, two of the metals in which the Medieval and Renaissance goldsmith most commonly worked. He also gained immense precision of hand and a mastery of design in miniature. He later served as one of the consuls of the Guild in 1430, throughout his life, Michelozzo retained the family residence on Via Larga, which was near the Medici Palace and next door to the humanist Bartolomeo Scala. In addition, Michelozzo possessed a house and garden in S. Domino a Brozzi, Michelozzos father died sometime before 1427, and his mother passed sometime between 1433 and 1442. From this, Michelozzo learned how to run a closely supervised shop, how to organize it efficiently, how to train and control assistants, under Donatello, Michelozzo assisted in the building of the sacristy of Santa Trinita, where Ghiberti started to fuse together late-Gothic and antique forms. Michelozzo also became the responsible for the architectural frames of Donatellos sculptures such as the funerary monument of John XXIII. He completely subordinates the architectural setting to his sculpture and makes architecture, so to speak, few historians have disputed Cosimos close relationship to Michelozzo, who was the Medici architect for nearly forty years. Michelozzo was more agreeable and accessible to the advice and desires of Cosimo than the turbulent Brunelleschi, historians have cited this as an unparalleled example of esteem between artist and patron. With great engineering skill Michelozzo shored up, and partly rebuilt, the Palazzo Vecchio, then in a ruinous condition, for Cosimo he designed numerous other buildings, most of them of noteworthy importance. For Giovanni de Medici, Cosimos son, he built a very large villa at Fiesole. Ludwig Heydenreich and Paul Davies argue that all of Michelozzos buildings are works of considerable standing. the most independent architect after Brunelleschi, Michelozzo married Francesca, daughter of Piero di Ambrogio Galligari, in late January or February 1441. At the time of their marriage, she was 20 years old, francescas dowry of 425 florins was about average for an upper-middle-class family at that time
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