The origin and early development of Rome’s intramural cults: a context for the cult of Sant’Agnese in Agone

Abstract

The paper provides a general context for the development of Sant’ Agnese in Agone. It reviews the different ways the cult of martyrs was introduced intra muros in late antiquity: links were established – under the control of the papacy – between cemeterial churches and Roman tituli, some places were associated with episodes of the life of Roman martyrs, non corporal relics were venerated, relics from the catacombs were introduced in intra muros shrines. The church in the Piazza Navona fits well with such developments, but, while mindful of the interest of the bishops of Rome in the cult of Agnes from Damasus to Gregory the Great, the author finally ponders the absence of any early textual reference to the church of Sant‘ Agnese in Agone and suggests the possibility of a private foundation.