Santa Prisca

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Santa Prisca is a basilica church in Rome, devoted to Saint Prisca, a 1st century martyr, on the Aventine hill. It was built in the 4th or 5th century over a temple of Mithras, and is recorded as the Titulus Priscae in the acts of the 499 synod. The location is also famous for a Mithraic inscription in the Mithraeum, which is thought to allude to Mithras "shedding... eternal blood" for the salvation of humanity.^[1]

Damaged in the Norman Sack of Rome, the church was restored several times. The current aspect is due to the 1660 restoration, which included a new facade by Carlo Lombardi.

In the interior, the columns are the only visible remains of the ancient church. Also a baptismal font allegedly used by Saint Peter is conserved. The altar in the crypt contains the relics of Saint Prisca; the frescoes in the crypt are by Antonio Tempesta. Anastasio Fontebuoni frescoed the walls of the nave with Saints and angels with the instruments of passion. In the sacristy, is a painting of the Immaculate conception with angels by Giovanni Odazzi, and on the main altar a Baptism of Santa Prisca by Domenico Passignano.

[edit] Titular priests

The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Priscae is Justin Francis Rigali, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Among the previous titulars, Giovanni Colonna the Elder (1192), Adeodato Giovanni Piazza (1937), Angelo Roncalli (1953), later Pope, Giovanni Urbani (1958), José da Costa Nunes (1962), Giovanni Benelli (1977), Alfonso López Trujillo (1983).

[edit] footnotes

[edit] References

• "Santa Prisca", by Chris Nyborg.