Basilica of St Erasmus
Basilica of St Erasmus

Veroli. Basilica of St Erasmus

The church of St Erasmus was founded in the place where St. Benedict and his disciples had stopped in Veroli in 529 during their journey to Montecassino.

The first oratory was funded by Valentinian, a citizen of Veroli who later became a monk and was abbot of the monastery of San Pancrazio al Laterano. In the twelfth century the Benedictines were replaced.

Over the centuries the church has been renovated several times as observed looking at the different styles of the façade. A Romanesque portico with arches and an eighteenth-century upper portion, a late Baroque style access stairway,.

Three apses are coming out of the back wall of the church and a Romanesque bell tower built from a Roman tower.

In correspondence with the arches of the access portico, we can see figures of animals from whose mouths ornamental friezes emerge and which in the stories are considered connections both with the east and with the Benedictine world.

The interior is in eighteenth-century style with three naves with three apses.

The church houses masterpieces such as a large canvas from 1747 by Sebastiano Conca (or perhaps by T. Kuntze), a painting of the Baptism of Jesus.

A gilded silver chalice from the 14th century when the miracle of the Consecrated Host took place and that is utilised once a year during Tuesday after Easter celebrations.


Written by:
Benedicta Lee

Born in Rome from an Italian mother and American father, she works as a freelance communications manager and designer in the tourism sector, a career and interest which she is pursuing with a...

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