Santa Croce in Gerusalemme

About

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (English: Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, Latin: Basilica Sanctae Crucis in Hierusalem) is a Catholic minor basilica and titular church in R. XV Esquilino, Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome.

According to Christian tradition, the basilica was consecrated c. 325 to house the relics of the Passion of Jesus Christ brought to Rome from the Holy Land by Empress Helena, mother of Roman Emperor Constantine I. The basilica's floor was supposed to be covered with a handful of soil from Jerusalem, thus acquiring the title in Hierusalem; it is not dedicated to the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, but is considered in a sense to be in Jerusalem (much in the way that an embassy is considered extraterritorial). Between 1561 and 2011 it was the conventual church of an adjacent and now dissolved abbey of Cistercian monks whose aesthetic simplicity greatly influenced the basilica's interior. The church is now run directly by the Diocese of Rome. The current cardinal priest of the church is Juan José Omella.