EDICOLA

EDICOLA. – The word, derived from the Latin *aedicula*, a diminutive of *aedes* = temple, properly means a small temple, a small chapel, most often as a niche in the walls of temples and houses or in the corners of buildings. As an architectural term, it therefore denotes an architectural feature that incorporates the characteristics of a temple façade, namely a pediment supported by columns or pillars. A kind of *edicola* is the tabernacle, whether it houses an image or, in the form of a small temple placed on the altar, preserves the Blessed Sacrament.

More generally, any architectural composition that frames objects of particular religious significance, such as images and relics, is called an *edicola*. The architectural structure may even be reduced to a simple frame; this broader meaning of the word *edicola* is the one most commonly used today in sacred art.

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LITURGY AND CANON LAW. – Anyone may erect a sacred *edicola* in their own home or in a suitable place out of devotion or piety, without contravening any special norms of canon law, except for the prohibition on displaying images (v.) not permitted for worship.

Naturally, civil law must also be observed, particularly building regulations (Italian Civil Code, arts. 871–872).

There is no special blessing in the Roman Ritual for *edicole*, nor may the blessing proper to private oratories (v.) be applied to them, since they are not themselves private oratories; only the blessing of images may be used, which, if solemn, is reserved to the Ordinary, while a private blessing may be given by any priest (Roman Ritual, tit. VIII, cap. 25) or the general blessing “omnis rei seu ad omnia” (ibid., Appendix, n. 70).

An *edicola* may present a particular aspect under canon and liturgical law if an altar (v.) is attached to II. Such an attached altar must be considered, for the purpose of celebrating Mass, as a portable altar if covered by the *edicola* or “sub dio”; therefore, the permission of the local Ordinary is required (in the first case, he may grant it to his subjects even if they belong to an exempt clerical congregation), under the usual conditions: namely, that there is a just and reasonable motive, that it is an extraordinary case, that permission is granted *per modum actus*, and that there is a consecrated stone (can. 822 § 4).

The place, being an *edicola*, is presumed to be decent, and, all else being equal, is to be preferred to any other for the celebration of Mass; if it is “sub dio,” the awareness of its existence may legitimize the celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass before the *edicola*, even outside the aforementioned conditions; but often this is less a matter of legitimate custom than of abuse.

With regard to the custody of *edicole*, the norms governing the custody of domestic oratories may be applied by analogy, both regarding decorum and the reservation of the space for worship, excluding profane uses (can. 1196). In some places, such as Rome, the custody of *edicole* is entrusted to pious associations, which oversee their maintenance, veneration, and aesthetic aspects.

In canon law, the term *edicola* also includes funerary *edicole* erected in cemeteries by private individuals or families for their own burial; these, however, are considered private oratories in canon law (can. 1196; V. ORATORY). In them (unlike other private oratories), the Ordinary may permit the celebration, even habitually, of multiple Masses (can. 1194), provided that the remains are not located beneath the altar but to the side and at a distance (measured horizontally from the surface of the altar projection) of not less than one meter (otherwise, the celebration of Mass is forbidden: can. 1202 § 2).

If a funerary *edicola* is placed under interdict (v.), the cemetery itself is not thereby interdicted; but if the cemetery is interdicted, all the funerary *edicole* within it are affected.

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**II. ART.** – In classical art, notable examples of *edicole* include those inside the Pantheon, with triangular or curvilinear pediments alternating with niches, and those that, as independent structures, stood in great numbers at street intersections, housing images of the Lares. In private homes, too, *edicole* with images of the Lares—either carved or painted—were common, as seen in Pompeii and Ostia. In funerary art, small niche-like *edicole* with carved portraits of the deceased, either full-length, half-length, or busts, or even just the head, are also very common.

In the Middle Ages, especially during the Romanesque and then the Gothic periods, *edicole* were used both inside and outside buildings, becoming a distinctive feature of architecture. In Rome, on the façade of the church of San Tommaso in Formis, an *edicola* frames a mosaic depicting Christ between two slaves; on the Roman bell tower of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, in the lower zone with single-light windows, a hanging *edicola* preserves the patriarchal cross, once adorned with a now largely lost mosaic, and on the top floor there is another hanging *edicola*, perhaps added in the 14th century; other *edicole* are found on the bell towers of Santa Maria Nova and the SS. Giovanni e Paolo, and on the bell tower of Santa Maria in Trastevere, on the top floor, there is an *edicola* housing a mosaic of the Madonna and Child.

During the Renaissance, terracotta works by the della Robbia family, which adorned buildings in Tuscan cities in the form of tabernacles housing sacred images, may be considered *edicole*. Among these may be counted the tabernacle housing the image of the Madonna della Febbre in the sacristy of St. Peter’s in the Vatican, the one containing the Annunciation in the Florentine church of Santa Croce, and another, now in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, with a painted stucco image of the Virgin and Child, all works by Donatello.

Similarly, 15th-century tombs, formed by a relief frame enclosing a niche in the wall that houses the sarcophagus, may also be considered *edicole*. Such are the tomb of Leonardo Bruni, by Bernardo Rossellino, and that of Carlo Marsuppini, by Desiderio da Settignano, both in Santa Croce in Florence.

From the Renaissance to the present day, Rome has seen a flourishing of *edicole* on the façades and corners of its houses: works that are mostly modest but nonetheless reflect the religious fervor of the people and enliven the old streets with the exuberant Baroque richness of their stucco frames adorned with angels and putti, more than with the painted images, often elongated and barely visible. Many have disappeared, even due to demolitions, but many remain, especially in the older districts; nor has the custom of placing images of the Virgin in public streets and squares been forgotten, and new *edicole* continue to be erected even in modern neighborhoods.

The most artistically notable of these Roman *edicole* is the one housing the image of the Madonna of the Bridge, designed by Antonio da Sangallo, located on the corner of Via dei Coronari and Vicolo Domizio, which contains a painting—now unfortunately damaged—by Perino del Vaga depicting the Coronation of the Virgin.

Among the Baroque street shrines, which are the majority, mention should be made of the one in Via dell'Anima on the rear side of the church of S. Agnese, which contains a fragment of a fresco depicting a horseman; the one on the corner of Piazza dell'Orologio and Via del Governo Vecchio; those in Via del Pellegrino, Via Mario de' Fiori, Via di Tor Sanguigna, and Via del Plebiscito on the façade of Palazzo Doria. — See plates IV–V. BIBLICA.: P. Parisi, E. di fede e di pietà nelle Vie di Roma, Milano-Roma 1930. Vincenzo Golzio