Church of Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte

The Church of Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte, located in Via Giulia in the Regola district of Rome, is a Catholic place of worship dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Built in 1573 by the confraternity of the same name, the church was rebuilt in 1737 according to the design of Ferdinando Fuga and consecrated in 1738. The Archconfraternity of Orazione e Morte had the purpose of burying the unidentified dead found in the countryside or drowned in the Tiber. The interior of the church, with an oval plan, is rich in decorations that evoke the afterlife. Among the notable works are frescoes by Giovanni Lanfranco, a copy of the Archangel Michael by Guido Reni, the Crucifixion by Ciro Ferri, and the Rest in Egypt by Lorenzo Masucci. Particularly striking is the underground crypt, once the cemetery of the confraternity, where over 8000 bodies were buried between 1552 and 1896. Today the crypt appears as an ossuary, with decorations, sculptures, and chandeliers made of bones and skeletons. In the nineteenth century, the crypt served as a backdrop for sacred representations with life-size wax statues. The church and the confraternity solemnly celebrate the octave of the deceased in the month of November. This tradition and the historical representations with wax figures were particularly impressive and instructive for the Roman people.