Chiesa di Santa Maria del Buon Consiglio

The history of the parish community has its roots at the beginning of the last century. In the early 1900s, in fact, there was a chapel in Via dei Lentuli, on the corner with Via dei Pisoni, dedicated to the Madonna del Buon Consiglio, near the villa of the Cenci family, who at the time owned two cinemas in the neighborhood. In 1910, the company of the Sisters of Saint Ursula of Belgium was sent on a mission to Porta Furba, with the aim of opening a professional school and teaching catechism right where the Church would later be built. The school, established in 1911, would represent a real gathering center for the poor and marginalized people of the neighborhood, especially for young people who would thus have the opportunity to be initiated into a profession. On January 23, 1911, Monsignor Francesco Faberi, secretary of the Vicariate, blessed the chapel dedicated to the Madonna del Buon Consiglio in the presence of a hundred faithful. As the years passed, the construction of a church became a pressing need, as the chapel in via dei Lentuli was clearly insufficient. Thus, in April 1912, Pope Saint Pius X gave permission for the construction of a church dedicated to the Madonna del Buon Consiglio and an adjoining rectory on via Tuscolana, next to the existing school. In 1913, the first stone of the sacred building was blessed, which was built according to the design of the architect - engineer Costantino Sneider. Upon the death of Saint Pius X, an envelope containing the sum necessary to complete the work on the church was found among his papers. These were completed under Pope Benedict XV, and the sacred building was opened for worship on April 9, 1916, with great celebrations throughout the neighborhood. Its first chaplain was the priest Domenico Tardini, who later became Cardinal Secretary of State. On July 26, 1919, with the Apostolic Constitution Inter officia Ecclesiae, Pope Benedict XV legally established the new parish of S. Maria del Buon Consiglio. The first parish priest was Don Paolo Viti, who led the community for ten years. Don Paolo had the arduous task of caring for a rapidly expanding community from the very beginning. If at the beginning of his mandate his parishioners were only 2,500, the following year they were already 3,400; in 1923 the population had risen to 8,000 souls, while in 1928 it will be almost 15,000 inhabitants. On December 1, 1921, the Ursulines were replaced by the Daughters of Divine Providence, who opened the nursery school, the elementary school, the laboratory, the orphanage and the free clinic. Later, the Circolo di S. Pietro entrusted them with an economical kitchen for the poor and unemployed workers. Don Paolo Viti was followed in 1929 by Don Gioacchino Rey, who ran the parish until the day of his death in December 1944. Decorated as a military chaplain in the war of 1915-18 with a medal of valor and a war cross, in his fifteen years at the helm of the parish community Don Gioacchino stood out for his total dedication to the souls entrusted to him. He refused the appointment as Bishop so as not to abandon his parishioners to whom he dedicated himself in every way, gathering the children in the oratory and organizing food and clothing collections for charity. In his work of youth apostolate Don Gioacchino was helped by Blessed Arnaldo Canepa, whose presence in the parish had already begun with Don Paolo Viti. As a member of the Third Order of Franciscans, in fact, Arnaldo visited the needy of Quadraro every week. He soon became interested in the activity of a group of students and young professionals who, on Good Friday 1927, had made, with Monsignor Nobels, a promise to Jesus to dedicate their free time to gathering young people and educating the children of the outskirts of Rome. With the consent and encouragement of Don Paolo, a youth club and an oratory were opened. From this parish experience, in 1944, the Centro Oratori Romani was born. In addition to taking care of the young people, Don Gioacchino had particular care for the poor and did everything he could to bring food to the neediest families, especially during the war years. He himself gave wedding rings to young married couples. His figure shines in a particular way in the episode of the Quadraro roundup (17 April 1944), for which he was asked to be awarded the gold medal for civil merit. On December 13, 1944, the parish community, gathered in its small church, mourned the sudden death of Don Gioacchino, hit and killed by a car. The emotion, the amazement and the regret were evident on the faces of the people who filed past, in the afternoon of the following day, the body of their Parish Priest, placed on a coffin set up in the parish hall transformed into a chapel of rest.Don Alberto Tedeschi, an imposing man with a strong physique, was called to take Don Gioacchino’s place at the end of 1944. His pastoral action, however, is apparently not very showy. His commitment is rather directed to the inner life of anyone who approaches him: he aims at the formation of consciences, especially through the preaching of the Word of God, Confession and spiritual direction. It is certainly no coincidence that many vocations to religious life began to blossom during his presence in our community. Alongside these particular vocations, there is a whole world of young people in ferment in the parish, attracted by the pastoral indications of that parish priest who knows how to inspire new impulses, knows how to arouse new interests, knows how to offer new views on the apostolate. If Don Gioacchino went down in history as the parish priest of the trenches, Don Alberto was soon called the parish priest of Ramazzini, the hospital that for many years hosted TB patients, to whom he would go at any hour of the day or night, regardless of the weather, astride his black bicycle, with his cassock never removed, often bedraggled, to bring the light of Christian hope and the comfort of the Word of God. The years passed and the neighborhood was rapidly expanding, so much so that in 1955 it was necessary to begin work to expand the Church, which under the direction of the engineer Paolo Stefani saw the construction of the transept and the side aisles and the moving back of the apse. The rectory was also expanded, until then only on one floor, and the professional school was remodeled, creating a vital corner of Via Tuscolana. Don Alberto, however, could only see the structural expansion of the building: intended for another parish in 1960, the work was completed by his successor, Don Guglielmo Cerquitella, already assistant priest at Buon Consiglio since the early 1950s, who remained parish priest for 28 years. The early days were those of the economic boom. Most families in the neighborhood, however, were still mainly workers or employees, who did not always make it to the end of the month easily. The arrival of the 1970s saw the emergence of some social emergencies such as drug addiction. The parish community responded by creating youth groups, a response of human and spiritual growth that gathered hundreds and hundreds of young people over the years. The 1970s also saw a great gift for our community: the visit of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It was Lent 1979, and the Missionaries of Charity of Tor Fiscale were also invited to a Holy Mass. That was the occasion for Mother Teresa (of whom an autographed note is preserved in the Parish) to address the faithful and especially the young people: she spoke of the importance of prayer in her life, describing it as the foundation on which all her charitable work was based. At the end of the meeting she invited the entire community to dedicate more time to prayer, especially in Eucharistic Adoration. From this invitation the Saturday afternoon meeting was born, which for almost forty years has seen the community gather in prayer before Jesus Eucharist. The 1980s saw a society that was beginning to be multiracial, with many foreigners coming to Italy to seek their fortune, accompanied by problems of integration and poverty. The charitable work of the parish began to reach out beyond the parish boundaries, with the itinerant soup kitchen that, always on Saturdays, would bring food and comfort to the homeless of the city. In 1988 Don Guglielmo was succeeded by Don Raffaele Ruocco. The following year, the community had the joy of welcoming the mortal remains of Arnaldo Canepa. On Thursday, November 23, His Eminence Cardinal Jaques Martin presided over a prayer vigil, during which the coffin of the founder of the COR was placed in the special sarcophagus, built in the left arm of the transept. The following day, Cardinal Vicar Ugo Poletti presided over a solemn Holy Mass in our parish. During the years of Don Raffaele, our community also had the joy of welcoming the Holy Father John Paul II: it was December 6, 1992. To prepare for the meeting, the community invited Don Paolo Selvadagi (then Rector of the Pontifical Minor Seminary and professor at the Pontifical Lateran University) to hold a catechesis on the specificity of the Church of Rome. This moment of formation was followed by the pilgrimage to the Chair of St. Peter, which saw more than a thousand people go to the tomb of the Apostle to entrust the entire parish community to his protection. Finally, a solemn Holy Mass was celebrated presided over by His Excellency Monsignor Vincenzo Fagiolo, who served in our parish as a young priest.Finally, December 6th arrives. At 9:10 a thunderous applause greets the Holy Father's entrance into the church. The blessing pope passes through the crowd, while the choir intones Tu es Petrus. Many hands reach out to him, and for everyone there is a smile, a look, a handshake. After crossing the entire church, the pope then stops in prayer, in front of the tomb of Arnaldo Canepa. Then the Eucharistic Celebration begins during which everyone, in the church, on the parvis and in the oratory, attentively follows the words that the pope addresses to the faithful in his homily. After the Holy Mass, the pope meets the pastoral council, and shortly after moves to the oratory, where he will address the young people and where he blesses a beautiful reproduction of the image of the Madonna del Buon Consiglio, made by the sculptor Mario Vinci on ceramic. Finally, he meets the priests and nuns of the three institutes present in the neighborhood (the Daughters of Divine Providence, the Sisters of the Oratory and the Ursuline Sisters) and at 11:54 he leaves the parish community greeted by a festive and grateful crowd. On October 12, 2017, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella delivered the gold medal for civil merit to Fr. Gioacchino Rey, former parish priest of the parish, into the hands of Monsignor Don Angelo De Donatis, Vicar of Pope Francis for the Diocese of Rome.