Preziosissimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo al Laterano is a 19th century convent church at Via di San Giovanni in Laterano 73 which is in the rione Monti (the other side of the street is in the rione Celio). Pictures of the church at Wikimedia Commons are here.
The dedication is to the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
History[]
The convent was founded for the Congregation of Sisters, Adorers of the Precious Blood (Suore Adoratrici del Sangue di Cristo). This in turn had been founded at Acuto in eastern Lazio in 1834 by St Maria De Mattias, who had been inspired by St Caspar del Bufalo and his foundation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in 1815.
The original foundation was in the mid 19th century as a small outreach convent with a chapel attached to a refuge for poor girls, but the chapel was re-built as a proper church in 1860 in a neo-Classical style when the complex became a nursing home for elderly nuns. It was re-ordered again in 1895.
The convent is now the headquarters of the Roman Province of the Congregation. It should not be confused with their Generalate in Appio Latino -Preziossisimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo ad Appio Latino. The shrine of the foundress is at the latter.
Exterior[]
Layout[]
The church is on a simple rectangular plan, with a single nave having a narrower external apse.
There is a tiny campanile or bellcote over the far end of the right hand side wall, but this is invisible from the street.
Façade[]
The façade is in a sober neo-Classical style. Two pairs of gigantic Composite pilasters stand on two high plinths either side of the door, and support an entablature the frieze of which bears the inscription Redime nos Domine in sanguine tuo ("Redeem us, Lord, by your blood"). The cornice of this entablature and the triangular pediment that it supports are embellished with modillions (little brackets) and dentillation.
The single entrance has over it a triangular pediment supported on strap corbels. In between the doorcase and canopy is the year 1895 in Roman numerals. Above, and near the entablature is a single large rectangular window with a recessed molded frame.
The wall of the façade behind the architectural elements is rendered so as to look as if it made of laid ashlar blocks in light grey with thin dark mortar joints. The effect is rather fake.
Interior[]
The simple interior is in pale pink, with white pilasters having cushion capitals and a pale grey ceiling. The segmental apse also has a flat ceiling -there is no triumphal arch. The apse wall has a pair of mid 20th century stained glass windows either side of a 19th century painting of Our Lady of Sorrows embracing Christ on the cross.
The interesting modern tabernacle beneath the painting is circular, with a projecting cylinder containing the Blessed Sacrament.