The Church of Sant’Anselmo is located on the Aventine Hill, next to the Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, a favorite destination for tourists to admire the beauty of the dome of Saint Peter through the hole of the famous lock.

On the left side of the square a discreet and orderly avenue leads to the church, preceded by a quadriporticus with a small fountain in the center and, to the side, the bronze statue of Saint Anselm, made by the Swiss sculptor A. Wider from Widnau.

The church was built between 1892 and 1900 from a design by Francesco Vespignani and Abbot Hildebrand de Hemptinne in pure neo-Romanic style. The three naves are divided by granite columns with Ionic capitals, with the columns supporting the triumphal arch above the altar ending in Corinthian capitals.

The apse mosaic depicts the jeweled cross between angels and saints Benedict and Anselm, the work of the German monk Radbodus Commandeur.

Together with the Badia and the Pontifical Atheneum, our church, named after the Benedictine monk and doctor of the Church, Saint Anselm, is a center of liturgical spirituality and Gregorian Chant. Since 1962 it has been the starting point of the penitential procession presided over by the Pope on Ash Wednesday. In 1985 Pope Saint John Paul II established our church as a cardinalate diakonia, now entrusted to Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri.

During the regular academic semesters, at the 9 a.m. Conventual Mass on Sundays, the community conducts the Mass parts in Gregorian Chant. This is suspended during the summer months of July, August and September.

In our church we can celebrate weddings, anniversaries and Masses in suffrage. In case of need, contact the Rector of the Church:

Fr. Sebastian Paul OSB
+39 06 579 1338
basilica@anselmianum.com