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San Giorgio in Velabro

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Through Crusades

S. Giorgo falls within the territory of the parish of Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli and is a rectory entrusted to the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross as well as a titular church, whose cardinal-deacons over the years have included Pope Boniface IX and Pope Martin V, as well as Pierre de Luxembourg (pseudocardinal of the Antipope Clement VII) and Saint John Henry Newman.

San Giorgio in Velabro is the station church for the first Thursday in Lent, established as such by Pope Gregory II.

History

An inscription, dated in 461 or 482, found in the catacombs of St. Callixtus, probably refers of a church in the same zone, "LOCVS AVGVSTI LECTORIS DE BELABRV", though there is nothing to connect the lector with S. Giorgio.

The first religious building attested in the place of the current church is a diaconia, funded by Pope Gregory I. In September or October 598, Pope Gregory wrote to the abbot Marinianus, that, since his monastery was next door to the church of Saint George «Ad sedem», and since the church had fallen into decay, he granted the church to the monastery provided that they repair and keep up the premises, and solemnly observe the liturgical offices. This has been taken as a reference to S. Giorgio in Velabro, though, as Batiffol points out, nowhere else is the phrase «Ad sedem» connected with the Velabrum or San Giorgio. Additionally, the restoration of the church is to be for the purpose of liturgical celebrations, and is to belong to the monastery in perpetuity, not to a cardinal deacon for diaconal activities.

The church was inside the Greek quarter of Rome, where Greek-speaking merchants, civil and military officers and monks of the Byzantine Empire lived — the nearby Santa Maria in Cosmedin, for example, was known as in Schola Graeca at the time.

The current church was built during the 7th century, possibly by Pope Leo II (682–683), who dedicated it to Saint Sebastian, who was martyred in this area and his corpse was thrown into the Cloaca Maxima.

Pope Zachary (741–752), who was of Greek origin, moved the relic of St. George to here from Cappadocia, so that this saint had a church dedicated in the West well before the spreading of his worship with the return of the Crusaders from the East. The relics of St. George are kept under the main altar.

In 1347, the Roman patriot Cola Di Rienzo posted a manifesto announcing the liberation of Rome on the doors of this church.

In 1610–1611 Cardinal-deacon Giacomo Serra commissioned extensive restoration and invited Discalced Augustinians from his hometown of Genoa to take over management of the church.

At midnight on 27 July 1993, a car bomb parked close to the façade exploded. While the explosion caused no fatalities, it left the 12th century portico almost totally collapsed and blew a large opening into the wall of the main church. Serious damage was also inflicted on the residence next door of the Generalate of the Crosiers (Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross).

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