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The Church of St Thomas in Roccasecca: the World’s First Sanctuary Dedicated to the Angelic Doctor
The Church of San Tommaso in Roccasecca holds a distinction for being the first place of worship in the world dedicated to the philosopher and theologian born here in 1225, in the Castle of the Counts of Aquino on Mount Asprano. Construction began between 1323 and 1325, just two years after the canonisation proclaimed by Pope John XXII in Avignon. The first place of worship of Thomas Aquinas — the "Angelic Doctor", author of the Summa Theologiae and patron of Catholic universities — was here.
A History of Faith and Destruction
The church has a simple structure: a single nave, a square-based bell tower with a lunette depicting the saint with pen in hand. In 1478, Marchioness Beatrice Caetani donated the building to the Dominicans, the order to which Thomas had belonged, who built a convent that remained active for nearly two centuries. Then came the closure in 1658 by order of Alexander VII, while the bombing raids of the Second World War destroyed almost everything. Only the bell tower remained standing.
The Surviving Frescoes
Reconstruction was completed in 1980. The presbytery preserves 15th-century frescoes recovered from the destroyed Church of San Pietro a Campea, and a wooden bust of St Thomas dated 1633. On 7 March every year, the anniversary of the saint's death, the church returns to the centre of celebrations, with a procession that winds its way through the village.
