Basilica di San Bartolomeo all'Isola, with the Torre dei Caetani behind
In Roman times, the Temple of Aesculapius stood on the site of the modern church. The entire Isola Tiberina had actually been covered in marble in an effort to make the island look like a ship. The prow can still be seen today.[3]
Emperor Otto built this church over the temple's ruins on the eastern side (downstream end) of the island.[4] It was initially dedicated to Adalbert of Prague.
A portion of the relics of St. Bartholomew was given by Otto II to Rome in 983. The relics were sent to Rome from Benevento, where they had arrived in 838 from Lipari. They are located within an ancient Roman porphyry sarcophagus with lions' heads, under the main altar. The marble wellhead bears the figures of the Savior, Adalbert, Bartholomew, and Otto III. The association with Aesculapius, and therefore healing, in time caused Bartholomew's name to become associated with medicine and hospitals.[5]
The church was renovated by Pope Paschal II in 1113 and again in 1180. The church was badly damaged by a flood in 1557 and was reconstructed, with its present Baroque façade, in 1624, to designs of Orazio Torriani[6] commissioned by Cardinal Trescio. Further restorations were undertaken in 1852. The interior of the church preserves fourteen ancient Roman columns and two lion supports that date from the earliest reconstruction of the basilica.
The inscriptions found in S. Bartolomeo, a valuable source illustrating the history of the Basilica, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella.[7]
In 2000, San Bartolomeo was dedicated by Pope John Paul II to the memory of the new martyrs of the 20th and 21st century.
Exterior
In the center of the piazzetta before the church is a four-sided guglia with saints in niches by the sculptor Ignazio Jacometti, erected here in 1869.[8]
The 12th-century tower near the church, the Torre dei Caetani, is all that remains of the medieval castello erected on the island by the Pierleoni.
Interior
San Bartolomeo houses the memorial to new martyrs of the 20th and 21st century, which was dedicated by Pope John Paul II in 2000. This memorial is taken care of by the Community of Sant'Egidio, who also painted the icon on the main altar. One of the relics that are kept as part of the memorial is the piece of rock that was used in 1984 to kill Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko.[9]
List of Cardinal priests
San Bartolomeo all'Isola was established as a titular church, the titulus (Titulus S. Bartholomaei in Insula) of a cardinal priest by Pope Leo X on 6 July 1517.[10] The title is held by Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago.[11]
^S. Prete, "Reliquie e culto di S. Bartolomeo ap. dal Medio Oriente a Roma all'Isola Tiberina", Studi e Ricerche sull'Oriente Cristiano, Rome 5.3 (1982:173-181)
^V. Forcella, Inscrizioni delle chese e d' altre edifici di Roma, dal secolo XI fino al secolo XVI Volume IV (Roma: Fratelli Bencini, 1874), pp. 527-540.
