The parish of San Luca came into existence at the same time as the population increased in the Margine Rosso locality of Quartu Sant’Elena. In fact, the Fortino, the first seat of the parish community, proved to be insufficient by then to accommodate the growing number of parishioners. Finally on July 30, 1986, the City Council, under the chairmanship of Mayor Gianni Corrias, unanimously resolved to allocate an area of 7781 square meters for the construction of the new church. The laying of the foundation stone took place in the presence of Msgr. Ottorino Pietro Alberti on December 10, 1989. Msgr. Alberti himself will preside over the evocative celebration of the church’s dedication on June 9, 2001.
The modern building, designed by engineer Antonio Tramontin, overlooks a square of cobblestones, in which the statue of the Virgin Mary, formerly kept at the church of Su Forti, is placed. In fact, the building is mostly on three sides, as the fourth side is abutted by the parish premises. The parish is preceded by a short flight of steps: the main access is through two wooden portals located on two sides of the church. The interior, preceded by a glass compass and a six-column portico serving as a narthex, has a characteristic fan-shaped floor plan that focuses attention on the presbytery area. The structural lines of the entire building converge toward the presbytery area with a semi-cavea design of the space, the important role of which is given to the light that penetrates thanks to the glass panes of the domed structure, which has an octagonal base.
The parish is designed with a catechetical language: in fact, the octagonal base of the domed structure represents Sunday, the eighth day according to Christian tradition, while the six columns supporting the narthex represent instead the days of the week from Monday to Saturday. The faithful, leaving behind the six days of the week, thus direct all their attention to the day of Sunday, Easter of the Week, on which the Eucharistic celebration takes place. Then note how, in the floor, angular lines start from the chancel and join it to the six columns, passing between the banks: this too is a symbolic depiction, which finds its interpretation in Psalm 46: “A river and its channels rejoice in the city of God, the holiest of the dwellings of the Most High.” These rivers represent the divine grace, which from the eighth day, Sunday, goes to bathe and enliven the six weekdays of the week.
The parish also, both in its walls and in some of the monuments housed within it, bears the hexagonal structure of the beehive. It stands for the Church’s industriousness, Christian vigilance and zeal in acquiring virtue. In addition to this structure, the theme of the ear and the vine recurs.
The numerous liturgical furnishings inside the parish building can be attributed to two Sardinian artists, Pietro Longu and Paolo Soro. Pietro Longu, an artist from Bortigali (NU), is responsible for most of the sacred furnishings in the parish: the altar, the ambo, the seat, the chancel sideboards, the chancel crucifix, the Stations of the Cross, the choir and tabernacle benches, the tabernacle columns, and the tabernacle door were made by him through the use of numerous materials, such as linden wood, Orosei marble bronze, and refractory ceramic paste. Paolo Soro, an artist from Sestu, instead made the tabernacle and baptismal font. Each of these sculptural works consists of precious and important symbolic and iconographic references, both traditional and inherent to the Margine Rosso area.
Also present are the simulacra, donated by some parishioners, of the Virgin Mary and St. Luke. The latter in particular is involved in the rites of the patronal feast, which traditionally includes the landing of the simulacrum at the Margine Rosso beach, the Holy Mass and the procession to the parish church.
Description by Antonio Perra
