Sts. RUFINA AND SECUNDA

SS. RUFINA E SECONDA
Via della Lungaretta 92

Mentioned for the first time by the sources in 1192
It was built on the house of Asterius, the father of the two Roman martyrs Rufina and Seconda who would have lived here in the third century

In 1611 it was entrusted by Pope Paul V Borghese (1605/21) to the nuns followers of Francesca Montioux, who commissioned the construction of the adjoining MONASTERY

1716/22 further expansion of the monastery

The structures on which the church was built are not orthogonal to each other because they were built on pre-existing foundations belonging to a Roman insula (apartment block)

In 1917 it passed to the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception of Ivrea

Restoration 1973/74 that has retained little of the old structure, also for the demolition of the apse
Of the medieval church remain only the “Eight ancient marble columns” and the beautiful ROMANESQUE BELL TOWER of the first half of the twelfth century

St. MARY OF THE LIGHT

S. MARIA DELLA LUCE

Via della Lungaretta 22a

Third or fourth century as S. Salvatore della Corte (St. Savior of the Court) alluding to the name of the nearby ancient EXCUBITORIUM DELLA VII COORTE DEI VIGILI (Headquarters of the VII Firefighters Brigade) 

Renovated in the twelfth century

Renovated again in 1730 by Gabriele Valvassori (1683/1761), who worked for free as a vow to the Virgin Mary for having been healed from a serious illness

The DOME was demolished in 1891 due to the damage caused by the explosion of a gunpowder depot nearby

FAÇADE

1821 in simple stucco. Funds were never raised to properly complete Valvassori's work

The name of the church is such for a series of miracles that occurred in 1730 related to an image painted on the outside wall of a house nearby, which was seen to glow, after having returned sight to a blind man

The image was then transferred in the church, which changed its name from St. Savior of the Court to St. Mary of Light

It is the church of the Latin-American community in Rome and it is entrusted to the Minims of St. Francis of Paola

It is the seat since 2003 of the CAPPELLANIA LATINOAMERICANA (Latin-American Chaiplaincy), founded by the Scalabrini Fathers in 2000

The mission is made up of eighteen communities from different countries of Latin America and here Mass is celebrated in both Spanish and Portuguese languages

INTERIOR

Restored in 1730 by Gabriele Valvassori

Stucco decoration 1768

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Above the altar “Death of St. Joseph” 1754 by Giovanni Conca (about 1690/1771) cousin of the more famous Sebastiano Conca and often believed his brother, so tight their bonds of friendship and work were. He was the father of distinguished painter Tommaso Conca

4^th CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Above the altar “Virgin Mary with Sts. Anne and Joachim” 1753 by the Roman Pietro Labruzzi (1738/1805) who was the court painter of King Stanislaus Augustus of Poland

“His first documented work dates to 1753 with the Virgin Mary and Sts. Anne and Joachim painted for the Roman church of S. Maria della Luce, as part of the decoration works promoted by the Minims and assigned to a group of artists of Neapolitan background, including Sebastiano and Giovanni Conca and Onofrio Avellino. This would suggest, considering also the stylistic affinity with the adjacent works by Sebastiano Conca and Avellino in the same church, a youth pictorial training of Labruzzi among the Neapolitan community of artists operating in the papal capital. Moreover, still together with artists from the southern area (again Sebastiano Conca, but also Gaetano Sortini), Labruzzi was active in the subsequent works in St. Stephen in Piscinula (destroyed in about 1862) for the altar with The Stoning of St. Stephen” (Francesco Leone - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Frescoes in the APSE “Eternal Father blessing”, “Savior” on the tabernacle and restoration of the “Lady of Light” (originally dating back to the sixteenth century) by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

LEFT TRANSEPT

Above the altar “St. Francis of Paola crossing the Strait of Messina” by Onofrio Avellino (about 1674/1741), a pupil of Francesco Solimena

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

Above the altar “Sts. Francis of Paola, Francis de Sales and Jeanne de Valois” 1752 by Giovanni Conca (about 1690/1771)