(ANS – Rome) – Given its position at the heart of the Eternal City, close to Termini station, every year it is visited by around 800,000 people – many of whom just in passing but also drawn to it by its many beautiful art pieces, and who then discover an oasis of peace and spirituality where they can pause before setting out once more, some to travel, some to return to their daily affairs. This is the Sacred Heart Basilica in Rome, a church that was one of Don Bosco’s major concerns in the final years of his life. Over these days it has been preparing to celebrate its patronal feast.

The church has always been entrusted to the Salesians, as it was built by Don Bosco himself at the behest of Pope Leo XIII. It was built in just 7 years (1880–1887), despite the fact that when the Piedmontese saint took on the task the Pope had made it clear to him that he had no funds. Don Bosco, counting on Providence, succeeded in the undertaking, also achieving the one condition he had put to the Pope in accepting the mission: that along with the church there would be room for “a large hospice, where many poor young people, who abound especially in that neighborhood, can be taken in for classes in arts and trades” (G. B. Lemoyne, Vita del Venerabile Servo di Dio Giovanni Bosco, Vol. 2).

It is, however, a church where Don Bosco celebrated Mass just once – on 16 May 1887 – in a celebration that has remained part of history because it was interrupted fifteen times by the sobs of the elderly priest, shaken by the vision of his famous “dream at nine years of age” whose meaning was fully revealed to him at that moment.

In 1921, with Pope Benedict XV, it became a Minor Basilica. The Sacred Heart Church in Rome is still a breeding ground for apostolic and Salesian activities. It has been the wish of the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, that the Salesian Headquarters community which has moved next door since 2018, is to be increasingly responsible for these activities.

“Our church is open from morning to evening, so that all those who pass through this area can have a chance to meet the Lord; and for us it is a beautiful mission to carry on and spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart, so dear to Don Bosco” says the parish priest, Fr Guido Novella. “After the years of the pandemic, not even this year, unfortunately, will we be able to have the procession because of the building work that is continuing. But we have already established an appointment for next year, when we will resume it with all the people of the neighborhood and devotees, with even greater energy and vigor.”