Holy Crucifix at Via Ostiense

The Church of the Holy Crucifix on Via Ostiense was a small Chapel, no longer existing, located along Via Ostiense, in the Ostiense district, in the area where the Centrale Montemartini stands today.
This church was located in the place where, according to tradition, on June 29, 67 A.D., St. Peter and St. Paul greeted one last time before being separated from the Roman legionaries and led to their martyrodoms. Here in fact, since the first centuries of Christianity, there was a small sacred shrine known as "Separation shrine" which recalled this episode.
Over the years this aedicule was transformed into a chapel, as we learn from Pope Dono's  (676-678) Liber Pontificalis, in which this church is mentioned for the first time and called "Ecclesiam Apostolorum" (Church of the Apostles)
The subsequent information goes back to Leonardo Bufalini's map of Rome in 1551, which indicates it with the name of "Crucifixus" and shortly thereafter, Pope Pius IV Medici (1559-1565), granted it to the Confraternity of the Holy Trinity of Pilgrims and Convalescents, which in 1568 rebuilt the Church with a small hospital attached on the right side of the Via Ostiense.
In 1577 the chapel appears again on a map, this time that by Etienne Du Perac, where it is again mentioned as the Chapel of the Crucifix but is mistakenly placed in its original place, on the opposite side of the road.

The Church presented itself with a facade characterized by the presence of a little aracde under which a bas-relief probably dating from the 15th century was placed which shows Saints Peter and Paul embracing each other at the time of separation, as we learn from a photograph of the 19th Century. Inside there was only one room with an altar dedicated to San Filippo Neri.

At the beginning of the 20th century this area underwent numerous changes, and an industrial district was installed here characterized by the presence of the Gazometer, the General Markets, the new river port, various industrial plants and a thermoelectric plant. Just this plant was built in the area of the Church, which was therefore demolished. The bas-relief with Saints Peter and Paul was rescued and is now preserved in the Museum of the Via Ostiense, located inside Porta San Paolo.

In 1975, the Municipality of Rome and the Association between the Romans wanted to remember the meeting between Saints Peter and Paul and the existence of the Church of the Holy Crucifix by placing a copy of the bas-relief with Saints Peter and Paolo accompanied by a plaque.

Other sites that talk about it:

- Pietro e Paolo: quella targa sulla via Ostiense - in Piccole Note

- La Cappella della Separazione - in Specchio Romano

Books about it:

- LOMBARDI F., Roma. Le Chiese scomparse, 1996