In Roman times there were three temples in what is now the area surrounding the basilica and former convent buildings: the
Minervium, built by
Gnaeus Pompey in honour of the goddess
Minerva about 50 BC, referred to as ''''; the
Iseum dedicated to
Isis, and the
Serapeum dedicated to
Serapis. Details of the temple to Minerva are not known but recent investigations indicate that a small round Minervium once stood a little further to the east on the Piazza of the Collegio Romano. There are other Roman survivals in the
crypt. The ruined temple is likely to have lasted until the reign of
Pope Zachary (741-752), who finally
Christianized the site, offering it to
Basilian nuns from Constantinople who maintained an
oratorium there dedicated to the "Virgin of Minervum". The structure he commissioned has disappeared. In 1255
Pope Alexander IV established a community of "converted women" (former prostitutes) on the site. A decade later this community was transferred to the Roman Church of
San Pancrazio thereby allowing the
Dominicans to establish a convent of friars and a
studium conventuale there. The Friars were on site beginning in 1266 but took official possession of the Church in 1275. Aldobrandino Cavalcanti (1279),
vicarius Urbis or vicar for
Pope Gregory X, and an associate of
Thomas Aquinas ratified the donation of Santa Maria sopra Minerva to the
Dominicans of
Santa Sabina by the sisters of S. Maria in Campo Marzio. The ensemble of buildings that formed around the church and convent came to be known as the
insula sapientae or
insula dominicana (island of wisdom or Dominican island). The Dominicans began building the present
Gothic church in 1280 modelling it on their church in Florence
Santa Maria Novella. Architectural plans were probably drawn up during the pontificate of
Nicholas III by two Dominican friars, Fra Sisto Fiorentino and Fra Ristoro da Campi. With the help of funds contributed by
Boniface VIII and the faithful the side aisles were completed in the 14th century. In 1453 church interior construction was finally completed when Cardinal
Juan Torquemada ordered that the main nave be covered by a vault that reduced the overall projected height of the church. The Sacristy of the Church served as the meeting hall for the fourteen cardinals (out of nineteen) who attended the Conclave, which began on 1 March 1431. The dormitory of the friars in the Convent to the immediate north of the Church, served as the living quarters for the cardinals and their refectory and kitchen. On 3 March they elected Cardinal Gabriele Condulmaro, who took the name
Eugenius IV. A second Conclave was held at the Minerva, on 4–6 March 1447, following the death of Pope Eugenius, once again in the midst of disturbances involving the Orsini supporters of Pope Eugenius and his enemies the Colonna. Eighteen cardinals (out of a total of twenty-six) were present and elected Cardinal Tommaso Parentucelli da Sarzana as
Pope Nicholas V. The Minerva has been a
titular church since 1557, and a
minor basilica since 1566. The church's first titular cardinal was Michele Ghislieri who became Pope
Pius V in 1566. He raised the church to the level of
minor basilica in that same year. In the 16th century
Giuliano da Sangallo made changes in the choir area, and in 1600
Carlo Maderno enlarged the apse, added
Baroque decorations and created the present façade with its pilastered tripartite division in
Renaissance style. The inscriptions found in S. Maria sopra Minerva have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella.
Convent and Studium In 1288 the theology component of the provincial curriculum for the education of the friars was relocated from the
studium provinciale at the Roman basilica of
Santa Sabina to the
studium conventuale at Santa Maria sopra Minerva which was redesignated as a
studium particularis theologiae. At various times in its history this
studium served as a
studium generale for the Roman province of the Order.
College of Saint Thomas The late 16th century saw the
studium at Santa Maria sopra Minerva undergo transformation. Thomas Aquinas, who had been canonized in 1323 by Pope
John XXII, was proclaimed the fifth Latin
Doctor of the Church by
Pius V in 1567. In his honor, in 1577 the Spanish Dominican Msgr.
Juan Solano, O.P., former bishop of Cusco, Peru, funded the reorganization of the
studium at the convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva on the model of the
College of St. Gregory at Valladolid in his native Spain. The result of Solano's initiative, which underwent structural change shortly before Solano's death in 1580, was the College of Saint Thomas () at Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The college occupied several existing convent structures, and new construction was required. At that time the convent underwent considerable reconstruction to accommodate the college and the cloister was redesigned so that side chapels could be added to the church's northern flank. A detail from the
Nolli Map of 1748 gives some idea of the disposition of buildings when the Minerva convent housed the College of St. Thomas.
Offices of the Inquisition On 14 September 1628, by papal decree, the convent of Minerva was designated as the seat of the
Congregation of the Holy Office. It thus became the place where the tribunal of the
Roman Inquisition set up by Paul III in 1542 held the Secret Congregation meetings during which the sentences were read out. It was in a room of the Minerva Convent on 22 June 1633 that the father of modern astronomy
Galileo Galilei,
after being tried for heresy, abjured his scientific theses, i.e. those of the Copernican theory. The Order gained control of the convent once again in 1815, only for it to be expropriated by the Italian government in 1870. In 1873 the
Collegium Divi Thomæ de Urbe was forced to leave the Minerva for good, eventually being relocated at the convent of
Saints Dominic and Sixtus in 1932 and being transformed into the
Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in 1963. The Dominicans eventually were allowed to return to the Minerva and part of the convent. ==Interior==