Gesù di Nazareth is a later 20th century parish church at Via Igino Giordani 5 in the Collatino quarter, between the Via Tiburtina and Strada dei Parchi and just south of the Forte Tiburtino. Pictures of the church at Wikimedia Commons are here.
The dedication is to Jesus Christ living in Nazareth as a child and young man (the so-called "Unknown Years").
Exterior[]
The parish was set up in 1983. The church was designed by Angelo Polesello, a priest architect, and completed in 1988. This is his only church in Rome.
Exterior[]
This is a low building in reinforced concrete on a square plan, with the major axis on a diagonal.
The layout is not obvious from the outside. To orient the description, it should be noted that the near end of the major diagonal is occupied by the corner nearest the Piazza Eduardo Persico. The near left hand diagonal wall contains the entrances, and the far right hand diagonal wall abuts onto the parish centre which is a rectangular block higher than the church.
The exposed walls are in white concrete, which rise beyond the level of the flat roof to form a parapet. The roof itself is supported by concrete beams which run from the near left hand diagonal wall to the far right hand one. There are seven of these beams, dividing the roof into nine equal strips -the missing eighth beam has its place occupied by a row of skylights.
The near corner on the major axis is chamfered. The parapet of each flanking wall rises in a series of eight steps to meet it, and from the lower corner of each step a groove in the wall runs down, turns back on a right angle, runs horizontally for a distance and then turns another right angle to run to the ground. These grooves give a striking nested pattern of angles on these two walls. The apex of the corner bears a metal sculpture formed of a cloud of spikes in the form of a cross.
The entrance wall, the near left diagonal one, has three separate entrance porches of an identical right-angled triangular plan. Each has a flat triangular roof supported by a single short wall perpendicular to the main wall. The latter has no fenestration. In front of the entrances is an area paved in randomly shaped slabs -what the British call “crazy paving”.
The fenestration of the other walls differs. The far left hand wall has a row of small vertical rectangular windows, well spaced. The near right hand wall has a row of larger horizontal rectangular windows, rather low down. The far right hand wall has none because of the abutting parish block, except for a large horizontal rectangular window fitted under the roofline just by the far corner which contains the sanctuary.
There is a tower campanile also in white concrete, on a triangular plan. This is located just before the right hand corner, and is connected to the church by another triangular porch for a side entrance. Each of the three faces has a large rectangular sound-hole, below which are grooves in the concrete which have different patterns on each face.
Interior[]
Inside, the flat roof has its concrete beams running across from the far left hand wall to the near right hand one. The ends of the beams are supported by a pair of massive horizontal beams.
The interior is in white, but the windows contain brightly coloured stained glass.
The sanctuary occupies the far corner, and is raised on a platform with four steps. There is a screen wall behind this, curving into the corner and formed of irregularly shaped and rough slabs of stone laid randomly. This evokes the cliff off which the townsfolk at Nazareth had tried to throw Christ, after he had upset them by his preaching in their synagogue. This wall contains the tabernacle, with a bronze door. The font to the right is also of rough blocks, and has an interesting patinated bronze cover.
Liturgy[]
According to the Diocese, Mass is celebrated:
Weekdays 7:00, 18:30 (19:00 in summer);
Sundays and Solemnities 8:00, 10:00, 11:30 (not summer), 18:30 (19:00 in summer).
There is Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Thursdays 17:30 (18:00 in summer) to 21:00.
The Rosary is recited at 18:00 daily (18:30 in summer).