Art and Sanctity in Eighteenth-Century Rome

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The Spanish Steps at Trinità dei Monti — a grand symbol of peace between France and Spain, inaugurated during the 1725 Jubilee by Benedict XIII — embody Rome's theatrical Baroque spirit, echoed also in the Trevi Fountain. But the Enlightenment century was also a century of saints: at the Caelian Hill, inside the Basilica of Saints John and Paul, rests Saint Paul of the Cross (1694–1775), founder of the Passionists. A mystic, ascetic, and powerful missionary, he transformed entire communities through his preaching on Christ's Passion, reconciling enemies and converting even hardened sinners.