TUESDAY LENT WEEK 1--ST ANASTASIA

St Anastasia is a 5th century church I have never actually been inside of.  But for myself, this church's memories are more with the area around it--the back of the Palatine Hill (where the imperial palaces were) and the Circus Maximus, which in its day could seat over 100,000 to watch chariot races. 
 
But in the year 2000, alongside this church and in front of the Circus Maximus, a far more special series of events was taking place as part of World Youth Day (aka, Giornata Mondiale del Gioventu`).  Here were set up hundreds of stations for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and over the course of 5 days probably multiple thousands of priests took their turns for shifts of 1-2 hours each, offering forgiveness and mercy.  I took 3 turns, and during one of them I heard the confession of every single member (I think!) of the youth group from the African country of Gambia...

Most awesome, though, and utterly humbling, was when 2 of the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's order) came to me for the Sacrament.  Their international mother-house is just off the far end of the Circus Maximus, at San Gregorio Magno, where I'd done a year's worth of apostolic work while in seminary.  I remember thinking (and perhaps actually saying), "Sister, you should be sitting in this chair and I should be on the kneeler asking you to grant me absolution!" 

It was incredibly hot during those days--all of them over 100 degrees.  But it seemed peaceful enough while at those makeshift confession stations that had been constructed.

St Anastasia's name comes from the Greek for "Resurrection," and in the shadow of that church many young people were truly lifted up in mercy and peace.

ST PIETRO IN VINCOLI

This church is tucked away so that unless you were deliberately looking for it and knew (more or less) where to look, you'd probably never find it (rather like the Blessed Sacrament chapels in most of these churches--but I digress...).

The Via Cavour is a major street that runs from the entrance to the Roman Forum, past Santa Maria Maggiore, to the main train station, Stazione Termini.  Along it if you are attentive you'll find an archway where a covered staircase begins; the end of the staircase opens onto a piazza in front of this church.
 
The traditional treasure of this church is the chains which supposedly bound St Peter while awaiting his martyrdom.  They are in a clear casket below the main altar, in full view. 

But to the right is the treasure most people come to see:  the magnificent sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo, intended for the funerary monument (never completed) of Pope Julius II.  It may well be that Moses' face is Julius' portrait...  Not located in the position it was intended to be seen in the overall monument, it is still an overwhelming achievement.












For historians, though, a better treasure can be found in here:  a monument to Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (near the main entrance, on the wall of the left side aisle). He was a 15th century churchman in all the best senses of the term:  a leader, a mystical/spiritual writer, and one of those who proved that the so-called "Donation of Constantine" (granting the Pope sovereignty over virtually all of Europe) was in fact a 9th century forgery.  Good for him!

The forgery was finally undone in the 19th century with the war of unification of Italy, capturing Rome in 1870.  This this, papal temporal rule came to an end, and there has been no greater blessing on the Church.  To quote the lines of Malvolio in Twelfth Night:  "Some are born great; some achieve greatness; and some have greatness thrust upon them."  And so the Church had greatness--release from temporal power--thrust upon them.  Praise the Lord for His goodness!

1ST SUNDAY OF LENT STATION CHURCH

Once upon a time this was the beginning of Lent (of course, once upon a time what we now call "3rd Sunday" was the beginning of Lent, with the reading of John 4:  "The Samaritan Woman at the Well").  Instead, it is the celebration of the station church of St John Lateran.  It's a sort of self-contradiction, in fact:  why?

Simply, the origin of "station churches" was a way of having the Bishop of Rome more "visible" than just in his own church, which for obvious reasons could hold only a limited number of people.  So he would make the trek to various churches, almost in the spirit of a royal "grand progress."  But then, St John Lateran is the Pope's church...

People forget that St Peter's is not the Cathedral of Rome:  St John Lateran is.  It is the oldest of all the churches built by order of the Emperor Constantine (on estates he claimed as his own through his wife's family).  Its original dedication was to "Christ the Redeemer"--its name was changed when relics attributed to Ss John the Baptist and John the Apostle were brought to it (it also is reputed to have the heads--or portions of them-- of Ss Peter & Paul:  a detail important in trying to determine if the bones found near the tomb of Peter were possibly actually his).
 
As Cathedral of Rome, it refers to itself as "Head and Mother of all churches of the City and the World."  Here the Pope traditionally celebrates Holy Thursday (though as we know, Pope Francis marked the Mandatum, or foot-washing, at a juvenile detention center last Holy Week).

Here Pope Boniface VIII announced the very first "Holy Year of Jubilee" in 1300--a fragment of a fresco of this event by Giotto can be seen on a column in the right-hand aisle. 












Of all the major basilicas in Rome (the others are St Peter's, St Paul's Outside the Walls, and St Mary Major), this is the least impressive building (to me, anyway).  But theologically it is the most important.

SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

Today's station church is really special to me:  Sant' Agostino.  Located in the Centro Storico (historical center) of the City, just north and west of Piazza Navona, it is an early Renaissance church (15th century)--not ancient, but containing wonderful treasures. 

These include a depiction of the prophet Isaiah by Raphael, the high altar designed by Bernini, and a painting of Our Lady of Loreto by Caravaggio.  But these pale in significance (to me, at least) after coming to the chapel along and just past the left-hand side of the main altar.

Here is the tomb of St Monica, the Mother of St Augustine.  She died in Ostia, what was then the port city of Rome (and I have seen fragments of her original tombstone there), but her body was later transferred here.  She is entombed under the chapel's altar, but her older sarcophagus is also preserved here.

The most recent group I took to Italy (September 2013) went under the aegis of St Augustine, and we celebrated Mass in this church as the beginning of a pilgrimage that would ultimately end with Mass in Pavia, where Augustine's relics are enshrined. 

But I go to Italy often enough on my own, and when I am in Rome this church and this chapel are a required visit for me.  In this chapel I always pray the Rosary for my Mother (who else could be the patron of Mothers than St Monica, who prayed for her son for so many years, before he let God's grace work its effect in him)?

Mother's Day is not during Lent, but prayers for our mothers (living or deceased) are surely never out of place, most especially in this church, in this chapel.

FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY: SS JOHN & PAUL

 

The church of Ss John & Paul is another ancient one, located on the Celian Hill just up from the Colosseum.  These two saints were actually martyred after the time of Constantine, during the period of the Emperor Julian "The Apostate."  The church was built within only a few decades of their deaths, on the house where they were beheaded.  It's a peaceful place, and it is currently the center for the Passionist order, of whom Joe Barbieri, a friend from seminary days, is now a member.  Joe was stationed for a while near Manduria (in the "heel of the boot" of Italy--famous for wonderful Primitivo wine); he's now in Texas. 

This church is also the traditional "titular church" of the cardinal-archbishops of New York.  As such, when Cardinal Cooke died in 1984, this was the location for a memorial Mass for him, for which I was part of the choir. 

But Cardinal Dolan does not have this as his titular church since Cardinal Egan (his predecessor), though retired, is still alive; so it is still his titular church.

Why "titular churches" at all?  It is a way of tying cardinals around the world to the Church of Rome, and since the origin of cardinals was in part to take care of the churches and "social service centers" (diaconiae) of Rome, this honorific, so to speak, keeps up the fiction.  The illustration here is the best image of the whole church's exterior--photographs typically focus on the bell tower only.

THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

I have a special attraction for the church of San Giorgio in Velabro, at the base of the Aventine Hill and just up from the far more famous (for its Bocca della Verita`) Santa Maria in Cosmedin.  On the edge of the Forum Boarium (the old Roman cattle market), it is a 12th century church of simplicity and dignity that is nevertheless a favorite "wedding church" in the City Center.

But the main delight for me is the fact that when Pope Leo XIII named him a cardinal in 1879, this was the titular church given to John Henry Newman.  If you know me at all, you know of my love affair with his writings and his life.  There is a plaque in the wall of the right-hand aisle, celebrating this great man; his association is enough for me to love the church.

LENTEN DAILY DEVOTIONS

You can easily get other versions of the narrative of the practice of celebrating Eucharist in the "Station Churches" of Rome from other web-sites, but I want to offer my own insights and memories of these churches (most of them, anyway), for your spiritual delight and edification.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and my recollections.
#1 on the list, for Ash Wednesday:  Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill.

It is an ancient and beautiful church, in a stark and pure sort of way--dating from the 5th century.  It is currently part of the headquarters of the Dominican "Order of Preachers."
For me, the most powerful memories I have are related to an event in the spring of 1984 which ultimately became "World Youth Days."  It was a gathering of thousands of young people, culminating in Palm Sunday Eucharist in the piazza of St Peter's.  I was part of the planning committee, and I was also in charge of the music for the English language group--which met for three days here at Santa Sabina.  We had 3 keynote homilists:  2 were American priests (both very involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal), and the 3rd was Mother Teresa!

We had a conflict on her day--the church had double-scheduled a wedding at the same time as we were to be there (all 3,000 English speaking youth).  We worked out a compromise, and our music group joined the couple's organist, 3,000 extra attendees were at the Nuptial Mass, and the newlyweds received a special blessing from Mother Teresa.  All was good!
The doors of this basilica are extremely important:  they contain a wood-carving of the oldest devotional image of the Crucifixion that we know of...

Here the Holy Father begins the marking of Lent (with a procession that begins from Sant' Anselmo, the Benedictine headquarters just up the hill, and my alma mater for advanced studies while I was in seminary).

Tomorrow's church is very, very important to me:  San Giorgio in Velabro.  But more about that later!