Basilica del Sacro Cuore Immacolato di Maria

The construction of the church began in 1923, thanks to donations from the Italian Canadian community. It was designed by the architect Armando Brasini, who gave it a Greek cross plan inscribed in a circle and an elaborate facade. Over time, the project underwent numerous variations, especially due to the high cost of materials that led Brasini to simplify its forms.
In 1936, the crypt was consecrated and entrusted to the congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Sacred Immaculate Heart of Mary, also known as the Claretians. In 1951, the drum was completed, which replaced the large dome planned in the project but never built. A large multi-story building was built next to the church, intended for parish offices and to offer shelter to the priests of the order of St. Anthony Mary Claret.
Pope John XXIII elevated it to the rank of minor basilica in May 1959; in February 1965, Pope Paul VI made it a titular church with the title of Sacred Heart of Mary. The church is also a parish church, established on May 10, 1936 with the decree of the Cardinal Vicar Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani Apostolica impulsus.
Monsignor Óscar Romero, Archbishop, Martyr of El Salvador, proclaimed Saint on October 14, 2018, celebrated his first mass there in 1942, just after being ordained a priest on the campus of the Pio Latino College.
On the outside it has a large pronaos, supported by travertine columns and surmounted by a pediment with the dedication of the basilica. Along the entire external perimeter of the grandiose building, there are 28 Tuscan columns. The lateral sides and the external part of the apse are enlivened by travertine pilasters and empty semicircular niches. Of what was to have become the grandiose dome, all that remains is the base of the brick drum with four small square windows with marble frames.
The interior is a mixture of a Greek cross and a Latin cross, with four large side chapels and a large initial narthex. The chapels, octagonal in plan and each lit by a lantern, are dedicated to Saint Joseph (first on the right), the Blessed Sacrament (second on the right), perpetual suffrage (first on the left) and Our Lady of Pompeii (second on the left). In this last chapel are exhibited the sketches by Brasini of the statues of the four evangelists that were supposed to decorate the exterior of the church, but were never built. The baptistery is located at the end of the narthex, on the right, and houses two paintings by the Armenian Gregorio Sciltian (1900-1985), depicting Saint John the Baptist baptizing Jesus and Angels and baptismal symbolism.
The large apse is introduced by the triumphal arch supported by two Corinthian columns. At its center is the high altar, surmounted by a mosaic depicting the Heart of Mary, flanked by two life-size marble angels. The monumental tabernacle reproduces the facade of the basilica.
Also inside are the frescoes of the Roman painter Federico Morgante.
In the crypt are exhibited multi-scene paintings by Fulgenzio Martinez with the representation of various episodes of the New Testament.
In the basilica is the Mascioni pipe organ opus 689, built in 1954 and placed in three niches in the apse, behind the high altar. The instrument, with electric transmission, has 49 registers; the console has three keyboards and a concave-radial pedal board.