Santissimo Crocifisso delle Figlie del Crocifisso is a mid 20th century convent chapel at at Via Portuense 750 in the locality of Corviale, in the Gianicolense suburban district.
The dedication is to Jesus Crucified (the Holy Crucifix).
History[]
The Figlie del Crocifisso is an active sisterhood, founded in 1836 by a parish priest of Livorno (Italy) who had opened a house of refuge for prostitutes. The first of the sisters staffed this institution.
After expansion, the congregation was split into three but re-united in 1927 when it set up its Generalate or headquarters in Rome. This was originally an ordinary three-storey early 20th century villa, but about the early Sixties a large, rather ugly and irregularly planned extension was added round the back. The chapel is part of this.
Appearance[]
This is a large private chapel amounting to a church edifice, but has no civic presence and is invisible from the road. It is in reinforced concrete, at second-storey level and has the plan of an irregular octagon elongated along its major axis and with very narrow front and back sides. The major axis is parallel to the frontage of the original villa, and the structure is tucked away behind the villa itself.
The roof is gabled with a ridgeline along the major axis, and the walls are blank except for an outdoors entrance at one end (this leads onto a roof terrace) and a large triangular-headed window behind the altar at the other. There is also a very large horizontal rectangular window in the left hand middle side wall. This contains stained glass.