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Chiesa Sacro Cuore di Gesù in Prati

Typology: Parish Church

Address

Address: Lungotevere Prati, 12
Zone: Rione Prati (Roma centro)

Contacts

Telephone: 06 68806517

Opening times

For the timetable of the masses and visiting conditions, please consult the contacts.

 

Description

It was built in neo-Gothic style between 1894 and 1917 by architect Giuseppe Gualandi, and despite its seemingly marble whiteness, the church is all in reinforced concrete. The interior has a nave and two side aisles with high pointed arches; there are polychrome stained glass windows in the walls that create striking light effects. The façade is characterised by the presence of many spires, reminiscent of those of Milan Cathedral, due to which it is popularly referred to as the 'small Milan Cathedral'.

The church was commissioned by French priest Victor Jouet, who had founded the Association of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the suffrage of the souls in Purgatory. On the site of the present church there was a chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Rosary in the late 19th century that was destroyed by fire in 1894. Tradition has it that a shadow resembling a man's head was discovered on one of the remaining pillars and that this image was interpreted as that of a soul in purgatory. This fact is the origin of the church and its name. Priest Jouet, impressed by the event, began to collect a large number of testimonies (documents and relics) on the manifestations of the Souls in Purgatory; he thus collected cloths, breviaries, wooden tablets and bibles on which appeared footprints that had been left by the Souls of the Dead: all this is now preserved in a small museum next to the sacristy.

See also

Culture and leisure › Cultural heritage › Museums
Last checked: 2022-07-13 15:11