- Santa Maria Scala Coeli
Santa Maria Scala Coeli (Saint Mary of the Stairway to Heaven [The name of the church refers to a vision
St Bernard had in the crypt. While praying, he saw souls of the departed entering Heaven by a ladder through his prayer.] ), church on the site of St Paul the Apostle's prison [The crypt is held to be the prison where he was held before his martyrdom] , on Via delle Tre Fontane inRome .The present church was built by
Giacomo della Porta on top of an earlier one. On the stairs leading to it can be seen writing and drawings scratched into the stone, probably information from the architect to the builders. The church contains a mosaic byFrancesco Zucca .An old tradition claims that 10,000 Christian slaves who died while building the
Baths of Diocletian are buried in the church's crypt, and are venerated asSt Zeno [Though his relics were moved toSanta Prassede in the9th century .] and Companions. Some dead slaves from this project are likely buried in catacombs in the nearby hillside, though the 10,000 figure must be exaggerated.The church belongs to the
Trappist monasterySan Paolo alle Tre Fontane . It was already used by theRomanian Orthodox community in Rome before November 2002 when, to mark the visit to Rome of Teoctist,Patriarch of Romania ,Pope John Paul II officially granted it to them. Previously, they had also gathered in the Chapel of Our Lady of Genezano offVia Cavour , but that chapel had become too small.Notes
* [http://roma.katolsk.no/mariascalacoeli.htm Nyborg]
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