Chiesa di San Benedetto

In 1912 Pius X wanted to have a church built in the Ostiense district, near the gasometer, to provide for the spiritual life of the people living there, but he died before he could see the work begin. His successor Benedict XV was committed to starting them, and the church was dedicated to St Benedict in memory of the pope, but due to a series of setbacks at his death the work had barely begun. In fact, having demolished an old and ancient chapel, first (in 1916) a shack in the area was adapted as a church, then work began on the new church, but by the time of the pope's death only the pillars and roof had been erected. It was only in 1925, under the pontificate of Pius XI, that work was done to complete the church, which was officially erected as a parish on 3 June 1926 with the Apostolic Constitution Nostri pastoralis officii.For several years the parish was entrusted to the priests of the Society of St Paul; today it is entrusted to the priests of the Congregation of the Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.) on behalf of the Diocese of Rome. It is the seat of the cardinal title of St Benedict outside Porta San Paolo.A plaque at the back of the church commemorates the visit made by John Paul II on 14 February 1988.On the outside, the building is made of brick, with two orders. The lower order is enlivened by the presence of an atrium marked by two pillars and the Latin inion ‘Obsculta o fili praecepta magistri: ora et labora’ (‘Listen, O son, to the precepts of the master: pray and work’). In the upper order is an oval window with a cross and some symbols of the Christian iconographic tradition, namely the fish, the christogram, the dove and the crosier. At the top of the façade is the coat of arms of Pope Pius XII. In the entrance atrium is a plaque commemorating the elevation of the church to cardinal diaconate on 28 June 1988 by decree of John Paul II.The interior of the church has a single nave, with a small aisle on the right side separated from the main body by pillars, and four chapels on the left side. The first chapel, upon entering, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has the same orientation as the church: on the back wall is a mosaic by Armando Baldinelli depicting the Sacred Heart. The next two chapels contain works by 20th century artists: a Madonna and Child by Silvio Consadori (1951) and St Joseph with Adolescent Jesus by Luigi Filocamo (1953). The high altar is dominated by a marble composition repeating the Benedictine motto Ora et labora with a painting by Ferruccio Ferrazzi depicting St Benedict. A statue of the saint is placed in the right aisle.The terracotta Via Crucis is by the Genoese artist Antonio Giuseppe Santagata who was very active in Rome in the 1930s.In the chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary are two plaques: the one on the left commemorates the visit of Pope John Paul II, the one on the right commemorates Cardinal Andrea Carlo Ferrari on the day of his beatification (10 May 1987).