Church of Saints Ciro and Giovanni
Santa Passera

In 1608 there was a sudden revival of interest in the two Alexandrian saints. In fact in that year the Father General of the Theatines, wishing to have the relics of the martyrs for his church of S. Silvestro al Quirinale, asked Pope Paul V for permission to begin the search to find the bodies of Ciro and Giovanni. After an initial refusal by the Pope, permission was finally granted to the canons of S. Maria in via Lata, who were allowed to carry out the excavations at their own expense, in the presence, however, of a Theatine religious. On 10 July 1608, after having celebrated a mass and having gone down to the basement in a procession, the works began.

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The excavations brought to light a cavity in the wall in which human bones were found. But nothing was discovered that allowed to demonstrate that those actually belonged to Ciro and Giovanni. Paul V then ordered that they be left where they were found. The news of the discovery of the presumed bodies of the saints spread throughout the city and many flocked to S. Passera, in spite of the considerable heat and the distance, probably more out of curiosity than out of devotion.

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After about a century, in 1706, the research was resumed, but the results obtained were the same. Canon Depretis wrote that the bones found were believed to belong to Christian believers and as such left there.

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The underground chamber was buried and closed; only in 1904 will it be discovered again. The search for the two saints was definitively abandoned. Many conjectures have been made regarding the unobtainable remains of the two martyrs. According to some they were transported to the church of S. Michele in Munich in Germany; according to others they would have been taken to Naples, where it is said they rest in the church of Gesù Nuovo. The Chapter of the Deaconry of S. Angelo “in foro Pisciun” boasted possession of the heads of the two martyrs, originally placed on the altar of S. Passera, as legend has it, in a precious urn. In the sack of Rome in 1527, under the pontificate of Clement VII, it seems that these relics were stolen. Furthermore, in the church of S. Maria in Cosmedin, in an epigraph in the apse of the year 1123, it is recalled that, when the high altar was consecrated by Pope Callistus II (1119-1124), the relics of the saints were placed there “Abbaciri et Iohannis”.

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The history of the church takes us to recent times. The violent explosion of the Monteverde powder keg on 23 April 1891 caused considerable damage to the church, which the Chapter of S. Maria in via Lata had to provide for at its own expense. Later the right wall of the church, which had already partially collapsed, was demolished and rebuilt. In 1934 important restoration works were carried out, which led among other things to the discovery of important frescoes on the left side wall, much older than those found in the apse of the church.