The Church of St. Julian of the Flemings (, , , ) is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Julian the Hospitaller, located in Rome, Italy. Historically, the church has been the National Church in Rome of the Southern Netherlands and, in 1830, became the national church of the Kingdom of Belgium.
According to tradition, the church was built when Flanders converted to the Christian faith, during the pontificate of Gregory II (715–753). The little church is part of a Roman building that was once the hospice of St. Julian of the Flemings, built to shelter pilgrims from the county of Flanders (Belgium). Its official denomination since 1979 is "Royal Belgian church and Foundation of Saint Julian of the Flemings" (, ).
In the Consistory of November 26, 1994, Jan Pieter Schotte was appointed the first Cardinal-Deacon of St. Julian, a position now occupied by Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, created in 2010.
History
Immediately after their conversion, German pilgrims started to arrive in Rome to visit the cult places of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Guesthouses were built to shelter and feed them – small hospices of the Saxons, the Lombards, the Frisians and the Franks. Tradition situates the foundation of the hospice of St Julian in the 8th century, when Flanders was converted to the Christian faith during the pontificate of Pope Gregory II (715–753). However, it was probably in the 11th century that the Christian community of Flemish expatriates in Rome built a hospice for their fellow-countrymen, both pilgrims and visitors, with a chapel dedicated to their patron saint. In 1096, Robert II, Count of Flanders visited the hospice on his way to the Holy Land, during the First Crusade, and possibly oversaw its restoration.
The first historical references to a chapel of St Julian date from the early 15th century. In this period the popes returned to Rome, after their long exile in Avignon. The return of the papal court to Rome attracted many foreigners to the city. Soon the Netherlands created its own infrastructure to shelter the increasing number of Dutch pilgrims. From this period comes one of the oldest writings of St Julian's, a copy of which is extant: the statutes and regulations of the hospice for pilgrims in 1444.
From 1624, the Confraternita dei Fiamminghi that ran the hospice of St Julian carefully kept records of Dutch pilgrims who visited Rome. From 1624 to 1790, 21,213 were given shelter, mainly from Flanders, but also from Artois, Namur, Hainaut, Tournai and Cambrai.
Under the influence of the Renaissance popes, Rome became a center of culture, a magnet for painters, sculptors, musicians and scholars. Supported by foundations such as St Julian of the Flemings, Rome became a place of immigration for Flemings from the 15th to the 17th century. Shoemakers, carpenters, goldsmiths, tailors and soldiers found their second home in Rome. The aim of the foundation was to help the needy Flemish pilgrims (old galley slaves, released slaves, and the poor). The wealthy Flemings of Rome, the high clergy, merchants, craftsmen and renowned artists became members of the board of the hospice and associate members of the Brotherhood of St Julian. This brotherhood had both a religious and a material dimension. It acquired much prestige in 1536 when the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, born in Ghent, became a member.
Although initially the statutes of the foundation restricted the members of its management board to Flemings from the county of Flanders, people from other parts of the Southern Netherlands (Antwerp, Tournai, Binche …) gradually took part to the functioning of St Julian. The directors of the hospice started to receive financial support from all parts of the Netherlands. With time, the little church of St Julian became more than a center for material support and served as a meeting place for all the southern Dutch living in Rome.