National church · 16th century · Rome, Italy

Church of St Thomas of Canterbury

The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury in Rome is the English national church in the city, dedicated to the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, and has served as a place of worship and hospitality for English-speaking Catholics visiting or residing in Rome since the sixteenth century.

At a glance

Type: National church (English); titular church
Period: Origins medieval; present structure 16th century and later
Style: Roman Catholic church architecture
Location: Near Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy
Coordinates: 41.8956° N, 12.4701° E

Overview

The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury is Rome’s English national church, maintaining a long tradition of serving the English Catholic community in the city. It is dedicated to Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in 1170 and canonised three years later. The church sits in the dense historic fabric near Piazza Navona, in an area that has housed communities of northern European pilgrims and residents since the medieval period.

History

English pilgrims maintained a hospice and place of worship in Rome from at least the medieval period, centred on devotion to Becket who was particularly venerated in England and among English communities abroad. The current church building belongs to the post-Reformation Catholic world, when English Catholics who remained loyal to Rome maintained an institutional presence in the city. The church has been administered over the centuries by various English Catholic bodies and continues to serve the English-speaking Catholic presence in Rome.

What you see

The church interior reflects its identity as a devotional and community space rather than a monument of high artistic ambition, though it contains altars, artwork, and furnishings consistent with Roman Catholic traditions. Dedications and inscriptions reflect the church’s English character and its connection to the cult of Becket. The surrounding neighbourhood is one of the most historically layered in Rome, with medieval streets, Renaissance palaces, and Baroque fountains within short walking distance.

Cultural significance

National churches in Rome are a distinctive feature of the city’s religious landscape, each representing a community’s centuries-long relationship with the papacy and with Catholic identity. The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury is a rare surviving institutional link between the English Catholic diaspora and Rome, carrying the memory of the English Reformation and the communities who chose exile or maintained allegiance to Rome.

Practical information

Address: Via di Monserrato, Rome (near Piazza Navona area)
Hours: Check official website for current Mass times and visiting hours
Admission: Free entry (church)

Getting there

The church is located in central Rome near the Campo de’ Fiori and Piazza Navona areas, within easy walking distance from both. Bus lines along Corso Vittorio Emanuele II serve the area. The nearest metro stations are Spagna (Line A) or Barberini, both requiring a 20-minute walk; taxis and trams are practical alternatives.

Sources & resources

Historical events at this place (1)

2022 Chiesa di San Tommaso di Canterbury e il collegio Inglese

There are at least three churches that have followed one another over the centuries on the same site as the current Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury which is located within the Venerable English College.

The earliest known church is the Church of the Holy Trinity of the Scots, which an undocumented tradition attributes to the will of the king of Mercia Offa in 630.

It is attested, with annexed a monastery and a hospice for the pilgrims of England, at the end of the XII century in the catalog of Cencio Camerario at n&ordm; 56 with the title of sancte Trinitati Scottorum. A bull of Pope Boniface VIII of 1299, which confirms a precedent of Pope Innocent IV (1249), attributes the church to the monastery of San Gregorio al Celio.



The institution of the Jubilees was accompanied by the increase in the number of pilgrims from across the Channel. This led to the birth of a societas pauperorum Anglorum (which later became a brotherhood) and the expansion of the hospice in via di Monserrato and the adjoining church, rebuilt in 1363. It was in this period that the ancient title was added to that of St. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th century. The building underwent an initial restoration and expansion in 1450.

Starting with Henry VII (1485-1509), it was the English sovereign who had the task of appointing the rector of the church and the hospice; but after the schism of Henry VIII, Pope Paul III claimed this right from the church of Rome, and in 1538 Cardinal Reginald Pole was appointed governor of the church and of the annexed buildings.

In 1575, on the initiative of Cardinal William Allen, a work was undertaken to rebuild the church and the old hospice. With a bull of Pope Gregory XIII of 1 May 1579, the hospice was changed into an ecclesiastical college for young students of the English nation, today&#39;s Venerable English College, entrusted to the Jesuits. Personalities from the Anglo-Saxon world were guests in the college, including Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, in 1514, Cardinal Reginald Pole in 1534, the poet John Milton in 1636. Between 1581 and 1584 Niccol&ograve; Circignani, known as Pomarancio, frescoed the library walls above the church, with stories of English saints and martyrs.

In the Temporal State of the Churches of Rome of 1661 the sacred building is described as follows:


&laquo;The church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and to Tommaso Cantuariense. It has a bell tower with three bells and a clock. It has five altars and two common burials, it is suffixed and above it there is the library of the College. It has annexed the care of the souls of schoolchildren and other servants which is exercised by the father Rector. It has four courtyards and in one there is a large new well. Item has a garden with a division of myrtle and several dawns of merangoli and citrus espaliers. &quot;

(Armellini, op.cit.)



Between 1680 and 1685, Cardinal Thomas Howard had the church and college restored; on this occasion the Borrominian-inspired clock tower was added.

With the French occupation of Rome, the complex was transformed into a barracks. Only in 1818 did it return to its former use, but it needed a general restoration. The church was the subject of a radical restoration: the first stone was laid on February 6, 1866 and the new building was reopened for worship in 1888. Three architects followed the direction of the works: Luigi Poletti, Pietro Camporese the Younger and, from 1873, Virginio Vespignani; the quadrangular apse was demolished, replaced by a flat bottom wall, and a new facade was built on Via di Monserrato, in neo-medieval style.

Two altarpieces in the minor aisles - an Immaculate Conception and an Apparition of the Sacred Heart to Anna Maria Javouhey - were painted by Silverio Capparoni.

https://culturalheritageonline.com/places/church-of-st-thomas-of-canterbury-l4677/

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