Santa Maria della Perseveranza is a later 20th century parish church at Via della Pisana 95, in the north part of the western suburb of La Pisana which is part of the Gianicolense suburban district.
The dedication is to the Blessed Virgin Mary , under her title of Our Lady of Perseverance.
History[]
The parish was set up in 1959. The church was designed by Francesco Fornari, and completed in 1964.
At present the parish is being administered by the Missionari Servi dei Poveri, nicknamed the Bocconisti.
Exterior[]
Layout and fabric[]
The church has an unusual plan, being an octagon stretched along the major axis. There is an external apse, trapezoidal in shape and lower than the main church.
The church stands on a site which slopes upwards from the street, and was built with a crypt. Because of the slope this is at ground level at the front, but inserts into the ground at the back. Also, the crypt frontage stands above a revetting wall flanking the street and the three elements together (revetment, crypt, church façade) make the roof of the church very high above street level.
The concrete frame of the building includes eight large piers increasing in width with height, one on each corner and a pair in the middle of each long side of the church. These two last pairs are each close together, and frame side entrances. The piers stand on a concrete plinth, and support deep roofline beams. These exposed surfaces of the concrete frame are in light grey
As a result of the shape of the piers, the red brick infill forms large trapezoidal areas of side wall. Each wall is horizontally striped by courses of brick being laid vertically and slightly recessed, there being six such stripes. The only windows form strips at the tops of the four large infills on the longer sides, below the large concrete beams supporting the roof.
The main roof is pitched, hipped and tiled and the roof of the sanctuary also slopes to its far wall.
The campanile is attached to the church to the left of the far end of the nave, and is a tall rectangular brickwork slab with two open rectangular concrete frames side by side at the top containing the bells. The tower has the same brickwork striping as the side walls of the church.
Façade[]
The main entrance is in one of the short sides of the octagon, approached by a side staircase which leads to a patio on part of the crypt roof. The façade here is a trapezoidal red brick wall flanked by concrete piers and a horizontal roofline beam.
The entrance has a little gabled concrete canopy, supported on two triangular struts melding into thin side piers. Below the canopy is a pentagonal panel displaying a semi-abstract design in majolica tiles. (The two side entrances, midway down the church, are on the same pattern.)
Above the canopy are the coat of arms of Pope St John XXIII, carved on a large rectangular white stone tablet.
Unlike the brickwork of the side walls, that of the façade infill wall has the bricks laid so as to create a diaper pattern of large squares.
The crypt frontage has its brickwork in pink, not red.
Interior[]
[]
The very simple interior has the walls in white with dados in a greenish-grey stone, and the concrete piers and roof-beams in light grey. The roof panels in between the beams are in a pale blue.
The far diagonal side walls each have a large open frame in the shape of an irregular hexagon, in a greenish stone. The one on the left contains a depiction of the Sacred Heart, and the one on the right of Bl Giacomo Cusmano who founded the Missionaries running the parish.
Sanctuary[]
The sanctuary apse is entered through an enormous rectangular portal, completely undecorated. The far wall bears an icon of Our Lady in a frame made up of triangular panels forming a star shape backed by further panels forming an irregular hexagon.
There are two altars. The original one against the back wall has been left for the tabernacle, which is surrounded by an assemblage of rods evoking a forest of crosses.
Liturgy[]
According to the Diocese, the Sunday and Solemnity Mass times are:
18:00 (Saturdays; 19:00 in summer), 7:30, 10:30, 12:00.
Weekday Mass times mentioned on the parish Facebook page are 8:30 and 18:00 (expect the latter to be 19:00 in summer).
External links[]
Roman Despatches blog with gallery
(There is no Wikipedia page or parish website. The parish makes do with a Facebook page.)