Giano dell'Umbria - Abbazia di San Felice

A legend tells, that where the abbey is, about 2 kms north of Giano dell'Umbria, Saint Felix (= San Felice), first bishop of Massa, had a small oratory built in the early 4th century. After he became a martyr during the Diocletianic Persecution, his followers buried the saint here. Probably already during the 8th century a convent existed around the tomb.

The church dates to the 12th century, erected when this was a Benedictinian abbey. Today the abbey is used by the "Missionari del Preziosissimo Sangue" ("Missionaries of the Precious Blood"). This society was founded here by Saint Gaspar del Bufalo in 1815.

The crypt, below the choir, has a nave and two aisles. A crypt existed here probably already under the preceding church. This sarcophag may have been already in the center of the early oratory, containing the remains of Saint Felix.

I had seen the same symbols carved onto the sarcophag of Saint Giovenale in the crypt of the Concattedrale in Narni..