Italy: Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome

November 2016

The Basilica of The Holy Cross in Jerusalem is located in Rome, in the Esquilino quarter, close to the Aurelian Walls and the Castrense Amphitheatre, between the Basilica of St. John Lateran and Porta Maggiore. The Basilica of the Holy Cross is part of the route of the “Seven Churches” that ancient pilgrims used to visit on foot. The Esquilino at the time of the Emperor Augustus was a peripheral and residential area; it was chosen by the Severan Emperors in the third century. A.D. to build the imperial residence which included a palace, a Circus ( Circo Variano) and the Castrense Amphitheatre, later included in the Aurelian Walls, built between 271 and 275 AD The Emperor Constantine restored the complex and gave it the name "Sessorium"; in the year 324, when Constantine moved the capital of the Empire to Constantinople, the residence remained property of his mother Helen and underwent many changes, the most important was the transformation of part of the residential complex in a chapel designed to contain the relics of the Cross found by the Empress on Mount Calvary. This chapel became the nucleus of the Basilica of the Holy Cross, originally called the Basilica Eleniana or Sessoriana. In the VIII century, the basilica was restored by Pope Gregory II and Pope Hadrian I, In the XII century, Lucius II transformed it, according to the Romanic style. In a three naves building with a porch and a bell tower.

https://www.santacroceroma.it/en/features-3/storia.html#

One again, one of my favorite saints, Helena, made a major impact on Christianity with very little fanfare [see: St Helena]. The Basilica of the Holy Cross holds a portion of "the true cross" discovered in Jerusalem (by.... Helena - yay). Most importantly, the basilica enshrines the Titulus of the Cross (the sign affixed to the cross that said, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews"). It was found in a box in the late 1400s during a renovation.... hmmmm.

For me, the church itself blurred into all the others in Rome. It did stand out for what it purportedly holds, but Rome is so awash in relics and saints' remains, that I found it difficult to focus on just one and feel appropriately astounded. Religious Rome (like ancient Rome) is overwhelming and hard to process on a short visit.

Church with a lot of the "true cross" remains, check.

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