Canada has a church in Rome, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea

The Catholic Church’s universality is seen and felt, as nowhere else, in the city of Rome.

Many Canadian Catholics will be happy to know they have their own special parish in Rome, a national church for Canadians known as the church of the Canadian Martyrs.

The official name is Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Canadian Martyrs (in Italian: Nostra Signora del Santissimo Sacramento e dei Santi Martiri Canadesi).

Here Canadians find an active parish community of Italians located near the Canadian Consulate in a beautiful residential neighbourhood, a community that has historically also served Canadian Catholic nationals and French speakers.

The church was originally established near the Canadian embassy, which was relocated in 2007. In former years Canadian ambassadors and diplomatic staff attended weekly Sunday Mass here.

The story of the church’s construction began in 1948 when the Congregation of the Most Blessed Sacrament, founded by St. Peter Julian Eymard in France, purchased land for the intention of building an international seminary.

The Vicariate of Rome approved the project, with just one condition, requesting it should also include a new church open to the public for divine worship.

In the Holy Year 1950 plans for the construction of the new church were approved in modern style with a basement crypt chapel.

It was then the idea was proposed to make this a church for Canadian nationals, intended for Canadians living or working in Rome or just visiting.

The project was encouraged and blessed by the Pope himself, Venerable Pius XII, who had special gratitude to Canada for its participation in the peacemaking process of the Second World War.

Canada had lost about 6,000 soldiers in the Allies’ campaign in Italy, with 20,000 wounded and dozens of Canadian military cemeteries and memorials left behind.

After the war, a new day dawned of increased travel and tourism – it was felt Canada would do well to be represented by a national church in the Eternal City.

In 1951 the Quebec “Catholic Conference” confirmed the decision of the Canadian episcopate to establish a church in Rome dedicated to the Canadian Martyrs, the first Christian missionaries in Canada.

The architect of the church was Professor Bruno Apollini Ghetti, who is perhaps best remembered for being part of the team hat helped excavate the tomb of St. Peter underneath St. Peter’s Basilica during the Second World War.

The church was built between 1952 and 1955, completed in time for the 1956 centenary of the founding of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers by order of a simple priest in 1856, Peter Julian Eymard.

In November 1962, the church was consecrated during the first session of the Second Vatican Council by Paul-Émile Cardinal Léger, the Archbishop of Montreal, with the blessing of Pope John XXIII.

One of the side chapels is dedicated to the memory of the Canadian Martyrs. Also, two of the Canadian Martyrs are represented on the front facade in a recent mosaic, depicted holding up Christ crucified.

The name “Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament” was chosen because St. Peter Julian Eymard often spoke of Our Lady as having most perfectly adored her divine Son in his life, death, and resurrection.

The Canadian Martyrs were eight 17th-century Jesuit missionaries from France who offered their lives in sacrifice in Canada for the evangelization of the New World.

After converting many Native Americans, the missionaries were ritually tortured and killed at the hands of the Mohawks between the years 1642 and 1649.

While Father John de Brébeuf and his four companions died in Canada, Father Isaac Jogues and his three companions died in what is today New York State.

These intrepid saints were beatified by Pius XI in the Holy Year 1925 and later canonized by him in 1930. They are patrons of Canada and North America.

The modern architecture and severe interior design of the church are admittedly not everyone’s cup of tea.

According to church historian Robin Anderson, the church of the Canadian Martyrs “is scarcely recognizable as a church building from the outside,” while on the inside it is “decorated according to a modernist architectural plan.”

It is said the vast interior with its series of tall, lofty tapering concrete arches in the nave was intended in some way to represent the arching of Canada’s vast forests, reaching high into the sky.

The interior is plain while the object of focus is meant to be the purpose for which St. Peter Julian founded his congregation in Paris: adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Over the high altar is located a massive canopy, silhouetted against a wall of light. This is ornamented with bas-relief images in painted glazed terra cotta representing the dogma of the Holy Eucharist.

Surmounting the canopy is a representation of the Crucifixion.

Under the canopy was once an immense monstrance, wrought in the shape of a cross, six feet in diameter, a gift of Australian Catholics.

Unfortunately, this original work of art and devotion, the creation of Italian sculptor Francesco Nagni, was removed during a renovation. Art historians are hopeful it will one day return.

The lower stained-glass widows of the nave illustrate the mystery of the Eucharist while the higher windows depict miraculous and extraordinary occurrences concerning the Eucharist.

In 1965 Pope Paul VI established the parish as a “titular church” for newly named cardinals. The first cardinals assigned to the church were fittingly all Canadians, the Archbishops of Quebec City and Montreal.

The parish church continues to be administered by the Blessed Sacrament Fathers (also known as the Sacramentine Fathers), many of whom are Canadian. The General House of the Order adjoins the building.

The church is easily accessible by bus from the Via Nomentana, located on the north end of Rome on Via Giovanni Battista de Rossi, 46.

The church is best remembered by some for a scene from the iconic self-indulgent film La Dolce Vita (1960), filmed inside with Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor playing on the church’s organ.

J.P. Sonnen is a tour operator, history docent, and travel writer with Orbis Catholic Travel LLC.