ClickCease

ROME ITALY
TEMPLE
TOURS AND CRUISES

“This morning, I am pleased to announce that . .
a new temple will be built in Rome Italy”   - President Thomas S. Monson, 
General Conference, October 4, 2008

 The LDS Rome Temple was dedicated on March 10, 2019!

Milestones

4 October 2008 Announced

23 October 2010 Groundbreaking

10 March 2019 Dedicated — dedicatory prayer

We are now offering our Rome Temple tours and cruises,
with new itineraries and schedules! We invite you to join us!

 

Rome has perhaps more Christian history associated with it than any other place except Israel, where Jesus Christ actually lived and taught. It is difficult to review the history of Christianity in a brief way, but the history has been at times a violent one. In 313 A.D., the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal and Rome became the center of the Christian world.

The first Mormon missionary to enter Italy was future Mormon prophet Lorenzo Snow, who arrived in June 1850. After laboring in northern Italy for three years, he and fellow missionary Joseph Toronto had baptized 211 people into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who were organized into three branches. In the 1860s, most missionary work in Italy ceased, due to local opposition. Church leaders requested the Italian converts to emigrate to Utah.

 It was not until 1951, following the conversion of a man named Vincenzo di Francesca, whose remarkable history sent him into a years-long search for the gospel, that the Church began to grow again in Italy. By 1964, church records showed 229 members in Italy, and Elder Ezra Taft Benson obtained permission from the Italian government to send proselytizing missionaries to Italy in 1965. In just 13 years, church membership had increased to 7,000, and had grown to 14,000 by 1990. The number of stakes doubled from three to six in the past five years, and today there are more than 22,600 members in Italy.

 In 2000, leaders of the Mormon Church began seeking official recognition from the Italian government. The lengthy process has been full of miracles. In October 2006, some church leaders met with Roman officials to plead their case, but officials seemed unmoved. The presiding government official however surprised the church leaders by telling them he had made an unannounced visit to Salt Lake City to prepare for meeting the Mormon Church officials in Italy. Two sister missionaries guided him around Temple Square, without knowing this man’s importance. He said they had left a deep impression on him. This official asked Church leaders when a temple might be built in Rome.

 When President Thomas S. Monson announced the Rome Italy Temple, Stake President Massimo De Feo said all the people attending the General Conference broadcast yelled for joy. Church leaders in Italy have seen a direct correlation between the announcement of the temple and missionary work. President De Feo said that for the first time ever in Italy, whole families are being baptized.

 In addition to these miracles, getting the building site approved was another story. To qualify for a building permit, the land must be free of any ancient Roman ruins. To check the land, the city officials actually dig trenches across the property in review–every 10 to 15 feet. This they would need to do for the 14.8 acres of land that had been previously purchased as a possible temple site in the 1990s. In the event that Roman ruins exist beneath, or on the property site, plans for construction are nullified and no permits are issued.

On the day that the city inspectors were to visit the property, members of The Church in Rome held a special fast. City officials found no trace of any Roman ruins on the entire acreage of selected property. Only 100 yards from the border of that same property however, they found the remnants of an old Roman village.

From the first one built and dedicated in Kirtland, Ohio in 1836, 159 operating Temples now dot the earth. Join us for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the Open House for a Latter-day Temple in Rome, Italy. You’ll also experience all the wonderful sights and history of this beautiful Mediterranean country, centered in the “Birthplace of the Renaissances”.

Brian Judd Tours
Experience the World with Us!

 

Request a brochure