Chiesa di S. TERESA DI GESU’ BAMBINO IN PANFILO

The name in Panfilo comes from the catacombs of San Panfilo on which the church is built, catacombs consisting of several tunnels where pilgrims' graffiti and funerary inions can be found. The church was built to plans by architect Guglielmo Palombi between 1929 and 1932 and dedicated to St. Therese of Lisieux. The crypt was inaugurated on 16 May 1928, while the church was solemnly consecrated on 2 October 1932 by Monsignor Adeodato Giovanni Piazza. Since its inception, the church has been entrusted to the Discalced Carmelites, whose convent, adjacent to the church, was completed in 1929.
The church was the parish seat from 6 December 1952, the date of the decree of Cardinal Vicar Clemente Micara Omnium ecclesiarum, to 30 September 2011.
The church is preceded by a large marble staircase, due to the crypt below. The interior is a Latin cross with a single nave. In the main apse there are: a painting depicting Saint Teresa scattering flowers by E. Ballerini; and a fresco with Saint Teresa and baby Jesus by G. Morgante. In the side apses there are two chapels, dedicated to the Madonna del Carmine and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Next to the left apse there is the chapel of the relics, built in 1961, which houses the veil worn by Saint Teresa of Lisieux when she went to Rome to be received by the Pope and receive authorization to enter the Carmelite order at only fifteen years old. The side altars come from a disappeared church in Rome, Santa Maria in Macello Martyrum. The church is embellished with nine polychrome stained glass windows in ancient glass made in 1978 by the artist Luciano Vinardi (Rome, 1934 - Sacrofano, 2015). They represent, through some symbols linked to the interior life of the Saint of Lisieux, indicated by her herself in her manus, the story of the birth and fulfillment of her vocation. They are therefore "illumination of the spirit of the Saint; an interpretation of the religious experience lived by her as a gift from God, the realization of the divine plan for her, made a message to humanity today, to which the Saint proposes it as a little way of spiritual childhood (P. A. Paolini). From the first stained glass window on the counter-façade, and proceeding to the right, the symbols follow one another: I, A "T" among the stars; II, A flower; III, Snow; IV, The sail; V, Scattering flowers; VI, The eagle and the little bird; VII, The offering to merciful Love; VIII, Martyrdom; IX, In the heart of the Church I will be Love. The crypt below is decorated with a double row of columns, and has a coffered ceiling.
The church's pipe organ was built in 1953 by Cremasque organ builder Agostino Benzi on the occasion of the church's erection as a parish church the previous year. Then, for the 1975 Jubilee, the instrument was restored by the organ builder Augusto Bevilacqua who rebuilt the transmissions, built a new console and moved the expressive body, corresponding to the second keyboard, from the choir loft above the main entrance where it used to be, into the choir loft to the left of the apse. Currently, the organ is electrically driven and is divided as follows:
on the choir loft on the counter façade, the pipes of the Grand Organ (first keyboard) and the pedal;in the choir loft to the left of the apse, the pipes of the Espressivo (second keyboard) and the 8' register of the pedal;in the left side chapel, the console.