A church likely existed at the beginning of the 17th century above the catacomb: it has been identified as a building approximately 29 meters long and 17 meters wide, depicted in an early 17th-century floor plan preserved in the Archive of the Capuchin Fathers (see bibliography cited in Fiocchi Nicolai 1998, p. 71, note 24). We know the church was fully functional in 1703 when Piazza (C.B. Piazza, *La gerarchia cardinalizia*, Rome, 1703, p. 210) described it as an extremely wealthy Consistorial Abbey with an income exceeding five thousand scudi. At that time, services were mostly held on the feast day of the titular saint. Some relics of St. Restitutus were then kept beneath the altar. A document from 1624 mentions that the saint’s body rested in the basilica (see C. Cristallini, *L’evoluzione storico-urbanistica dell’abitato*, in *Monterotondo e il suo territorio*, Rome, 1995, p. 119).
For the chronological reference of 1782, see the following entry (*Further Architectural Changes*).
A pastoral visit by Cardinal Corsini reveals that by 1782, the church, now in ruins, had been reduced from its former larger dimensions (*amplioris quidem forma hec olim erat*) to a small oratory (*sacellum*) (see R. Cordovani, *Proposta per una ricerca: la chiesa e le catacombe di San Restituto a Monterotondo*, in *Il riequilibrio del patrimonio culturale di Monterotondo*, Mentana, 1989, p. 36). This chapel is still marked on an 1867 map of Monterotondo and was observed by F. Gori and E. Stevenson in the latter half of the last century (see Fiocchi Nicolai 1998, p. 64). By 1891, Tomassetti could no longer locate the structure (G. Tomassetti, *Della Campagna Romana*, in *Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria* 14, 1891, p. 101, note 1).
**Description:** As in all martyr shrines, the focal point of worship was the tomb (and thus the body) of the martyr, located, according to the *Passio*, *in crypta, in inferioribus*—that is, in an underground cemetery (see entry: *Architectural Typology*). Regarding its origin, the *Passio* states that Restitutus was martyred during the persecution of Diocletian; we can therefore assume the shrine came into use from that moment or, more precisely, from when a pious matron named Giusta took care of burying the martyr’s body.
**Relic:** Other
**Location:** Other
**Collection of ex-votos:** No
**Notes on the collection:** A plaque was placed in 1580 to commemorate the saint’s martyrdom (*S. Restitutus martir / Romae Via Aurelia III / kalendas Iunii passus / est laus Deo / anno MDLXXX*). It was originally embedded in the façade of the church in Monterotondo and is now affixed to one of the perimeter walls of Villa Cecconi, which stands on the site of the ancient shrine.
References to requests for healing miracles appear in the *Passio* (see previous entry).
The chronological reference of 431 pertains to the earliest attestation of the shrine, found in the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* (431–450). Even at the end of the 18th century (conventionally marked as 1800 in this entry), the local community still celebrated the martyr.
The *Passio* recounts that a matron named Giusta buried the body of St. Restitutus in a crypt on her own property. This is the shrine to which the sick came seeking healing.
A medieval addition to the *Passio* states that the body of St. Restitutus was later transferred from this cemetery to the Roman church of Sant’Andrea in Aurisario (or in Catabarbara) during the pontificate of an unspecified Pope Adrian (scholars suggest either Adrian I or Adrian IV).
Between the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the church is mentioned in notarial records concerning land purchases for the construction of the Capuchin Fathers’ convent.
The *Passio* narrates that Giusta, who transported Restitutus’ body from the site of his martyrdom (Rome) to the burial place (her own estate at the 16th mile of the Via Nomentana), informed Stephen, the Bishop of Nomentum—evidently the ecclesiastical authority over the area where the martyr was buried. The shrine was located just three miles from the city of Nomentum. The given chronological references conventionally suggest the probable dating of the *Passio*.
For jurisdictional details, see the previous entry.
Viale Cecconi Fausto, 00015 Monterotondo RM, Italy
