Church of the New Jesus, the mystery of the ashlars

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Admiring the beauty of the majestic façade of the Church of Gesù Nuovo is undoubtedly something you absolutely must do if you come to Naples. Characterized by the typical diamond-point sculpted ashlars over the entire surface, it is the only example of ashlar in Naples. The Church of Gesù Nuovo overlooks the square of the same name dedicated to Gesù Nuovo, a square which also houses the valuable Obelisk of the Immaculate and the Convent and Cloister of Santa Chiara. Through more than a century of work, the Church of Gesù Nuovo has become, due to the peculiarities of its structure and the legends around it, a place to absolutely visit during a trip to Naples.

Enigma: The melody on the facade of the Church of Gesù Nuovo

The Church of Gesù Nuovo has a melody carved into its particular façade. The signs carved on the ashlar, initially interpreted as signatures of the stonecutters of Naples who had supplied the material, are actually letters of the Aramaic alphabet, corresponding to musical notes, positioned as in a score on the façade of the entire Church of New Jesus. The melody that can be played by these symbols was discovered in 2010 by three scholars, and was named Enigma.

History of the Church of Gesù Nuovo

The Church of Gesù Nuovo rose at the behest of the Jesuits on an earlier palace, owned by the Sanseverino family, which was adapted as a church by the new owners between 1584 and 1601, which was followed by heavy renovations of the entire complex. The work lasted throughout the seventeenth century. When the restoration work was completed, the facade of what was once the Sanseverino palace, characterized by the distinctive rustications, became what we see today as the facade of the Church. The bugne are a kind of small pyramids used to embellish palaces by the Venetian Renaissance. These have marks engraved by the stone cutters of Naples who had shaped the piperno stone to obtain these pyramids to be placed on the facade of the palace. Entering the Church of the Gesù Nuovo one can admire fine works by many important artists such as Cosimo Fanzago, Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena, some of the names of as many as five generations of artists who followed one another and embellished the interior of the Church with paintings and sculptures, Immediately one notices the nave chapels, the apse and the high altar placed in 1854 and still in use today.

Curiosities about the Church of Gesù Nuovo

In 1943, at the height of World War II, the Gesù Nuovo Church suffered severe damage during the bombing of Naples. One of the countless Allied bombs dropped on the city crashed into the nave of the Gesù Nuovo Church, fortunately without exploding and causing no damage. The casing of the unexploded bomb is still preserved on the premises near the chapel dedicated to St. Joseph Moscati. According to one legend, the pyramid-shaped ashlar was intended to attract positive energies to safeguard the palace from misfortune. But the misfortunes that have befallen the palace in its six-hundred-year history have given rise to the legend that the rustication was exposed upside down, becoming a catalyst for negative energies. A "paranormal" explanation to justify the collapses and accidents that the Gesù Nuovo Church has suffered over the centuries.

In the various chapels inside the right and left naves, one is dedicated to San Giuseppe Moscati, the "doctor of the poor". In fact, during his life he dedicated himself to the care and economic support of the less well-off, as a layman and following religious dictates. He was beatified in 1975 by Paul VI and sanctified by John Paul II in 1987 following a miracle attributed to Saint Giuseppe Moscati which occurred in 1979.