2012-04-05

Holy Thursday


On this last day of Lent and the first day of the Holy Triduum, we come back to the Cathedral of Rome for the third time (see First Sunday of Lent and Palm Sunday). The Basilica of St. John Lateran was the first public church in Rome, donated by Emperor Constantine to the Church.


The Lateran Palace next to the basilica has been the residence of popes until the 14th century. When popes returned from Avignon to Rome, the palace had been damaged by fire, with the result that the official papal residence was moved to the Vatican Hill.

Once you go inside the basilica, your eyes will fall on the 12 huge statues of the apostles lining the central nave. Above them you can see paintings of scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

We'll come back here one more time on Holy Saturday.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

2012-04-04

Wednesday of Holy Week


Returning to the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Romans surely love this original structure preserved since the 5th century.

The basilica was formerly known as the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snow because snow fell upon this site on a hill to indicate the exact dimension of the church to Pope Liberius. The day was recorded as August 5, and so it has been celebrated as the Feast of Our Lady the Snow.

This is most likely a legend, but if you attend Mass therein on this feast day, you will see a show of fake snow scattered from inside the dome of the basilica during Mass. Yes, the celebration of the Eucharist can come in 4D too!

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

2012-04-03

Tuesday of Holy Week


"After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila... with his wife Prisca... Paul went to see them because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers." (Acts 18: 1-3) He later travelled with them to Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19).

Today's station Church of St. Prisca was built in the 4th century upon Prisca's house. Recent excavations found first century walls marked with Chi Rho ☧, the first two letters of the word "Christ" in Greek. The façade was built in the 17th century.

Cadinal Justin Rigali, archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia, is currently the cardinal priest of the titular church. He retired a year ago when he reached the age of 75. Having served as the secretary of the Congregation for Bishops and the archbishop of St. Louis, he was transferred to Philadelphia in 2003, one of the eight traditional cardinalatial sees in USA. Pope John XXIII was the titular of the church before he was elected to the Petrine see.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

2012-04-02

Monday of Holy Week


St. Praxades is the sister of St. Pudentiana, whose church we visited on Tuesday of Week III. They are daughters of the senator Pudens who gave hospitality to Peter when he first arrived in Rome.

Built in the 4th century, the Basilica of St. Praxades was one of the first 25 parishes of Rome. The present church dates back to the 8th century. Many relics were brought here by Pope Paschal I, including the bodies of Pudentiana and Praxades.


Cardinal Paul Poupard is the titular of the church. He had been auxiliary bishop of Paris before being his appointment as President of the Secretariat for Non-Believers. The Secretariat was later raised to the status of Pontifical Council before merging with the Pontifical Council for Culture in 1993. The cardinal remained as president of the pontifical council till 2007 when he retired. He was at the same time the president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue (for dealing with other non-Christian religions) from 2006 and 2007, when Pope Benedict XVI was considering to combine the two pontifical councils.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

2012-04-01

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion


For the second time in Lent (see First Sunday of Lent), the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Mother Church of the world, is the station church. Romans will come back here two more times this week to complete the Lenten stations. Although the basilica is in Rome outside of the Vatican City, it belongs juridically to the Vatican City State. Italy has no jurisdiction here. The same is true for other major basilicas, some catacombs and some churches.

Shown here is the central apse with the cathedra of the Bishop of Rome, illuminated by mosaics depicting Christ Jesus and other saints. After a pope is elected, he will come here to take possession of the cathedral. That is why Pope Benedict XVI sat on this chair on 7 May 2005 shortly after his election.

We will return to the Lateran Basilica on Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)