In what used to be the parade ground of the Ducal Palace, now known as Matteotti Square, stands the marvelous Church of the Holy Name of Jesus and Saints Ambrose and Andrew, commonly called the Church of Jesus, as it was the Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola that rebuilt it in the late 16th century.There is a singular story that few people know concerning the two statues placed on either side of the church’s entrance gate.In the past, the statues that greeted the faithful represented St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius. However, following the order of dissolution of the Order given by Pope Clement XIV in 1773, the revolutionary uprisings of the late 1700s and the confiscation of property belonging to the clergy by the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia in 1848, the statues were replaced by those of St. Andrew and St. Ambrose, sculpted by sculptor Michele Ramognino (Varazze 1821 – Genoa 1881).After 174 years of honored service, the two substitute saints can now fully claim to be considered the titular saints. The attitude of St. Andrew, who, leaning out of his niche, seems to ask, "Pòscito-ese ma a Zena no ciéuve ciù?" or, translated for the non-Genoese, "Gee, but doesn’t it rain in Genoa anymore?" is peculiar.
