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Tour Santa Susanna

Main Altar at Santa Susanna

The Main Altar

The main altar of Santa Susanna is a composite work. The original Constantinian basilica had a flat back wall but this was enlarged and a great apse was built by Pope Saint Leo III in 800 AD. The apse originally held an 9th century mosaic that we believe is still underneath the present fresco of Saint Susanna. Drawings done before the present apse was frescoed, suggest that it held a series of figures. Christ the Teacher sat in the center of the mosaic and on his right were the figures of Saint Susanna and Saint Felicity, and on his left were the figures of Charlemagne (who visited the church) and Pope Saint Leo who held the church in his hands. A similar mosaic can be seen on the right exterior side of the Scala Sancta (or Holy Stairs at Saint John Lateran) which served as the dining hall of Leo III in the 9th century. Today a fresco of “Saint Susanna Entering Into Heaven” and being crowned as a martyr by Christ sit over these mosaic figures. These frescos were completed by Caesare Nebbia in 1596.

The high altar is decorated with a painting of the “Martyrdom of Santa Susanna,” by Tommas Laurenti, completed in 1592. It is said the Michelangelo Caravaggio came to the church in 1602 to study the painting before completely his great work the “Martyrdom of Saint Matthew” in the Church of San Luigi della Francese. There is a similarity in both paintings in the placement and movement of the figures. The frescos on either side of the high altar depict moments in the Passio of Santa Susanna. On the left, Susanna refused the marriage proposal of the Roman General Maxentius Galerius and on the right, Susanna refuses to place a pinch of incense in front of the God Jupiter, revealing her Christianity. Both frescos were done by Caesare Nebbia. On the left side of the central altar of celebration is a fresco by Baldassare Croce depicting the death of Saint Gabinus. On the right side of the central altar is a fresco of the Martyrdom of Saint Felicity by Paris Nogarri. Both frescos were completed between 1592 and 1596.