entry Feb 2013
The Barnabites in Naples
This is one version
of the Barnabite logo.
The P.A. refers to Paul the Apostle,
and the three hills symbolize the vows
of poverty, chastity and obedience.
The P.A. refers to Paul the Apostle,
and the three hills symbolize the vows
of poverty, chastity and obedience.
The Barnabites, or Clerics Regular of
Saint Paul, are a Roman Catholic order founded in
1530 by three Italian noblemen: Antonio Maria Zaccaria,
Bartolomeo Ferrari, and Giacomo Antonio Morigia. The order
was approved by Pope Clement VII in 1533. The name
Barnabites is a nickname and comes from the association of
the order with the church of St. Barnabas in Milan.
Members of the order make vows of poverty, chastity, and
obedience, as well as a vow not to strive for high office
or positions of dignity. Their activities focus on
ministrations in hospitals and prisons, and on the
education of youth. They are particularly devoted to the
study of the Epistles of Paul (due to the relationship
between Paul and Barnabas described in the New Testament Acts
of the Apostles). There is also a female branch of
uncloistered nuns, the Angelic Sisters of St. Paul
(founded in 1535) and a lay congregation for married
members. The garb worn by members is the black cassock (tunica
talaris, meaning "to the ankles") as worn by
Milanese priests in the 16th century. Today, they have a
formal presence in sixteen countries. The presence of Barnabites in Naples goes back to the beginnings of the 1600s. Lucio Pallamolla, originally from Sapri, south of Naples, asked to join the Barnabite order and placed money at the disposal of the Congregation in order to open the order in Naples. In the early 1600s the order moved a few times —to the church of S.Arcangelo sotto Forcella and the church of S.Caterina Spina e Corona—before winding up at one of the most historic religious sites in Naples, the church of S. Maria in Cosmedin (also known as S. Maria of Portanova).
The spiritual, educational and charitable activities of the order were interrupted by the French Revolution and subsequent closure by king Murat of all religious orders in the Kingdom of Naples in the early 1800s. Religious orders, including the Barnabites, were reestablished after the Congress of Vienna (1815) and the restoration of the monarchies in areas formerly under Napoleon's control.
The order
moved varioustimes in the 19th century, during which there
was a second expropriation (in the 1870s, shortly after
the unification of Italy) of properties owned by monastic
orders. In 1821 the Barnabites acquired their current
church, S.Maria of Caravaggio (photo, left) at
Piazza Dante. The church was built in Naples in 1627 on
the site of an earlier, smaller house of worship and was
originally in the hands of the Scolopi
(Scuole pie) [Pious Schools]. The church takes
its name in honor of an apparition of the Blessed Virgin
in the town of Caravaggio (near Milan) in 1432. The church
and adjacent monastery were then rebuilt in the 1730s by Giovan
Battista Nauclerio (1666-1739), one of the great
architects of the Neapolitan Baroque. The church and
adjacent premises were reorganized as a school, the Royal
College of Caravaggio, and given to the Barnabites in 1821
by king Ferdinand. The order had the church rebuilt in
1843. Following the suppression of monasteries after
unification, the monastery adjacent to the church was
converted to a school for blind children and for a while
housed a local historical society, Storia Patria Nostra.
There are still significant art treasures within the
church, including works by Francesco
Solimena and Domenico Antonio
Vaccaro. In 1943-46, the church also served the
English-speaking Roman Catholic members of the Allied
Forces in Naples.
In the 1870s the order
acquired what is still its main educational institution,
the Collegio Bianchi, now called the Istituto Bianchi,
at Piazza Montesanto near the bottom station of the Montesanto cable car
and the Naples terminus of the Cumana railway. The
institute is named for a member of the order, Francesco
Saverio Maria Bianchi (1743-1815). The school has a
respected and comprehensive curriculum for elementary
school through lyceum (high school) and is housed in the
former monastery (photo, right) built to serve the
adjacent church of S. Maria
of Montesanto. Construction of both monastery and
church was started in 1647; the architects were Pietro de
Marino and Dionisio Lazzari. The premises originally
served the Carmelite order.
The school has had a varied history, including service as
a hospital during WW I.to history portal to top of this page
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