Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio may look like an ordinary church, but it contains a rare treasure: 25 popes’ embalmed hearts. In marble urns.
This was originally the parish church for the Quirinal Palace, which was built as a papal summer residence (it’s now the president’s home). The popes who inhabited the palace, from Sixtus V to Leo XIII, bequeathed their hearts to the church. A who’s who list is to the left of the altar.
Though Santi Vincenzo is formally owned by the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II granted it to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in 2002.
Santi Vincenzo lies on the site of a medieval church, first mentioned in 962 by Pope John XII. The Baroque structure we see today was built in the 17th century. A 19th century renovation gave it its Neoclassical interior.
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