There are more than 930churches inRome,[1] which makes it the city with the largest number of churches in the world.[2] Almost all of these areCatholic.
When including the churches that have been deconsecrated or otherwise transformed, the total figure rises to about 1,500 churches.[3]
The first churches of Rome originated in places whereChristians met. They were divided into three main categories:[4]
the houses of private Roman citizens (people who hosted the meetings of Christians – also known asoratoria,oracula)
thedeaconries (places where charity distributions were given to the poor and placed under the control of adeacon; the greatest deaconries had many deacons, and one of them was elected[citation needed]archdeacon)
other houses holding atitulus (known asdomus ecclesia)
Pope Marcellus I (A.D. 306–308) is said to have recognized twenty fivetituli in the City of Rome,quasi dioecesis.[5] It is known that in 336,Pope Julius I had set the number of presbyter cardinals to 28,[6] so that for each day of the week, a different presbyter cardinal would say mass in one of the four major basilicas of Rome,St. Peter's,Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls,Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, andBasilica of St. John Lateran.[7] In Stephan Kuttner's view, "...the Roman cardinal priests and bishops were 'incardinated' for permanent (though limited) purposes into the patriarchal basilicas while remaining bound nonetheless to the churches of their original ordination."[8]
Only thetituli were allowed to distribute sacraments.[dubious –discuss] The most important priest in a titulus was given the name ofCardinal.[9]Pope Marcellus I (at the beginning of the 4th century) confirmed that thetituli were the only centres of administration in the Church. In AD 499, asynod held byPope Symmachus listed all thepresbyters participating, as well as thetituli who were present at that time:[10]
This is a list of churches of Rome cited in Wikipedia articles or with related files on Wikimedia Commons.
The churches are grouped according to the time of their initial construction: the dates are those of the first record of each church. The reader, however, should not expect the current fabric of the buildings to reflect that age, since over the centuries most have undergone reconstruction. Almost all the churches will thus appear considerably more recent, and as a patchwork of periods and styles.
^Loomis, Louise Ropes (1916).The Book of the Popes (Liber Pontificalis) I, to the Pontificate of Gregory I. Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 38."...quasi dioecesis, propter baptismum et paenitentiam multorum qui convertebantur ex paganis et propter sepulturas martyrum ('like a diocese, for the sake of baptism and penance of many who were being converted from paganism and for the sake of burials of martyrs')."Mommsen, Theodor (1898).Gestorum pontificum romanorum. Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Berlin: Apud Weidmannos. p. 43.
^Some scholars have identified the 3rd-century hall beneath the church as a meeting room for a Christian community. Others do not agree with this view, claiming there are no proofs of Christian use before the 6th century. Krautheimer, p. 115.
Barker, Ethel Ross (1913)."VI".Rome of the Pilgrims and Martyrs: A Study in the Martyrologies, Itineraries, Syllogae, & Other Contemporary Documents. London: Methuen & Company, Limited.
H. W. Klewitz, "Die Entstehung des Kardinalskollegiums,"Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Kanonische Abteilung 25 (1936), 115–221.
