Sacri Cuori di Gesù e Maria di Porto Santa Rufina is the cathedral of the diocese of Porto Santa Rufina, although it is in the municipality of Rome. It is at Via del Cenacolo 45, in the old village of La Storta which is on the Via Cassia, north-west of the city. Picture of the church on Wikimedia Commons. [1]

History of dioceseEdit

The present diocese results from the union of two ancient ones. Firstly, the diocese and town of Porto used to be situated at the mouth of the Tiber, on the present Isola Sacra just west of Fiumicino (and hence not in the municipality of Rome). The town was abandoned after the fall of the Roman Empire, and in the late 9^th century the bishop transferred his cathedral to in Rome. He took up residence next to the present church of San Giovanni Calibita on the Isola Tiberina.

Secondly, the diocese of Santa Rufina became established at the basilica founded at Selva Candida on the site where SS Rufina and Seconda were martyred (other sources place this church on the Via Aurelia, 14 miles from Rome). The basilica was ruined in raids by marauders in the 9th century, and the bishop also took up residence on Isola Tiberina where he later used San Bartolomeo all'Isola as his cathedral when that church was built.

The boundary of the latter diocese in the early Middle Ages was the Tiber, and included the Vatican (with St Peter’s), Trastevere and Isola Tiberina. This state of affairs lasted until the popes moved back to Rome from Avignon permanently in the 14^th century, and took up residence at the Vatican instead of the Lateran. The bishops of these two dioceses both continued to reside on the Isola Tiberina, until the two dioceses were united in 1124. The cathedral later moved to Cerveteri, and then to Santi Ippolito e Lucia in Porto when that place became a settlement again.

The diocese was so depopulated for most of its history that the office of bishop was treated as an honorific. It only became important again in the 19^th century, when Rome began its suburban expansion. This accelerated in the 20^th century, when the municipality of Rome added several districts to its territory which belongd in the diocese, west and north-west of the Circonvallazione. Much of this area is still rural.

CathedralEdit

The present cathedral was completed in 1950, in a place which cannot be called a cathedral city but is a mere roadside village. It is a fairly tall red-brick building on the plan of a Greek cross. Three of the arms have apses, and the main apse has an ambulatory. The apses are decorated by large recessed arched panels in the brickwork, which in the side apses occupy three-quarters of the height but on the main apse start above the ambulatory. The façade of the main entrance is dominated by an enormous arch in grey stone, with capitals on its pilasters, and within this the frontage is clad in white marble laid in a lozenge pattern. The entrance door, inserted into this, has a frame in the same grey stone, and above it is a smaller arch containing a row of three arched windows in brick. Above these in the smaller arch is more of the grey stone, and a tondo containing a relief.

The campanile is in two shades of grey. The base is of rough-hewn dark grey blocks, and stone of the same colour forms the corners of the elevation. The sides of the tower are in lighter grey. Each of the four bell apertures consists of a row of three round-headed lancets in white, contained in a larger arch. The central lancet of each set is larger.

External linksEdit

Italian Wikipedia page on diocese

Aerial photo