Thursday after Ash Wednesday San Giorgio in Velabro Saint George, the fabled “dragon slayer,” was a soldier martyred in Cappadocia, in present-day Turkey, during the Diocletian persecution (284-305). His cult grew to be very popular in Rome, and Gregory II (715-731) made this church into a station. The velabrum, the Etruscan name of an ancient quarter of Rome, was once a stagnant marsh left by the inundations of the Tiber River. During the Middle Ages, however, the derivation of this name Velabro came under dispute, some claiming that it stemmed from the Latin words velum aureum (“golden marsh”), referring either to the marshy area with its yellow-colored sand or to a legendary treasure thought to be hidden in the adjacent Arco degli Argentari. In either case, Velabro refers to the area of Rome in which this church was built. At any rate, the ancient church already existed in the fifth century. Pope Saint Gregory the Great established a diaconia, an institution that cared for the poor, at the site of this church in the sixth century. In the seventh century, Pope Saint Leo II (682-683) restored the basilica, dedicating it to Saint Sebastian, the Roman military officer martyred between 297 and 305 during the Diocletian persecution and whose body was thrown into the cloaca maxima, the city’s main sewer. Pope Saint Zachary (741-752), being a Cappadocian himself, brought the head of Saint George from the Lateran and added the saint as co-patron. Part of his skull is still preserved beneath the altar. The dedication was unusual because there was little devotion to St. George in the West until Crusaders brought it back with them from the East. Luigi Cardinal Sincero, the church’s Titular (1923-1936), commissioned Antonio Muñoz (1884-1960) in 1926 to restore the church, an effort which culminated in this austere but impressively simple romanesque church. With political unrest in Italy in 1993, a bomb exploded near the church and severely damaged the ancient portico and parts of the church; however, restoration was immediately undertaken in that same year. Note the fresco in the apse (ca. 13th century) featuring Christ in the center with the Virgin Mary on his right and Sts. Peter and Sebastian (in Roman military garb) on his left, with St. George on his horse. Observe especially the impression given by the variations of the color gray. The fresco has been attributed to both Cavallini and Giotto. Also note the sixteen antique columns, stone altar, canopy, weathered wood ceiling, and the 12th century, five-storey campanile and portico (restored), the latter having a flood mark. John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) possessed the Title of San Giorgio in Velabro when he was elevated to the College of Cardinals in 1879. The church has been cared for by the Order of the Holy Cross (Crosier Fathers) since 1941, and is especially popular for weddings. Location: 19 Via del Velabro, at the foot of the Palatine Hill, close to the ancient Arco di Giano Quadrifronte. Directions: Piazza delle Rovere is at the bottom of the Janiculum Hill, just before crossing the bridge. Take Bus 23 from Piazza Rovere to the stop immediately after Tiber Island. Cross the bridge and pass the Tempio Fortuna Virilis and Tempio di Vesta. Walk up towards the Arch of Janus. The church is on the left, just past the Arch.