Tempio di San Paolo

The Tempio di San Paolo in Alba was founded by Don Giacomo Alberione as the spiritual centre of the Pauline publishing mission. Construction began in 1925, and a brick from the Holy Door of Saint Paul's Basilica in Rome was placed in its foundation.

Why it matters

Alberione founded the Pauline Family in Alba in 1914 and conceived the temple as part of a religious mission centred on Catholic publishing. The building connects the city's twentieth-century religious history with the growth of a congregation whose work extended through print and media.

What to notice

Virgilio Audagna's work Gloria di san Paolo, installed in 1946, forms an artistic focus near the altar. The church was consecrated in 1990 after post-conciliar liturgical reordering, adding another stage to its twentieth-century history.

Context and history

The temple developed alongside the Opera Pia di San Paolo and the institutions of the Pauline Family. Alberione laid its first stone in 1925; the church opened for worship in 1928. The main altar was consecrated in 1941, and the church was solemnly consecrated in 1990. Alberione was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003.