A Jacobite Gazetteer - Bologna

Chiesa della Santissima Trinità

Facade

This church is located in the southeast corner of the city, at Via Santo Stefano, 87 (at the intersection with Via de' Buttieri). Here lie the mortal remains of Charlotte, Duchess of Albany, natural daughter of King Charles III.

When the Duchess of Albany died in 1789 at the Palazzo Vizzani Sanguinetti, her remains were laid to rest in the neighbouring church of San Biagio, at the corner of Via Santo Stefano and Via Guerrazzi. But in 1797 that church was destroyed by the invading French troops. Two sources record that the monument of the Duchess of Albany was transferred to the neighbouring church of the Santissima Trinità, although they are unclear about what exactly happened to the actual remains of the Duchess of Albany. ¹

In 1844 the editors of Le Chiese Parrocchiali della Diocesi di Bologna noted that the monument was in the choir of the church of the Santissima Trinità. ² They record the following inscription on the monument:

D. O. M.
HEIC · IACET
CARLOTTA · DVX · ALBANYENSIS
EX · REGIA · STIRPE · STVARDA
F. CAROLI III. OLIM JACOBI III.
REGIS ANGLIAE SCOTIAE ET HIBERNIAE
VIXIT ANN. XXXVI. OBIIT BONONIAE VIRGO CLARISS.
XV KAL · DEC · MDCCLXXXIX
IN PACE

To the most excellent great God.
Here lies
Charlotte, Duchess of Albany,
from the Royal House of Stuart,
daughter of Charles III, son of James III
King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
She lived 36 years. She died at Bologna, a most illustrious maiden,
November 17, 1789.
In peace.

Sometime after 1844, the monument and the remains of the Duchess of Albany were moved to the adjoining Oratorio della Santissima Trinità, a chapel used by a congregation of religious sisters. This explains why in 1932 Francis Skeet could not locate the monument in the church. ³ In 1961 the oratory was transformed into a lecture theatre, the Auditorium Benedetto XIV. At that time the remains of the Duchess of Albany were transferred to their present resting place in a small chapel on the left side of the church. ⁴ The chapel has an iron gate which is sometimes locked, but it is easy to see the monument through the gate.

The current monument is a diamond-shaped slab set into the wall with a Latin inscription, but somewhat shorter than the original one:

HIC · IACET
CARLOTTA · DVX · ALBANYENSIS
EX · REGIA · STIRPE · STVARDA
MORTVA · BONONIAE
XV KAL · DEC · MDCCLXXXIX

Here lies
Charlotte, Duchess of Albany,
from the Royal House of Stuart,
died at Bologna,
November 17, 1789.

Tomb of Charlotte, Duchess of Albany

Immediately below the monument to the Duchess of Albany is one to a certain Eleonora Francisca Teresia d'Este, a Lateran canoness who died in 1800. Presumably this lady was a distant relative of Queen Mary Beatrice (wife of King James II and VII), and a somewhat closer relative of Queen Teresa (wife of King Victor) - although the fact that she does not appear in the Este genealogies suggests that she was illegitimate. ⁵

The church is open daily from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Telephone: 051.220.439.

Notes

¹ Cf. Francis John Angus Skeet, The Life and Letters of H.R.H. Charlotte Stuart, Duchess of Albany (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1932), 144-145, and Henrietta Tayler, Prince Charlie's Daughter: Being the Life and Letters of Charlotte of Albany (London: Batchworth Press, 1950), 129.

² Le Chiese Parrocchiali della Diocesi di Bologna: Ritratte e Descritte (Bologna: San Tommaso d' Aquino, 1844), I, section 3.

³ Skeet, 145. Cf. Tayler, 129.

⁴"Oratorio della SS. Trinità", http://www.ibc.regione.emilia-romagna.it/caleidoscopio/oratoriosstrinita.htm.

⁵ The Archivio privato Bayard de Volo, at the Archivio di Stato in Modena, contains a document entitled Depositi di Principi Estensi (busta 117) which lists the burial locations of all the members of the House of Este; it does not mention this lady. There was formerly a convent of Lateran canonnesses (Rocchettine) at Bologna.