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On the fourth Friday of Lent, a visit to St. Eusebio Church is prescribed by the Lenten Station Churches of Rome" visitation list. The original church is said to have been built on the site of the house of the priest and confessor named, St. Eusebius of Rome, who died c. 357. St. Eusebio was condemned to death by starvation after defending St. Athanasius before Emperor Constans. St. Eusebio is one of the oldest churches in Rome. 
▲ Pictured above are exterior photo of St. Eusebius. Church Building History • church restored for the first time in the 8th century • 1238 - rebuilt again by Pope Gregory IX • in the Middle ages the church was granted to Celestine congregation • in the 16th century the annexed monastery housed one of the first printing workshops of Rome • 1711 - five arched portico built by Carlo Stefano Fontana • 17th-century renovation by Onorio Longhi, who remodeled the high altar area • around the middle of the 18th century, Niccolo Picconi painted a ceiling fresco of St. Eusebius in Glory • beginning of 19th-century complex was granted to Society Of Jesus • 1873 - monastery seized by the Italian state • 1889 - parish established which was staffed by diocesan clergy
Behind the high altar is a finely carved set of wooden choir stalls from 1556, provided for the Celestine monks and apparently carved by one of them in walnut. Apparently, before 1711 the choir was before the altar, instead of behind it as now. There is a choir altar, with a Crucifixion by Cesare Rossetti. The conventual mass of the monastic community would have been at this altar on ordinary days. The picture of The Virgin Mary with Saints Eusebius and Vincent by Baldassarre Croce which was formerly the altarpiece of the High Altar also hangs in the choir. In past years (before modern traffic) on the feast day of St Anthony the Great of Egypt (January 17th), there would be a blessing of animals in the piazza in front of the church. When much of the land inside the city walls was still open farmland, farm animals would be brought into the church plaza for blessing. The blessing proved to be so popular in the early 19th century that in 1831 the Diocese threatened priests of other churches with suspension if they copied it. Nowadays the blessing is only done for house pets. This is another church where the linkage to Vatican stamps is very, very slim. The Vatican has not issued a stamp to St. Eusebius, nor to the church building. However, there is a Marian statue of the Immaculate Conception going into the church which was added around 1954. 
 
 
Centenary of the Proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception Scott 176-181 (1954) References • George Weigel, "Friday Of The Fourth Week Of Lent - Station at St. Eusebius" Roman Pilgrimage - The Station Churches Basic Books, Copyright 2013, pages 224-229 • Rita Mantone "Santa Eusbio" Rome's Original Tituli: A Pilgrim's Guide To The Eternal City's House ChurchesClick-it Write Books, Copyright 2016 (Kindel Version) • Sant'Eusebio all'Esquilino - Website: https://romanchurches.fandom.com/wiki/Sant%27Eusebio_all%27Esquilino • Friday: Sant’Eusebio Website - The Pontifical North American College • Eusebius of Rome Wikipedia • Sant'Eusebio Wikipedia The photograph of St. Eusebius ceiling is from the Eusebius of Rome Wikipedia article cited above. |
