Church of Santa Susanna
| Santa Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian Santa Susanna alle Terme di Diocleziano |
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Baroque façade of Santa Susanna by Carlo Maderno (1603).
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| Basic information | |
| Location | Rome, Italy |
| Geographic coordinates | 41°54′15.3″N 12°29′37.1″E / 41.904250°N 12.493639°ECoordinates: 41°54′15.3″N 12°29′37.1″E / 41.904250°N 12.493639°E |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Country | Italy |
| Year consecrated | 330 |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Titular church, parish church, National church for the United States of America |
| Leadership | Cardinal Bernard Francis Law |
| Website | www |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) | Carlo Maderno |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Architectural style | Baroque |
| Groundbreaking | 4th century |
| Completed | 1603 |
| Specifications | |
| Direction of façade | |
| Length | 45 metres (148 ft) |
| Width | 17 metres (56 ft) |
The Church of Saint Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian (Italian: Chiesa di Santa Susanna alle Terme di Diocleziano) is a Roman Catholic parish church located on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, Italy. There has been a titular church associated to its site as far back as A.D. 280. The current church was rebuilt from 1585 to 1603 for a monastery of Cistercian nuns founded on the site in 1587 which still exists there.
The church has served as the national parish for residents of Rome from the United States since 1921, when the church was assigned to the care of the Paulist Fathers, a society of priests founded in the United States.
About 280, an early Christian house of worship was established on this site, which, like many of the earliest Christian meeting places, was in a house (domus ecclesiae). According to the 6th-century of Susanna, the domus belonged to two brothers named Caius and Gabinus, prominent Christians. Caius has been identified both with Pope Saint Caius and with Caius the presbyter, who was a prefect and who is a source of information on early Christianity. Gabinus or Gabinius is the name given to the father of the semi-legendary Saint Susanna. Her earliest documented attestations identify her as the patron of the church, not as a martyr and previously the church was identified in the earliest, fourth-century documents by its title "of Gaius" by the Baths of Diocletian or as "ad duas domos" ("near the two houses"). It is mentioned in connection with a Roman synod of 499.
The Church of Santa Susanna is one of the oldest titles in the city of Rome. The early Christian church, built on the remains of three Roman villas still visible beneath the monastery, was situated immediately outside the wall of the Baths built by Diocletian and the Servian Wall, the first walls built to defend the city. According to tradition, the Church was erected on Susanna's House, where the same Saint was martyred. In the 4th century it was marked with the designation ad duas domos (at the two houses). This first three-aisled basilica was almost certainly built under the pontificate of Pope Leo III (795–816).
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