The Death of Francesco Borromini

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Portrait of Francesco Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

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On August 3rd 1667, the great architect Francesco Borromini died, a few weeks shy of his sixty-eighth birthday. On the previous evening, in a fit of melancholy, Borromini had run himself through with his sword. 

Although he was mortally wounded, he had time to repent, receive the last sacraments and write his will. In it he stated that he wanted to be buried, without any name, in the tomb of Carlo Maderno (1556-1629), his mentor and a distant relative, in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. Borromini's name was later inscribed on a marble disc in the floor of the church. 

Borromini hailed from Bissone, a small village on Lake Lugano, but Rome was the city in which he lived and worked for most of his adult life. Here we see so many of his masterpieces, such as the churches of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and Sant' Ivo alla Sapienza.

For many years Borromini lived in the Vicolo dell' Agnello (today's Vicolo Orbitelli), a stone's throw away from San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. 

In 1955, the Swiss Embassy commissioned a commemorative plaque to Borromini, which is attached to the third pier on the left hand side of the nave. The bulk of the inscription reads: FRANCISCVS BORROMINI TICINENSIS / EQVES CHRISTI / QVI/ IMPERITVRAE MEMORIAE ARCHITECTVS / DIVINAM ARTIS SVAE VIM / AD ROMAM MAGNIFICIS AEDIFICIIS EXORNANDAM VERTIT / IN QVIBUS / ORATORIVM PHILIPPINVM S. IVO S. AGNES IN AGONE/ INSTAVRATA LATERANENSIS ARCHIBASILICA S. ANDREAS DELLE FRATTE NVNCVPATUM / S. CAROLVS IN QVIRINALI / AEDES DE PROPAGANDA FIDE / HOC AVTEM IPSVM TEMPLVM / ARA MAXIMA DECORAVIT / NON LONGE AB HOC LAPIDE / PROPE MORTALES CAROLI MADERNI EXVVIAS / PROPINQVI MVNICIPIS ET AEMVLI SVI/ IN PACE DOMINI QVIESCIT. (Francesco Borromini, Knight of Christ, an architect with an eternal reputation, divine in the strength of his art, who applied himself to the adornment of the magnificent buildings of Rome, among which are the Oratory of the Filippini, S. Ivo, S. Agnese in Agone, reworking the Lateran Basilica, Sant' Andrea delle Fratte, San Carlo on the Quirinal Hill, the temple building of the Propaganda Fide, and also in this temple he decorated the High Altar not far from this grave stone near to the mortal remains of Carlo Maderno. He rests in the peace of the Lord.)

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