San Giovanni a Porta Latina

According to Tertullian, as quoted by Saint Jerome, in the year 92, St John the Evangelist survived martyrdom at Rome under the Emperor Domitian by being immersed in a vat of boiling oil, from which he emerged unharmed. He was later exiled to the island of Patmos. This event was traditionally said to have occurred at the Latin Gate (located on the southern portion of the Roman wall). The nearby chapel of San Giovanni in Oleo is said to be on the very spot. The event was referred to in the Roman Martyrology, which was begun in the seventh century, though the event was celebrated before then. A feast in the Roman calendar also celebrated the event until 1960, when Pope John XXIII removed most of the secondary feasts for a saint.[1] The black-letter day of S. John Evang. ante portam Latinam is still marked in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer on May 6.

The tradition for the building of the Basilica of St. John at the Latin Gate places its construction during the pontificate of Pope Gelasius I (492–496). This is consistent with the oldest of the roof tiles, which have the imprint of a taxation stamp for the Ostrogoth King and ruler of Italy Theodoric the Great (reigned 493–526). One of these ancient roof tiles is now used in the Basilica as a lectern.

Entrance to the adjacent Collegio Rosmini

In the 8th century, the Basilica was restored by Pope Adrian I, and later the bell-tower and portico were added, and at the end of the 12th century the Basilica was reconsecrated by Pope Celestine III. In the 16th and 17th centuries, a Baroque ceiling and other Baroque features were added to the interior. In the years 1940–1941, the Baroque features were removed and the Basilica was returned to a more primitive simplicity. This last renovation was carried out by the Rosminian Fathers, who, in 1938, were given care of the Basilica and the nearby building, where they opened the Collegio Missionario Antonio Rosmini which houses their International House of Studies.

This church is allegedly the site of one of the earliest same-sex weddings in western Europe.[2] Michel de Montaigne, a French philosopher and prominent essayist of the 16th century, noted in his journal that,

On my return from Saint Peter's I met a man who informed me...that on this same day [March 18, 1581] the [Holy Week] station was at San Giovanni Porta Latina, in which church a few years before certain Portuguese had entered into a strange brotherhood. They married one another, male to male, at Mass, with the same ceremonies with which we perform our marriages, read the same marriage gospel service, and then went to bed and lived together. The Roman wits said that because in the other conjunction, of male and female, this circumstance of marriage alone makes it legitimate, it had seemed to these sharp folk that this other action would become equally legitimate if they authorized it with ceremonies and mysteries of the Church.[2]

The entrance to the Basilica is fronted by a small square with an 8th-century well-head, nearly reproducing the aspect of the Basilica that would have been seen at the reconsecration by Pope Celestine III in the 12th century.

The portico (or porch) of the Basilica is supported by four re-used classical columns (each of a different marble) supporting five arches. The main door is framed with a simple mosaic of red and green porphyry.

The well-head, from the time of Pope Adrian I, has a double row circular design around its barrel and a Latin inscription completely around its crown:

IN NOMINE PAT[RIS] ET FILII ET SPI[RITUS SANT]I "In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"

and a quote from the Prophet Isaiah:

OMN[E]S SITIE[NTES VENITE AD AQUAS] "All you who are thirsty come to the water"

and the name of the stone-carver:

EGO STEFANUS "I Stephen".

The interior of the Basilica is divided into three naves, divided by two rows of columns on which rest semi-circular arches. The two columns closest to the sanctuary are of white marble with deep fluting. The other columns are of various types of marble and granite, capped with a diverse collection of Ionic capitals. The central nave terminates with a half-hexagon apse. Each of the three sides of the apse opens with a large window filled with honey-coloured onyx.

Occupying the ledge of the central window is a carved wooden crucifixion scene including Saint John the Evangelist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In front of the altar is a mosaic pavement in Cosmatesque style. The geometric pattern of red and green porphyry is framed in white marble (as well are reused fragments of white marble with Latin lettering) is thought to have been created before the 12th century. Inserted in the front step of the altar, is the titulus of the basilica, of ancient origin, discovered during the renovations of 1940:

TIT. S. IOANNIS ANTE PORTAM LA[TINAM]

In the years 1913–1915, the recently discovered frescoes were restored above the main altar. After this work, another search along the face of the central nave revealed the presence of a full circle of medieval frescoes. The restoration of these frescos was completed with the full restoration of the Basilica in 1940–1941. The central nave is decorated with about 50 scenes representing the Old and New Testaments, from the creation of the world to the glorious apocalypse of the New Jerusalem. The frescoes were executed by several artists under the direction of one master.

• Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni, L'istoria della chiesa di St Giovanni avanti Porta Latina (Roma: A. de Rossi, 1716).

• Lucentini, M. (31 December 2012). The Rome Guide: Step by Step through History's Greatest City. Interlink. ISBN 9781623710088.

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