From 1527 to 1590 over 50 new churches were built in Rome. One of these was Il Santissimo Nome del Gesù (The Most Sacred Name of Jesus), the mother church of the Society of Jesus, which was founded in 1534 by the Spanish soldier-turned-priest, Ignacio de Loyola. Six years later the Jesuit Order was formally approved by Pope Paul III (r. 1534-49).

San Carlo al Corso

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Church of San Carlo al Corso, Rome
San Carlo al Corso
The 17th century church of Santi Ambrogio e Carlo, better known as San Carlo al Corso, is dedicated to two great bishops of Milan, St Ambrose and St Charles Borromeo. The church was designed and built by Onorio Longhi (1568-1619) and completed by his son Martino Longhi the Younger (1602-60). Its grand dome, a distinguished feature of the Roman skyline, is the work of Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669).

The Baroque interior of this very large church (72 by 54 metres) is sumptuously decorated. The fresco in the vault of the nave depicts the Fall of the Rebel Angels (1677-79) and is the work of Giacinto Brandi (1621-91). The frescoes in the vault of the sanctuary are also by Brandi.

The painting on the high altar, however, is the work Carlo Maratta (1625-1713) and depicts the Madonna Presenting of St Ambrose and St Charles Borromeo to Christ. A figure below the feet of Christ holds a tablet bearing a single word Humilitas, the virtue for which St Charles was famous. 
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The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the right transept was designed by Paolo Posi (1708-76) and completed in 1769. The altarpiece is a copy, in mosaic, of The Immaculate Conception with the Doctors of the Church, a painting by Carlo Maratta in the Cybo Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo. The two statues depict King David and Judith with the Head of Holofernes; they are, respectively, the work of André Jean Lebrun (1737-1811) and Pietro Pacilli (1720-72). The inscription at the top of the altar proclaims: TV SOLA VNIVERSAS HAERESES INTEREMISTI (You alone have destroyed all our heresies), a reference to the Virgin Mary. 

The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the left transept is very similar to the one opposite. However it was created less than a century ago, during the reign of Pius XI (r. 1922-39), to celebrate the pope's fiftieth anniversary as a priest. It was designed by the Roman architect Cesare Bazzani (1873-1939). 

San Carlo al Corso is the only church in Rome to have an ambulatory (a walkway behind the high altar). There you will find a niche with a reliquary containing the heart of St Charles Borromeo (1538-84), who was canonised in 1610.  It was donated to the church, in 1614, by his cousin, Cardinal Federico Borromeo. 

The interior of the dome is decorated with gilded stucco-work to a complex and beautiful design. 
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