In 591, Pope Gregory the Great rededicated a church in the Subura neighborhood of #Rome in honor of St. Agatha. The church had originally been built by Goths and dedicated to Christ and the apostles 1/

The church had been abandoned since the defeat of the Ostrogoths in Italy some years before. It had been built in the 5th century and its decoration commissioned by the Germanic general Ricimer.
2/

The original decorative program largely survived until the apse collapsed in 1589. Fortunately some drawings had been made of the figures in the apse just a few decades prior to the collapse. These are preserved in Vat. lat. 5407 3/

Here's a sketch of the image of Christ that would have been at the center--dressed in a tunic & pallium, seated on a globe w/a codex in his hand. The inscription read: "salus totius generis humani"
https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.lat.5407 4/

Christ was flanked by the apostles, six on each side. Here's Paul, John & Andrew (I chose them because they have the best hair...) 5/

The decoration of the church was pretty much like any other 5th century #earlyChristian church. Even though the Goths were considered Arian (and had their own bishop in some places like Ravenna), their art was, well, quite orthodox.
6/

This is evident from the fact that when the church was claimed by Gregory for the church of Rome, its decoration was left intact. But...some other things had to be done to make the church Catholic. Let me tell you about that now.
7/

Gregory left a fascinating description of the liturgy of consecration that he conducted to convert the church from an Arian space to a Catholic sanctuary. This is in Dialogues 3.30:
8/

First, a procession to the church:

"We proceeded to the church with an immense throng of people, singing songs of praise to
almighty God."

9/

This was followed by Mass:

"On entering the church for the celebration of Mass, the people had to crowd close together because of lack of space."

(nothing has changed at papal liturgies in Rome...)

10/

At some point during Mass, relics of St. Sebastian and St. Agatha were reposed in the church. The church was then known by its new dedication to St. Agatha. Interestingly, today it is still known as "Sant'Agata dei Goti" -- St. Agatha of the Goths.

11/

(Incidentally, it is the titular church of Card. Burke, but that's another story.)

11a/

But that's not all. Now Gregory's description gets even more interesting:

"Some of those who stood outside the sanctuary were disturbed by a pig running back & forth through the crowd. . . . "

12/

Pigs, of course, are unclean animals so Gregory took this as a sign:

"During the general commotion that followed, the pig found its way out through the church door. In this way God helped us to realize that the unclean spirit had departed from the building."

13/

In other words, in order for the rededication to be complete, the church had to be exorcised of its demon, i.e. its Arian Gothic past.

But there were more signs...

14/

"That night, a loud noise was heard coming from the top of the
church...The second night, the noise became louder...Then peace & quiet returned..A few days later a cloud appeared out of a serene sky & settled over the altar...filling the air with a sweet fragrance."

15/

Finally, Gregory reports:

"The sacristan had put out the lamps after Mass and had left the church. In a little while he reentered, to find them burning. . . . It was now clear to him that this place had passed from darkness to light."

16/

When we put all the pieces together, the process by which the church was brought into the ambit of the church of Rome was a lot like the baptism of a person: exorcism, liturgy, imposition of new name, and entrusting to the saints: a new identity for a new chapter.

17/

Though as @Scaevola67 has reminded me "Roma non dimentica mai," -- Rome never forgets -- and that's why it's still Sant'Agata dei Goti!

18/

Just a little something for the feast of #StGregoryTheGreat

19/19