San Liborio is a modern parish and titular church the postal address of which is at Via Tino Buazzelli 70, south of the Via Nomentana at the east end of the suburb of Monte Sacro Alto. The main entrance is on Via Diego Fabbri. Picture of the church at Wikimedia Commons. [1]
St Liborius was a 4th century bishop of Le Mans in France, whose relics were transferred to Paderborn in Germany. The church has links with that city.
The parish is administered by the Apostolici Sodales, an institution of consecrated life. The present titular is Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson.
Exterior
The church was built in 1998 to a spectacular post-modern design. The plan is based on a square, with a semi-circle cut out of each corner thus making a cross. The edifice is low, with a flat roof having a large central section depressed. The coved cylindrical walls at each corner are in blank pink brick, with a white string course halfway up. This feature continues across the two side walls, which consist of twelve brick pilasters separated by window strips. There is a pair of large vertical rectangular windows at the outer corners of each side wall. The back of the church abuts onto ancillary accommodation.
The entrance façade, between the two coved cylindrical walls, is in plate glass. It has a long floating concrete canopy, flanked by two tall steel cylinders topped by large spike-crosses. These are more than twice the height of the church itself, and dominate its skyline. The canopy has a slight transverse curve which faces upwards, and on its fascia is an Italian inscription which translates as "I am the door. Whoever enters by me will have life".
Interior
The interior dominated by a large, circular, low flat ceiling panel bearing a cross-circle motif of white on black depicting the flames of the Holy Spirit. The curved walls are clad in travertine slabs forming a tesselated pattern made up of large square, small squares and small rectangles. Over the high altar is a large horizontal rectangular blue stained-glass window abstractly depicting the Crucifixion. The large square stone font, to the right of the church, is a spectacular modern design.
On the left hand side wall is a set of Stations of the Cross, painted as Byzantine-style icons and brought together to form one group. This is very unusual, since the devotion properly requires a physical movement from one Station to the other in between prayers.