Santissime Stimmate di San Francesco is an 18th century confraternity church in the rione Pigna (IX). The dedication is to the Stigmata of St Francis of Assisi.
For reference, a plan of the church is available
here.
The first church on the site was consecrated in 1297 as recorded by a plaque kept in the sacristy. However, it is already mentioned by sources in 1192. It was dedicated to
The Forty Martyrs of the "Calcarario", a group of Roman soldiers martyred at Sebaste (now Sivas in Turkey) in 320 by Licinus, the patrons of the lime makers who worked their kilns in the area.
In 1597, Pope Clement VIII (Aldobrandini) gave the old church to the Confraternita delle Santissime Stimmate ("Confraternity of the Stigmata of St Francis"), which had been founded three years earlier in San Pietro in Montorio by one Federico Pizzi.
In 1713, the archconfraternity (as it had become in the previous century) decided to rebuild the church. The approval of Pope Clement XI (Albani) was obtained, and work started the following year. The architect was
Giovann1 Battista Contini, of the school of Bernini, who finished the main edifice in 1717.
Antonio Canevari took over in 1719, and added the façade and campanile. In 1721 the completed church was consecrated to the Stigmata of St Francis, but a chapel was reserved for the Forty Martyrs. The church has remained in the possession of the archconfraternity ever since.
There was a major restoration in 1869 by
Andrea Busiri Vici, who was a member. For a period until the end of the 20th century it was served by Franciscan Capuchins, but it is now under the charge of a priest of the diocese of Sessa-Aurunca, who is the chaplain of the archconfraternity.
