Wednesday 14 March 2012

Lenten Stations at Saint Pudentiana's and Saint Agatha's

Non-Italic Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for Tuesday of the Third Week in Lent
Pictures and italic text taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia) (unless otherwise accredited)
Stations at Saint Pudentiana's and Saint Agatha's
Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines

Violet Vestments

By Apostolic Letters, dated 5 March 1934, and published on 15 October 1935, the Churches of Santa Agatha and Santa Maria Nova (also called Santa Francisca Romana) were raised to the title of Stational Churches. The same Ceremonies are performed and the same Indulgences may be gained there, respectively, as Santa Pudentiana on the Third Tuesday in Lent and San Apollinare on Passion Thursday. These two Churches are not on the published Map of Stational Churches in The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

  
Interior of the Basilica of Santa Pudentiana, Rome


Interior of Sant'Agata dei Goti, Rome

Stational Indulgences

Indulgences are mentioned in the Missal at some Stational Days. These Indulgences may be gained in Rome by taking part in the Stational Procession  and Mass or by visiting the Stational Church on that day.

All Regulars may gain the same by attending Conventual Mass and praying for the Pope's intentions in their own Convent Church (Pope Paul V, 23 May 1606).

This privilege may have been extended to some Confraternities affilitated to these Orders.


The same interior of Sant'Agata dei Goti, (Saint Agatha of the Goths), Rome, as the photo, above. But this photo taken, circa, 1899 A.D. Taken from Web-site of University College, Cork, Ireland.
http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Church_of_St_Agatha_Rome

The Station is at the very ancient Sanctuary of Saint Pudentiana, erected on the site of the house of her father, the Senator, Pudens, mentioned by Saint Paul in his Epistles. Saint Pudentiana lived her with her sister, Saint Praxedes. Here, Saint Peter received hospitality and the first Christians often assembled.

In the 2nd-Century, this house seems to have been the residence of the Roman Pontiffs. For such reasons, it became one of the twenty-five Parish Churches of Rome in the 5th-Century. It was quite fitting to read there the Gospel in which Saint Peter asks Our Lord about the use of the power of the keys.

The clemency of the Jews was content to forgive three times. Jesus, in the Gospel, says we are to forgive seventy times seven times, that is to say, always. Mercy, with the sacrifices which accompany it, forms part of the Lenten penance.


Entrance door-way to Santa Pudentiana

Wherefore, the Epistle shows us, in the miraculous increase of a small quantity of oil at the word of Eliseus (by the sale of which a poor widow was enabled to pay a pitilous creditor) a figure of the mercy of the Saviour, whose infinite merits supply the ransom for our sins.

In order to participate in the effects of this charity of Christ, we should in our turn exercise the same virtue. Then will the Church, in the name of Jesus, make use in our favour of the power of remission which she holds from her Head.

Let us atone for our sins and forgive our neighbour his sins against us. And then let us implore the God of mercy to grant us by His almighty power the pardon for our sins (Postcommunion).



Facade of Santa Pudentiana ((taken by Georges Jansoone (JoJan), 11 April 2010)

The Church of Santa Pudenziana (Pudentiana) is recognized as the oldest place of Christian worship in Rome. It was built over a 2nd-Century house (probably during the pontificate of Pope Pius I (140 A.D. – 155 A.D.)) and re-uses part of a bath facility still visible in the structure of the apse. 

This Church was the residence of the Pope until, in 313 A.D., Emperor Constantine offered them the Lateran Palace

In the 4th-Century, during the pontificate of Pope Siricius, the building was transformed into a three-naved Church. In the Acts of the Synod of 499 A. D., the Church bears the titulus Pudentis, indicating that the administration of the Sacraments was allowed.


"Christ delivering the keys of Heaven to Saint Peter" (1594 A.D.) by the architect and sculptor Giacomo della Porta. The Saint Peter Chapel in the Church of Santa Pudentiana, Rome (taken by Georges Jansoone (JoJan), 13 April 2010)

Chapels in Santa Pudentiana 

The Saint Peter Chapel, on the left side of the apse, contains a part of the table at which Saint Peter would have held the celebration of the Eucharist in the house of Saint Pudens. The rest of the table is embedded in the papal altar of Saint John Lateran. The sculpture on the altar depicts "Christ delivering the Keys of Heaven to Saint Peter" (1594 A.D.) by the architect and sculptor Giacomo della Porta.

In the same Chapel, there are two bronze slabs in the wall, explaining that here Saint Peter was given hospitality and that he offered, for the first time in Rome, bread and wine as a consecration of the Eucharist. The pavement is ancient. A door opens into a cortile with a small Chapel that contains frescoes from the 11th-Century.

Chapel of the Crucifix: Contains a bronze crucifix by Achille Tamburini.


Chapel of the Madonna of Mercy: Contains a painting, The Nativity of the Madonna by Lazarro Baldi.


Chapel of Saint Bernard: Contains a painting of Saint Benedict and Saint Catherine of Siena.
 

Caetani Chapel: This Chapel for the Caetani family (family of Pope Boniface VIII) was designed by Capriano da Volterra in 1588 A.D., and, after his death in 1601, was completed by Carlo Maderno. The mosaics on the floor are notable. The columns are of Lumachella marble. The relief (1599 A.D.,) above the altar is by Pier Paolo Olivieri and depicts The Adoration of the Magi. Giovanni Paolo Rossetti painted Saint Praxedes and Saint Pudentiana collecting the Blood of the Martyrs in 1621 A.D. He also painted the fresco of The Evangelist in the ceiling, to a design by Federico Zuccari.


Saints Praxedes and Pudenziana collecting the Blood of the Martyrs 
by Giovanni Paolo Rossetti.  
(the Caetani Chapel, Basilica of Santa Pudentiana)

The statue of Saint Pudentiana, in a niche, is by Claude Adam, dating from circa 1650 A.D. The sisters’ well stands just outside the Caetani Chapel, in the left aisle, and is said to contain the relics of 3,000 early martyrs, many of which were brought here and hidden by Saints Pudentiana and Praxedes. This is marked by a square porphyry slab in the floor.

The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Pudentianae is Joachim Meisner. One of the former Cardinal Priests of this Basilica was Cardinal Luciano Bonaparte, great-nephew of the Emperor Napoleon I.

In 1969, the names of Pudentiana and her sister, Praxedes, were removed from the Roman Catholic calendar of Saints.

No comments:

Post a Comment