Chiesa di San Vigilio

At the end of the 1960s, when Italy was entering that phase of its history that would later be recognised as the Italian economic boom, the Ottavo Colle was born in the southern suburbs of Rome. In a rapidly expanding area, the Pope at the time, Paul VI, initially entrusted the pastoral care of the nascent neighbourhood to the Comboni community. With the impetus and enthusiasm of our missionaries, on 22 May 1968, with the decree of Cardinal Vicar Angelo Dell'Acqua Quotidianis curis, the parish of St Albert the Great was founded, a point of reference for young families coming to live in the area. The enthusiasm, the desire to belong and the desire to walk together are palpable in the numerous initiatives promoted at that time.
After a few years, the parish was entrusted to the Fidei Donum priests of the Diocese of Trent. The community moved to its first autonomous location, in the shops in Via Duccio di Buoninsegna. With the first parish priest, Fr Carlo Gelmi, the fledgling community also received the title of its new patron saint and the parish was named after Vigilius, Bishop of Trent. Soon a simple but solid community awareness was formed and with it came the desire to build a church, as a point of reference for the neighbourhood and a place to watch over the community that by now began to have its own identity, a recognisable voice in the concert of voices of the Diocese of Rome.
With the commitment and goodwill of all the parishioners, on 9 December 1990, Fr Carlo welcomed the then Vicar of the Pope, Cardinal Ugo Poletti, for the consecration of the much-desired new church. A community that is proud to have built its own church with its own efforts and now wants to live in it. But the transition from the little church in Via Duccio di Buonisegna to the new temple also coincides with the transition from the clergy of Trent to that of Rome, and Fr Enrico Ghezzi arrives at San Vigilio. Together with him, a growing familiarity with the Word and the beauty of the liturgy grows among us, as nourishment that fortifies the young community.
On 7 November 1993, Pope John Paul II came to San Vigilio on a pastoral visit.
The 1990s were marked, in Italy as in the rest of Europe, by a new and irreversible economic and social change, and the famous kilometre of banks in the neighbourhood was not just a historical fact. In a short time, people from the most diverse social backgrounds found themselves living together in the same community, and different rhythms were created that affected everyone. The placid and quiet stream of the early days now becomes a vigorous river where various tributaries swell its waters. Youth realities continue to grow exponentially, even volunteer work is enriched by the cooperation and goodwill of so many people in a proliferation of charitable activities that continue unstoppable to this day.
In 2006, Fr Demetrio arrived at San Vigilio, and the river of our community received a renewed impetus and swelled again with an ever-increasing and exciting momentum and rhythm. By now San Vigilio has become an increasingly heterogeneous reality, experiencing internal ferments that, shaking the initial equilibrium, become real stimuli, incitements to take a further step on the path of growth and healing from selfishness and individualism. As always happens in all communities during a turnover, some leave, others stay, others return, and the community of San Vigilio increasingly takes on the shape of a comet: many valid consistencies that repel and attract each other. A comet that revolves around an axis that has always been the Sunday Eucharist, and that unceasingly travels its orbit in a continuous journey of growth in faith. The hardships and difficulties of walking together, however, do not dim its light in our neighbourhood, and that choir of different voices has begun to experience new forms of reconciliation, harmonisation and synthesis, which still today bring new joy and renewed beauty to the parish of San Vigilio. Since 2017, our community has been led by Fr Alfio Tirrò.
As St John Paul II came, he commented on the Gospel passage of the wise virgins and urged us to be vigilant, faithful to the name of our patron. After 50 years, may the comet of our community still shine on the eighth hill as a guide for those who watch in the night lost in poverty of flesh and spirit.