The
Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius is Roman Catholic titular church dedicated to St.
Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, located in Rome. The church functioned originally as Rectory church to the adjacent Collegio Romano, that moved in 1584 to a new larger building and became the Pontifical Gregorian University.
For reference, a plan of the church is available
here.
In 1560, Vittoria della Tolfa, Marchesa della Valle, donated her family isola, an entire city block and its existing buildings, to the Society of Jesus in memory of her late husband the Marchese della Guardia Camillo Orsini, founding the Collegio Romano.
Following the canonization Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1622, Pope
Gregory XV suggested to his nephew, Cardinal
Ludovico Ludovisi, that a new church should be erected to the founder of the Society of Jesus, at the College. Ludovisi chose the Jesuit mathematician Orazio Grassi, professor at the Collegio Romano itself, to design and build the church.
The foundation stone was laid only on August 2, 1626 by Cardinal Ludovisi. The church was opened for public worship only in 1650. The final solemn consecration of the church was celebrated only in 1722 by Antonfelice Cardinal Zondadari.
