Chiesa di Santa Maria Mediatrice

The Parish of Santa Maria Mediatrice is the parish community of the diocese of Rome that belongs to the prefecture XV of the Eastern sector, in the Prenestino Labicano district (between Via Prenestina and Via Casilina), entrusted to the pastoral care of the Monfort Missionary Fathers (Congregation of the Company of Mary). The current site of the parish structure was initially a residential complex with a villa built in the 1920s that served as a residence available to the French Embassy, ​​hosting some diplomatic offices. At the end of the 1920s, the French government ceded the villa with the surrounding land to a community of French Discalced Carmelite Nuns, who transformed the place into a Monastery called the Monastery of Reparation in Torpignatara. It was also in that period that the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres arrived, who in July 1930 opened their first convent next to the Monastery. Due to the massive urbanization of the place, which affected the climate of silence and prayer, the Carmelite nuns left the monastery in 1949 when it became the home of the community of the Monfort Missionaries and a center for Marian theological publications. On February 22, 1953, the first stone of the new church was laid, and with the decree of March 23, 1953, it became Vice Cura dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary Mediatrix of all graces, receiving pastoral autonomy over the territory. The church was blessed on July 18, 1953 by the Cardinal Vicar Clemente Micara. From 1956 to 1960 were years of great pastoral activity in the territory that led to the establishment of the Parish with the decree of March 30, 1960 with the title Santa Maria Mediatrice. The first parish priest was Father Tarcisio Miotti, a Monfort priest. For 29 years the Montfort Fathers animated the parish community, making it a lively and active community in the territory. On October 1, 1989 the Montfort Fathers left the parish, entrusting it to the diocese, which also received a change in the territorial delimitation with new borders that are in force to this day. The parish was led by the diocesan clergy until 1998 when it was entrusted again to the religious. On February 15, 1998 the Missionaries of St. Charles (Scalabriniani) were introduced to the parish community, who would lead the parish until 2003. In those years the Mission with the care of souls for Latin American migrants was established with its own chaplain. After the Scalabrinians, from August 1, 2003, the parish was entrusted to the Society of Christ for Emigrants from Poland. They cared for the parish until 2008. The Polish religious left the parish which was entrusted again to the diocesan clergy on June 21, 2008 in the person of Don Carlo Giannini. Don Carlo was parish priest until October 2015 when he was replaced by Don Nello Luongo. In 2018, Don Benoni Ambarus, already responsible for the diocesan Caritas, was appointed parish priest, who was later appointed auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Rome. In 2019 the missionary fathers once again established the religious community in the new house in Via Cori 18/A, and given their presence they were asked to take pastoral care of the parish again. The parish thus returns to be entrusted to the Montfort Fathers and on October 15, 2019, Father Gianangelo Maffioletti was appointed parish priest, who was parish priest until September 2022. On October 1, 2022, Father Kristijan Zlender was appointed new and current parish priest, charged with taking care of the pastoral care of the parish together with his collaborator Father Sergio Gaspari. In addition to the parish church located in Via Cori 4, as a subsidiary place of worship, there is also the Chapel at the Suore Riparatrici del Sacro Cuore, in Via Isabella de Rosis 4, frequented by parishioners who live in Via di Acqua Bullicante.