S. Susanna becomes St Patrick's Catholic American Parish in Rome.

Rome's American church, formerly S. Susanna, has moved from its Via XX Settembre base to take over St Patrick's church, until recently run by the Irish Augustinians, on Via Boncompagni 31.

The newly-christened St Patrick's Catholic American Parish in Rome is now run by the American Paulist order which leaves behind its old parish church after 95 years.

The move came about following a protracted dispute with the cloistered Cistercian order of nuns, which has been resident at S. Susanna since 1587 and which wanted the American community to vacate the premises.

For the last five years the former S. Susanna parish celebrated Mass in nearby churches while their own church remained closed to its American parishioners.
The situation was eventually resolved amicably with the help of the Vatican which encouraged a meeting between S. Susanna and the Irish Augustinians at St Patrick's who had already decided to leave their Rome ministry due to a lack of priests.

St Patrick's is located just off Via Veneto, near the US embassy, on the corner of Via Boncompagni and Via Piemonte. The church's rector Fr Greg Apparcel invites existing and new members of the American parish to Masses in English from Monday-Friday at 18.00, Saturday Vigil Mass at 18.00 and Sunday morning at 09.00 and 10.30.

The St Patrick's English Language Library, formerly the S. Susanna Library, is also scheduled to open at offices in the new location on 15 September. Membership for the library, which has been in existence for almost 50 years, comes in three options: three months (€27.50), six months (€35) or annual (€45 euros), together with a returnable deposit of €40.

Opened on 17 March 1911, St Patrick’s church was designed by Aristide Leonori and features a Latin inscription from the saint's writings: Ut Christiani ita et Romani sitis, meaning As you are Christian so also be Roman. 

For full details see the new St Patrick's website.

Photo. The rector Greg Apparcel.