Church of San Tommaso in Parione

Overlooking Via di Parione, which is also the name of the Rome’s Rione to which it belongs, it is one of the many churches in Rome that risk going unnoticed, whether because of its secluded location – even though we are just a short walk from Piazza Navona – or its inconspicuous appearance. Yet this simple and silent church has a very ancient origin, dating back to at least the 12th century. The church is first documented in 1139, when Pope Innocent II consecrated it: the dedicatory epigraph with the list of relics granted is still walled to the right of the entrance.

In 1449, the church became the seat of the important Congregation of the Writers and Copyists. At the end of the 16th century, it was rebuilt at the expense of the Roman nobles Mario and Camillo Cerrini, based on a design by Francesco da Volterra, and it in this church that, in 1639, Gian Lorenzo Bernini married the young and beautiful Caterina Tezio. The church fell into decay in the early 19th century, probably as a result of the French occupation, and in 1848 it underwent a thorough restoration.

The simple 16th-century brick façade has two storeys: the dividing entablature has a dedicatory inscription that recalls the restoration paid for by the Cerrini family. In the upper storey, there is a central square window with a very wide frame embellished with curlicues and scallop shells, over which is a segmental pediment. The interior, with three naves divided by eight pillars, has lost most of its artwork but still holds an Annunciation by Giuseppe Passeri and some 18th-century frescoes depicting the life of St. Thomas. An 18th-century epigraph and a 19th-century fresco on the left wall of the apse recall that in this church St. Philip Neri was ordained to the priesthood in 1551.

Today San Tommaso in Parione is the national church of Ethiopia in Rome and a meeting place for the community of Eritrean Catholics who gather here to pray and celebrate Mass in the Ge’ez rite.