Santa Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio

From Churches of Rome Wiki

Santa Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio
English name:	Our Lady of the Conception in the Campo Marzio
Dedication:	Blessed Virgin Mary
Denomination:
Type:	National church
Built:
Architect(s):	Giacomo della Porta, Giovanni Antonio de Rossi
Artists:
Contact data
Address:	45 Piazza Campo Marzio 00186 Roma
Homepage:	(06 67 87 021)

Santa Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio is a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Syrian national church, of the Syrian-Antiochene rite.

[edit] History

The exact date of the first church here is uncertain. Tradition claims that it was founded some time after 750 by nuns of the convent of St Anastasia in Constantinople, who had fled from the East to avoid the iconoclast persecutions. Pope Zacharias (741-752) is said to have built a convent for them, and the nuns later built this church as well as one dedicated to St Gregory Nazianzene, whose relics they brought from Constantinople.

It was enlarged by Giacomo della Porta in 1564, and again by Giovanni Antonio de Rossi in 1685.

[edit] Interior

The church is built on a Greek cross plan, with a dome.

The painting of the Blessed Virgin over the high altar, the Madonna Advocata, is from the 12th or 13th century. Special notes

Mass is celebrated according to the Syrian-Antiochene rite, but the church is in full communion with the Holy Father.