The church of Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio was commissioned by Cardinal Gulio Mazzarino (1602-61), the first minister to the French king Louis XIV (1638-1715), and designed by Martino Longhi the Elder (1602-60).
The dynamic facade is the most exciting feature of the church. It sports the coat of arms of Cardinal Mazarin and the inscription: ANNO · IVBILEI · MDCL · IVLIVS · SRED · CAR · MAZARINVS · A · FVNDAMEN · EREXIT(Julius Mazarinus, Cardinal deacon of the Holy Roman Church, built [this] from its foundations in the year of the Jubilee 1650).
Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio has a curious claim to fame: it is the repository of the praecordia of every pope from Sixtus V (r. 1585-90) to Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903).