PARISH CHURCH OF S. FILIPPO NERI
PARISH CHURCH OF S. FILIPPO NERI
Location: Via Bovisasca 174
Built in the year 1964
The construction of the church of San Filippo Neri in Bovisasca dates back to the early 1960s, as part of a far-sighted program by Cardinal Montini called Twenty-two churches for twenty-two councils. The program was aimed at supporting the impressive urban development of the Milanese suburbs that was taking place under the pressure of internal immigration in the years of reconstruction and the economic boom, with parallel spiritual support from new churches and new parish communities.
With an archiepiscopal decree of 23 July 1960, the parish of San Filippo Neri, the saint considered the founder of the oratories, was established, and Don Piero Uggeri was designated as the first parish priest. The design of the church was entrusted to a prestigious Milanese studio, very active in those years especially in public buildings, bearing the names of the architects Augusto Magnaghi and Mario Terzaghi. The drafter of the project was Augusto Magnaghi, one of the greatest Milanese architects and designers of the last century, who was inspired by Italian rationalism with futurist suggestions. Already winner of awards such as the Compasso d'Oro in 1954 for the design of the first modular kitchen of the Saffa company of Magenta, Magnaghi received the Montini Prize for the originality of the design of the church of San Filippo Neri in the Bovisasca district.
The first stone was laid in 1961 in via Bovisasca 154, in a building area ceded by the Montecatini Society to the New Temples Committee, which financed the first phase of the works by delivering the rustic building and the rectory to the parish already in the summer of 1962. The construction continued at the expense of the parishioners and ended in 1967, the year of the solemn consecration which took place on May 26, the patronal feast of San Filippo Neri, in the presence of Cardinal Colombo.
The design of the church is consistent with the philosophy of Italian rationalism in architecture, according to which the shape of the building arises from its function and its volumes are simple, without superfluous decorations, with the use of new materials.
The design, which includes an original hexagonal structure in evident discontinuity with the models of tradition, arises from a careful liturgical rethinking and presents a strong theological symbolism. The hexagon suggests the biblical theme of the six days of divine creation and refers to a concept of the church as a place where the concrete life of men and women comes together, with the time and effort of work but together with the aspiration towards the highest and most spiritual dimensions of existence.
A single, large central body, without columns or naves, is functional to a choral participation of the assembly that gathers around the altar table. The additional spaces of the chapels and the sacristy, also with a hexagonal structure, have a deliberately elusive, almost centrifuged arrangement, so as not to take away importance from the central space of the assembly or ecclesia. The six transparent domes of the ceiling reveal the mysterious but real union between the earth and the sky, the human and the divine and the soft light that they spread from above creates an atmosphere of meditation and absorbed austerity, also enhanced by the fourteen stained glass windows of the perimeter wall which, with essential features of high drama, depict the Via Crucis.
The stained glass windows are the mature masterpiece of a great artist, Roberto Aloi who, without pietistic concessions and with vigorous figurative realism, focuses on the drama that unfolds along the fourteen stations with close-ups of strong emotional intensity, underlined by the lead that delimits the individual pieces of shaped glass and by the rich hues of the colors under the sacrificial dominance of red.
The valuable altar frontals in embossed and mercury-gilded copper, depicting the apostles, the evangelists and the Christian symbols of the Eucharist, are also by Roberto Aloi.
The Parish Priests who have succeeded one another in the Parish Church of San Filippo Neri are: Don Piero Uggeri from 1960 to 1984; Don Adrio Cappelletti from 1984 to 1996; Don Enzo Zago from 1996 to 2007; Don Francesco Palumbo from 2007 to 2010; Don Denis Piccinato from 2007 to 2019; Don Ivan Bellini since 2019.
By his testamentary disposition, Don Piero Uggeri, historical founder of the parish community, is buried inside the church, in the chapel of the deceased.
Don Piero Uggeri (1917 – 1984) was the religious leader of the Village for almost thirty years, from 1958 to 1984. Even today Don Piero, buried by his will in the Church dedicated to San Filippo Neri, is a much loved and respected figure.