San Silvestro in Capite

The Basilica of Saint Sylvester the First, also known as (, Sancti Silvestri in Capite), is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and titular church in Rome dedicated to Pope Sylvester I (d. AD 335). It is located on the Piazza San Silvestro, at the corner of Via del Gambero and the Via della Mercede, and stands adjacent to the central Post Office. Built in the 8th century as a shrine for the relics of the saints and martyrs from the Catacombs, the church is the national church of Great Britain. The Latin words "in capite" refers to the canonical title of Pope Sylvester the First, to which in capite means in First, in Chief, or in Head. The basilica is also famous for a relic, a fragment of a head purported to be that of John the Baptist, kept in a chapel to the left of the entrance. A second Roman church dedicated to Pope Sylvester I is San Silvestro al Quirinale. The current Cardinal Priest is Louis Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, Apostolic Vicar of Vientiane.

The original church was built with an adjoining Basilian monastery, in the 8th century by the Popes Paul I and Stephen III, atop ruins of a pagan temple dedicated to Sol Invictus, to house venerated relics of early Christian saints who were buried in the catacombs. The church was rebuilt and the campanile with Romanesque arcades added in 1198 during the papacy of Innocent III, who transferred the relic of the head of St. John the Baptist to it and the name was changed to St. John in Capitol. In the 13th century the church was donated to the Poor Clares. It was rebuilt by the architects Francesco Capriani da Volterra and Carlo Maderno during 1591–1601, and subsequently restored in 1681. The relics of Pope Sylvester I, Pope Stephen I and Pope Dionysius were exhumed and re enshrined beneath the high altar when the new church was consecrated in 1601. The church also contains the relics of Tarcisius. The church of San Silvestro was granted to the English Catholics by Pope Leo XIII in 1890, and is now served by Irish Pallottine Fathers. Mass is thus regularly celebrated in the English language. The church is the National Church in Rome of Great Britain, although the structures of the Catholic Church continue to be organized separately for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Scottish national church in Rome, Sant'Andrea degli Scozzesi, was deconsecrated in 1962.