If you go to Rome, this is a place you should not miss. It represents the longest continuous history of the Ukrainian Church outside its homeland. The oldest Ukrainian Catholic church beyond Ukraine is located precisely here — in the center of Rome, in the Monti district, at Piazza Madonna dei Monti. This is the Church of the Mother of God of Zhyrovychi and the holy martyrs Sergius and Bacchus. Today, it serves as the cathedral of the Ukrainian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate in Italy, which includes approximately 175 parishes and missions throughout the Italian peninsula.
The church was entrusted to the Kyivan Church by Pope Urban VIII in 1638. Even earlier, in the 1620s, Metropolitan Yosyf Rutsky had sent emissaries to Rome to represent the Kyivan Church at the Holy See. After his death, Metropolitan Rafail Korsak spent his final year in Rome and was buried in this church, further strengthening its significance as a center of ecclesial presence.
Over the centuries, the church fulfilled various roles. It served as the residence of the Kyivan Metropolitan’s representatives in Rome, who were most often monks of the Order of Saint Basil the Great. It functioned not only as a place of worship, but also as a point of connection between the Kyivan Church and the Apostolic See.
In the nineteenth century, during the suppression of the Eastern Catholic Church within the Russian Empire, imperial authorities attempted to claim this church, arguing that it belonged to Kyiv and that they had inherited all its legal properties. Although these efforts were unsuccessful, the church nevertheless passed out of Ukrainian hands for many decades and fell into a state of neglect.
In 1897, Pope Leo XIII returned the church to Ukrainian Catholics. It then became a center of formation — the Ukrainian College in Rome, known at the time as the Ruthenian College — where Greek Catholic students came to study.
In 1932, a new Ukrainian College was constructed on the Gianicolo Hill by the Vatican. The buildings adjacent to the church subsequently became the generalate of the Basilian Order. This remained the case until the late 1950s, when the Basilians sold the church and its surrounding structures to acquire a new generalate on the Aventine Hill.
Following the sale, the property was intended to become a college for Latin American students. However, plans changed, and the church was eventually sold to private business interests, who intended to convert it into a nightclub. At that critical moment, Patriarch Josyf Slipyj had just been released from Soviet exile. Arriving in Rome with nothing, even still wearing the clothing of a Siberian prisoner, he was deeply struck by the fact that the oldest Ukrainian Catholic church outside Ukraine was no longer in the hands of its people. With great determination, he began raising funds and succeeded in collecting approximately half a million dollars.
Through these efforts, he repurchased and restored the church of the Mother of God of Zhyrovychi and Saints Sergius and Bacchus, preserving it for future generations. In the decades that followed, the church became the site of many important ecclesial events, including priestly ordinations. It also hosted gatherings of Ukrainian Catholic bishops, particularly in the 1970s and again in the 1990s, with one of the last such meetings taking place in 1996.
Today, this small church remains a vibrant spiritual center. It houses an ancient and miraculous icon — a copy of the Zhyrovychi icon of the Mother of God — and continues to attract the faithful who come to pray.
In the 1990s, as a new wave of migration began, this church — then the only Ukrainian Catholic parish in Italy — became a pastoral center for the growing number of Ukrainian faithful. While in the 1970s there were only about 500 Ukrainians in Italy, today their number has grown to approximately 500,000. The bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Italy now serves this community from this very cathedral — the Church of the Mother of God of Zhyrovychi and Saints Sergius and Bacchus.
This church is not only a historical monument, nor merely a picturesque stop surrounded by cafés, fountains, and gelato shops. It is a living testimony of the presence, endurance, and faith of the Ukrainian Church beyond its homeland. Visitors are invited not only to admire its beauty, but to pray — in gratitude to Pope Urban VIII and Cardinal Barberini, who helped transfer the church to the Kyivan community, and in remembrance of Patriarch JosyfSlipyj, who restored it and prayed there for the freedom, justice, and dignity of the Ukrainian people. That prayer continues today — at Piazza Madonna dei Monti, in the Church of the Mother of God of Zhyrovychi and the holy martyrs Sergius and Bacchus.
Key facts:
• In 1638, Pope Urban VIII entrusted the church, located in Rome’s Monti district at Piazza Madonna dei Monti, to the Kyivan Church.
• It is the oldest Ukrainian Catholic church outside of Ukraine.
• Metropolitan Rafail Korsak is buried in this church.
• In the 19th century, the church was lost to Ukrainian use and fell into neglect.
• 1897 — Pope Leo XIII returned the church to Ukrainian Catholics.
• It became the Ruthenian College for Greek Catholic students.
• Patriarch Josyf Slipyj repurchased and restored the church after his release from Soviet exile.
• Today it serves as the cathedral of the Ukrainian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate in Italy.
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