The Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome was built in 320 and is one of the seven Roman pilgrimage churches. For believers it is a very important church as there are three fragments of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. These believers can also obtain an indulgence there.
Practical information for your visit
The address of the Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme is Piazza di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, 12 – 00185 Rome (tel. +39 0670613053). Opening times (2021): From 07.00 till 12.45 and from 15.30 till 19.30. Admission: Free. Name in English: Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. The church also had a small museum, consisting of a hallway and two rooms. A donation of minimum 2 Euros is expected.
History of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
Foundation and early history
The Santa Croce in Gerusalemme Basilica was actually built in three stages. It started its existence as a small chapel in the Palazzo Sessoriano, the Imperial Palace of Saint Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine I. She had ordered its construction so she could house the relics of the passion she had smuggled from Jerusalem.
The chapel was built on the ruins of a beautiful villa called Horti Variani ad Spem Veterem. This villa, built under Septimius Severus and completed under Heliogabalus, consisted of the Anfiteatro Castrense, the Circo Variano, the Terme Eleniane (which was not called that at the time) and a living area, which was partly incorporated into the basilica.
Part of the villa was demolished when the Aurelian Wall was built.
Helena made the complex into her residence and had the atrium converted into a basilica.
The original name of the basilica was Sancta Hierusalem. In 433, after she had the chapel built, it became Basilica Heleniana.
Middle ages
Around the middle of the 12th century, after the church had fallen into neglect, Pope Lucius II ordered a restoration. The new construction showed Romanesque influences, with 3 naves, a bell-tower, a cloister and one entrance. The cloister was later demolished.
During a big part of the 14th century, while the popes were in exile in Avignon, the complex was completely abandoned.
In the 18th century, Benedict XIV commissioned not only a new restoration but also the construction of two roads connecting the church to two other basilicas connected with the life of Jesus, Saint Mary Major and Saint John Lateran.
Pietro Passalaqua and Domenico Gregorini designed a new, concave, facade.
In 1930 the architect Florestano di Fausto built the Cappella delle Reliquie, where Saint Helena‘s relics are kept. These consist of two thorns of Jesus’s crown, three splinters of the cross (a bigger piece was moved to Saint Peter’s Basilica in 1629), a fragment of a nail and a part of the Elogium (aka Titulus Crucis), although the University of Arizona has investigated the piece and claims this stems from the 10th century. There are also a big fragment of the cross of the Good Thief, a small bone of what is thought to be the index finger Saint Thomas stuck into Jesus’ wounds after the resurrection, some fragments of the grotto of Jerusalem and a reliquarium with splinters of the wooden pillar Jesus was tied to while he was being hit, of his tomb and his cradle.
The relics used to be placed in the partly underground Chapel of Saint Helena, where Helena had also thrown some earth brought from Golgotha on the ground.
During the Middle Ages the Chapel of Saint Helena was considered too sacred for women, who were thus not allowed entrance.
Works of art and other points of interest
The basilica consists of three naves, separated by eight granite columns and six pillars. The Cosmatesque floor dates back to the 12th century.
The 15th century frescoes gracing the apse vault depict a series of events relating to the legend of the True Cross. Initially attributed to Pinturicchio, it is now thought to have been painted by Antoniazzo Romano. The top part shows Christ the Redeemer flanked by two angels.
Jacopo Sansovino made the tomb of Cardinal Francisco de los Angeles Quinones. The tomb, placed in an unusual spot against the back wall of the apse, was made between 1536 and 1540, the year the cardinal died.
The wooden crucifix gracing the second altar on the left dates back to the 16th century. The artist was an unknown Roman sculptor.
Chapel of Saint Helena
The entrance to the Chapel of Saint Helena is at the end of the right nave. The altar in this chapel is embellished with a statue of Saint Elena, which is really a statue of Juno and was found in Ostia Antica. The chapel contains a mosaic by Melozzo da Forli.
Museum
In the museum of the basilica there is a mosaic icon, commissioned by Pope Gregory I after he had seen a vision of Jesus.
Curiosities
In 2011, the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme Church was briefly in the news. The church was closed, on the authority of the Pope. The abbot, Simone Fioraso, was reputed to have a lover and the higher clergy prostituted the younger monks. Part of the monastery had been transformed into a luxury hotel and parties were held in which suspect, at least from a catholic point of view, pop stars such as Madonna participated. The expensive vegetables supposedly grown by the monks in the monastery garden turned out to have been bought from local greengrocers. To top it off, seven million euros were also missing from the budget.
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