Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Chapel of the Annunciation

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The Cappella dell' Annunziata (Chapel of the Annunciation) was commissioned by Cardinal Juan de Torquemada (1388-1468), who was the uncle of the first Grand Inquisitor of Spain, the infamous Dominican friar Tomás de Torquemada (1420-98). In 1460, the cardinal set up the Confraternity of the Holy Annunciation (Confraternita della Santissima Annunziata), which provided dowries for girls whose parents were too poor to provide one. Without a dowry, a girl would remain unwed.

The Annunciation by Antoniazzo Romano

Each year (until 1871), on the feast day of the Annunciation (March 25th), the girls who were chosen would walk in a solemn procession to the chapel. Dressed in white, their heads crowned with a garland of flowers, they would receive their dowries in the presence of the Pope. 

The altarpiece is Antonio di Benedetto Aquilo degli Aquili (c.1430 - c.1510), better known as by Antoniazzo Romano, and depicts three small girls, all dressed in white, receiving bags of money from the Virgin Mary, while Torquemada looks on.

The confraternity also provided dowries for poor girls who wanted to become nuns.

Monument to Cardinal Torquemada

In 1602, the Confraternity of the Annunciation erected a memorial to their founder. It lies to the left of the altar and was created by the sculptor Ambrogio Buonvicino (c. 1552–1622). 

Funerary Monument of Pope Urban VII

On the left wall of the chapel is the funerary monument of Pope Urban VII, who holds the record for the shortest reign in the history of the papacy. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Castagna was elected Pope Urban VII on September 15th 1590; thirteen days later he was dead. Pope Urban VII, who actually died before his coronation, left a colossal sum of money to the Archconfraternity of the Holy Annunciation, of which he had been a benefactor. 

​The statue of Pope Urban VII was carved by Ambrogio Buonvicino.​

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