Church of Santa Maria Draperis (Istanbul)
Santa María Draperis, on Istiklal Avenue in the Beyoğlu district, is one of the oldest Catholic parishes in Istanbul, attended by Franciscans, whose presence in the city dates back to 1220. He was born in 1584, when the Levine Clara Maria Draperis donated to the friars a house with a small chapel whose altar presided over a wooden icon of the Virgin Mary, which remains the treasure of the temple.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The icon of the Virgin donated by the Draperis family survived the fires that destroyed the successive temples (1660, 1697, 1767): in 1660 it was rescued from the flames by a member of the family itself.
- The present church, reconstructed in 1769, retains the altar greater than 1772 in the pink marble of Carrara, chaired by the Marian icon, and a cycle of Venetian school paintings.
- On March 25, 1911, the icon received the pontifical coronation, a solemn recognition of centuries of Marian devotion from the early Catholics of Constantinople.
- It was one of the three historical Catholic parishes of the Levine district next to San Antonio de Padua and San Pedro and San Pablo; the Franciscans continue to celebrate daily mass in several languages.
Santa Maria Draperis
For the Catholics of Istanbul, heirs of the ancient Levine community, St. Mary Draperis is the Marian sanctuary of the city: four centuries of fidelity to the same icon of the Virgin, saved again and again from fire, on the banks of the Bosphorus.
"Holy Mary Draperis, Mother saved from fire," "keep the faith of your children in Istanbul."
Is the advocation of the Virgin Mary of your people missing?
Si no encuentras la advocación mariana de tu ciudad o pueblo, cuéntanosla: la investigaremos para ubicarla y darla a conocer en este mapa del amor de la Madre por el mundo.
Propose an apvocation →