Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme was built over the remains of an imperial villa and is said to hold soil that St. Helena brought back from Calvary, giving the church its name and its traditional role as a symbolic embassy of the Holy Land in Rome. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches, and medieval popes walked barefoot here from St. John Lateran each Good Friday to venerate its relics.
The Chapel of the Relics is currently closed to visitors.
Highlights
01
Relics of the Passion
The Titulus Crucis, two thorns from the Crown of Thorns, and fragments of the True Cross and the Holy Nail.
02
Finger of St. Thomas
A relic said to be the index finger of St. Thomas the Apostle.
03
Legend of the True Cross
Frescoes on the Legend of the True Cross by Melozzo da Forlì, Antoniazzo Romano, and Marco Palmezzano.
Also of note
- Peter Paul Rubens’s St. Helena with the True Cross
- A statue of St. Helena adapted from an ancient Roman statue of Juno
Titular Cardinal
Cardinal Juan José Omella Omella from Spain