The casual tourist in Rome who wanders up Via XX Settembre might be forgiven if he takes little notice of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, for churches in Rome are as plentiful as bars in Boston. From the outside, certainly, there is little to distinguish it from the other Baroque churches in the vicinity. A small sign on the door tells its name, and above this and carved in stone the passer-by may read the date 1626 and the name of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Paul V and the patron of Gianlorenzo Bernini.
Had he visited the Villa Borghese, then, our tourist might be tempted to pop in to the church. If he did, tucked away in the back he’d be rewarded with the masterpiece of High Baroque sculpture, Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647–52). At the time of its production, St. Teresa recently had been canonized, and the decision to honor her in la Vittoria was a natural one, for the church was dedicated to the order she had founded, the discalced (or shoeless) Carmelites. Also natural was Bernini’s choice of subject, a passage from her autobiography in which she described a rapturous visit by a marvelously beautiful angel, bearing a flame-tipped golden spear. This he thrust into her, so deeply that it penetrated into her entrails, leaving her all on fire.
The pain was so great that it caused me to utter several moans; and yet so exceedingly sweet
