Santa Maria Regina Mundi delle Figlie della Carità is a mid 20th century private convent chapel located at Via Francesco Albergotti 75 in the Aurelio quarter, just off the Via della Pineta Sacchetti. This is a cul-de-sac, and the chapel is on the left at the end.
The dedication is to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of the Queen of the World.
History[]
The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul built a headquarters here for their Roman province after the Second World War (the congregational headquarters have always been at Paris). Corresponding to their flourishing state at the time, this was a seriously large convent with a private chapel that is the size of a parish church. The complex overall has the name Regina Mundi.
Unfortunately, the sisters have suffered a serious decline in vocations in Europe since the later 20th century, and the convent complex is now effectively redundant. The Roman province now has its base at Via Pompeo Magno 108, near the church of San Gioacchino in Prati and the Diocese lists only one sister resident at Regina Mundi.
The chapel is a dependency of the parish of Santa Maria Immacolata di Lourdes a Boccea, but there is no public liturgical activity.
Appearance[]
The chapel, as mentioned, is on the scale of a church but has a very low civic profile. The plan is basilical, featuring a central nave with side aisles of seven bays. The sanctuary is an integral semi-circular apse the same width as the central nave.
The walls are in orange render, and the main roof is pitched and tiled with the apse roof in eight sectors. The side aisle roofs are single pitched.
Each central nave side wall has a set of fenestrations, one for each bay, consisting of a row of seven small vertical rectangular windows sharing a stone framework. These windows sit on the upper rooflines of the aisles.
The façade is in limestone, not render. The single entrance is approached by a set of six steps in a semi-circle the width of the central nave. Either side of the entrance is a set of six vertical rectangular window slits, repeated above in the second storey. In between the upper pair is a fifth set, this one having seven slits. In between the entrance and these upper windows is the very large text Regina Mundi.