John of God - Roma, Italy
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denben
N 41° 53.432 E 012° 28.668
33T E 290752 N 4640698
The statue of St. John of God is one of four statues of the nineteenth century stone monument located in front of San Bartolomeo all'Isola, in the center of Piazza San Bartolomeo on the Tiber Island in Rome.
Waymark Code: WM113B4
Location: Lazio, Italy
Date Posted: 08/08/2019
Views: 3
The stone monument known as the guglia or "spire is the work of Ignazio Jacometti in 1869. It is in the form of a four-fronted aedicule on a plinth, surmounted by a highly decorated neo-Baroque pyramidal finial ending by a ball and cross. There is a statue in a niche on each side, and the inscriptions indicate who they represent: SS Bartolomew, Francis of Assisi, Paulinus of Nola and John of God.
This structure was commissioned by Pope Pius IX, allegedly to commemorate the First Vatican Council which is mentioned in the dedicatory inscription. It actually replaced a free-standing column which was knocked over and smashed by a badly controlled wagon in 1867. This feature was known in the 19th century as the Colonna infame, because once a year on it was posted an official list of prominent people who had not received Communion at Mass during the Easter season. According to the rule of the Catholic Church, this entails automatic excommunication.
The inscription reads: Pius IX Pont[ifex] Max[imus] in columnae locum quae plaustrum impetu quassata conciderat pecunia sua fieri erigique iussit anno Christiano MDCCCLXIX Concilio Vaticano ineunte. ("Pius IX, the chief priest, ordered [this] to be made and put up using his own money in the place where the column fell which had been shattered by a collision with a cart, in the Christian year 1869, the Vatican Council having started".) (
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John of God, born Juan Ciudad (Montemor-o-Novo, 8 March 1495 - Granada, 8 March 1550), was a Spanish religious of Portuguese origin, founder of the Hospitaller Order called "Fatebenefratelli". In 1690 he was proclaimed a saint by Pope Alexander VIII. Pope Leo XIII in 1886 declared him patron of hospitals and those who work to restore health to the sick along with San Camillo de Lellis. Pope Pius XI, on August 28, 1930, proclaimed him, always together with Camillo de Lellis, "Patron of nurses". (
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The Fatebenefratelli Hospital located on the western side of the Tiber Island was established in 1585 by the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God.