Santa Maria Assunta delle Suore di San Giovanni Battista is an early 20th century convent chapel located at Viale Giulio Cesare 116 in the rione Prati.
Name[]
The dedication is to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the aspect of her Assumption.
The chapel is sometimes misnamed San Giovanni Battista ai Prati, because of the name of the congregation owning it.
The confusion is further added to by having the school here called the Istituto San Giovanni Battista.
History[]
The Sisters of St John the Baptist were founded by St Alfonso Maria Fusco at Angri in 1878. They have the nickname Battistine, which causes confusion with other congregations having a similar name.
The convent, with a large school, was founded in 1909. The interior was re-decorated by Uberto Colonna in 1950.
The Generalate was later moved to Santissimo Sacramento delle Suore di San Giovanni Battista, where it remains.
Despite being large and having a public presence, the Diocese does not consider its place of worship to be a church but only a private chapel in the parish of Santa Maria del Rosario in Prati.
Appearance[]
The single-nave building has a flat roof, and is sandwiched between taller edifices on both sides.
The rather severe neo-Romanesque façade features four Doric pilasters which rise from tall plinths either side of the door to the fractured segmental pediment, the central section of which is slightly set back. Their capitals break into the entablature. There is a tall round-headed lancet window between each pair of pilasters, and a horizontal oeil-de-boeuf window over the entrance and just under the entablature.
The stone doorcase has a cornice superimposed, and over this is a half-moon window framed by two stubby pilasters supporting another projecting cornice. This, in its turn, supports a coat-of-arms.