Church of San Nicola dei Prefetti

Titles, orders and origins; the history of San Nicola dei Prefetti

Located in the street of the same name, in the heart of the Rione Campo Marzio, this church has very ancient origins, dating back, according to tradition, to the 8th century during the pontificate of Zaccaria. The small sacred building is mentioned for the first time in the 12th century in a bull of 1186 by Pope Urban III and later by the future Pope Honorius III, at the time he was "Cencius Camerarius", in the Liber Censuum Romanae Ecclesiae with the title ‘sancto nicolao praefecti’.
Its name, from the title Prefecti or de Prefectis, is probably linked to the Roman public office held for a long time by the De Vico family, commonly known as de Prefetti, living in the same street on the site of the current Palazzo Firenze. 
San Nicola dei Prefetti was officiated from 1524 by the Clerici Regolari Teatini, who abandoned it in 1527. In 1567, Pope Pius V entrusted it to the Dominican Friars of Santa Sabina, who moved into the new convent and took care of the restoration works from 1582. The works, carried on until 1730, gradually led to the elimination of the medieval aspect of the building, which, in 1848, passed to the Confraternity of the Santissimo Crocifisso Agonizzante, who made a series of further interventions on the interior. Since 1927, the church has been administered by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Small and Precious; the sober beauty of San Nicola dei Prefetti

The church has a simple façade from the second half of the 17th century, enclosed between the two wings of the convent, adorned with two Corinthian half pilasters on each side and crowned by a wide triangular tympanum, interrupted by a fine stucco medallion depicting Pope Pius V, and a cross with four slender ornamental elements in the form of a vase with flames. 
A refined barrel vault, with an 18th-century fresco in the centre depicting the Glory of St Nicholas by Giacomo Triga, dominates the evocative and cosy single-nave interior, characterised by two altars, one on each side, and a high altar, placed in the square apse covered by a cross vault.

Mater Misericordiae: the history of a miraculous icon

On the main altar, set in a gilded ray frame, a small canvas depicts the Virgin with a serene and prayerful expression, with folded hands and looking upwards: the Mater Misericordiae. The oil painting became the object of profound popular veneration at the end of the 18th century. According to tradition, the portrait, initially placed in a nearby lottery shop, was the protagonist of a prodigious event, along with other images of the Virgin Mary set in different locations in Rome. As reported by some publications and testimonies of the time, on 9 July 1796, the Marian icon moved the eyes, the same year Napoleon started his military campaign in Italy, the invasion of the Papal States and the following exile of Pope Pius Vi in France. The miraculous event caused a massive crowd of believers in the old lottery office; thus, the sacred painting was moved to the Church of San Nicola dei Prefetti in the mid-19th century.

Photo Redazione Turismo Roma

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