The feast of the
Holy Name of Mary was instituted by
Pope Innocent XI after the victory of the
Austrian-
Polish armies under the
command of
John III Sobieski over the
Turks at the
Battle of Vienna in 1683.
Abbot Giuseppe Bianchi instituted devotion to the most holy name of Mary in 1685 at
Santo Stefano del Cacco, and soon afterwards established the
Confraternity of the Most Holy Name of Mary, which was formally approved in 1688. Members included
Pope Innocent XI and
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. It was later raised to an Archconfraternity. Every year up until 1870, the members would walk in procession on the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary to the church of
Santa Maria della Vittoria, stopping at the
Quirinal Palace for the pope's blessing. In 1694, the confraternity moved to
San Bernardo a Colonna Traiani, but the next year, realizing that they needed to build a new church, they acquired the adjacent plot and had Santissimo Nome di Maria built by the French architect
Antoine Derizet (1736-1741). Once a year, it is carried in solemn
procession from the site of San Bernardo to its present place above the
high altar of Santissimo Nome di Maria. During the Nazi persecution, some Jews found refuge in the church's basement. The church is owned by the “Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Name of Mary at the Trajan Forum” and is still its seat. The church is also a subsidiary place of worship of the parish of the Holy Twelve Apostles. In addition, the church is under the protection of the House of Habsburg, and after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the protection of the Austrian nation. ==Description==