Basilica Santa Balbina all'Aventino

The basilica of St Balbina in Rome is an early Christian cult building, located on the little Aventine in the district of San Saba. It is dedicated to the 2nd-century Roman virgin and martyr, daughter of Quirinus, a tribune of the Roman army, who converted to Christianity, with whom she suffered martyrdom and was later buried on the Appian Way.
Access to the basilica is both from the ancient walled via di santa Balbina, and from the stairway, on via Baccelli, dedicated to Father Simpliciano della Natività, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, animators and custodians of the basilica, whom he called the Margheritine Sisters, because he placed them under the protection of St Margaret of Cortona, as the first nuns were, like St Margaret, former prostitutes who had converted. He entrusted his nuns with the direction of the nearby St Margaret's facility to assist and rescue exploited and enslaved women through prostitution.
The church of St Balbina has the dignity of a minor basilica. It has had the title of cardinal since the first ecclesiastical organisation of the city and the oldest evidence of its existence dates back to the synod of 595. At the time of Pope Urban V, the adjoining monastery was dedicated to the Holy Saviour, as evidenced by a fresco in the apse of the basilica, and to St. Balbina, but when the entire structure was purchased in the late 1800s by Father Simplicianus, he dedicated it to St. Margaret of Cortona for the mission of assisting women in distress, as already mentioned.
The building, looking at the opus listata and brickwork masonry, seems datable to the 4th century, but perhaps initially belonged to one of the rich residences (domus) in the neighbourhood and was only later used as a church. The domus has been identified, from the brick stamps, with the one given by the emperor Septimius Severus in the early 3rd century to his friend Lucius Fabius Cilon, twice consul and prefect of Rome.
The simple brick façade, the result of a 16th-century renovation, has three large curved windows closed by modern transennae, and is preceded by a short flight of steps and a three-arched portico of later date.
The interior of the church has a single hall with a trussed roof. On each side are six chapels, alternately rectangular and semicircular, in which remains of 11th to 14th century frescoes and 17th to 19th century oil paintings and other works from the demolition of the Constantinian basilica of St. Peter's in the Vatican can be admired. The floor contains fragments of mosaics from the 1st century necropolis, discovered during the 1939 construction of the Via Imperiale (today's Via dei Fori Imperiali).
At the back is the apse, which has windows and houses a beautiful 13th-century Cosmatesque bishop's chair. The fresco in the apse basin (late 16th century) is by Anastasio Fontebuoni and represents Christ in Glory between Saints Balbina, Felicissimo and Quirino.
Near the church are remains of the Servian wall. The green area in front of the Monumental Complex of Sts. Balbina and the Complex itself have been dedicated to women with the name Woman's Park.