St Stephen of the Abyssinians
Church building, exterior view
Santo Stefano degli Abissini is a small church building in the Vatican City, which was named after Saint Stephen. The building is located in the Vatican Gardens right next to St. Peter's Basilica. It is 35 meters long, 20 meters wide and 10 meters high ( nave ).
History
The church building was built in the 5th century under the reign of Pope Leo I on the ruins of a temple in honor of the pagan goddess Vesta and dedicated to Santo Stefano Maggiore. In the year 816, the building was rebuilt and was in 1159 and in the 17th century fundamentally reshaped. The facade was remodeled in the early 18th century, the inscription on the front facade is p STEPHANO PROTOMARTYRI. It is the oldest surviving church building in the Vatican City.
Under Pope Sixtus IV, the church was handed over to the monks of the Ethiopian Catholic Church in 1479; Today it is managed by the seminarians and priests of the Pontifical Ethiopian College. In it, the services are held predominantly by the Alexandrian rite ( Coptic ).