Lenten Station At The Basilica Of Saint Praxedes. Monday In Holy Week.

Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.
Privileged Feria.

Violet Vestments.

Basilica of Saint Praxedes,
Rome, Italy.

Photo: December 2005.

Source: Own work.

Author: Lalupa.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Lenten Station was originally held at Saints Nereus and Achilleus, but the tottering state of this Church caused it to be transferred in the 13th-Century to Saint Praxedes. The precious Pillar of the Flagellation, so called, brought over from the Holy Land by Cardinal Colonna at the time of the Fifth Crusade, was placed by him in this, his Titular Church, where it is still kept. In exchange for the iron ring attached to this Pillar, Saint Louis presented the Church with the Three Thorns of the Holy Crown, that are still preserved there. The relics of many Martyrs, gathered from the suburban Catacombs, were brought into this Church under Pope Paschalis I.

In the Epistle, Isaias, typifying Jesus, prophesies His obedience and the indignities of His Passion. He, likewise, foretells His triumph, for He has placed His trust in God, who will raise Him to life again. Finally, he shows how the Jews were to be confounded. Then the Gentiles, through Baptism, the public penitents, by being reconciled, and the Faithful, by their Easter Confession and Holy Communion, will pass from darkness to the light of which Jesus is the fount.

Interior of the Basilica di Sante Prassede,
Rome, Italy.

Photo: March 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Sixtus.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Gospel tells of the supper, of which Jesus partook in the house of Simon the Leper, six days before the Pasch. While Martha, all activity, served at table, Mary, more loving, went up to Christ, and, breaking the long narrow neck of an alabaster vase, filled with an ointment of great price, poured the contents over His feet. And Jesus commends her for having thus anticipated the embalming of His body. The indignant protests of Judas lead us to fear the crime into which he will fall as a result of his avarice.

Pope Paschal I,
wearing a Zuchetto and Pallium,
depicted in the Apsidal mosaic
at Santa Prassede.
He is presenting a model of the Basilica
to Christ, and wears a square Halo,
which means he was alive
at the time of the mosaic.

Photo of mosaic: August 2005.

Source: Own work.

Author: Marcus Cyron.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Finally, the presence at the supper of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised to life, is a forecast of the coming victory of Christ over death.

The choice of this Gospel is not without connection with that of the Stational Church: Saint Praxedes and Saint Pudentiana put their house at the disposal of Pope Saint Pius I, just as Mary and Martha received Jesus into their house.

English: Saint Praxedes'
Ciborium and Apse mosaics.

Deutsch: Santa Prassede, Rom;
Triumphbogen und Apsis.

Photo: May 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Welleschik.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Julius III
(Papacy 1550 - 1555).
One-time Titular of the
Basilica of Saint Praxedes.

Artist: Girolamo Sicciolante.
(After Sebastiano del Piombo).

Photo of Painting: March 2013.

User: Mathiasrex.

Current Location: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

Source/Photographer: www.rijksmuseum.nl

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Basilica of Saint Praxedes ( Latin: Basilica Sanctae Praxedis, Italian: Basilica di Santa Prassede all’Esquillino), commonly known in Italian as Santa Prassede, is an ancient Titular Church and Minor Basilica in Rome, located near the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. The current Cardinal Priest of Titulus Sancta Praxedis is Paul Poupard.

The Church, in its current form, was commissioned by Pope Hadrian I around the year 780 A.D., and built on top of the remains of a 5th-Century structure. It was designed to house the bones of Saint Praxedes (Italian: S. Prassede) and Saint Pudentiana (Italian: S. Pudenziana), the daughters of Saint Pudens, traditionally Saint Paul's first Christian convert in Rome. The two female Saints were murdered for providing Christian burial for early Martyrs, in defiance of Roman Law. The Basilica was enlarged and decorated by Pope Paschal I, circa 822 A.D.

Pope Paschal, who reigned 817 A.D. - 824 A.D., was at the forefront of the Carolingian Renaissance, started and advocated by the Emperor Charlemagne. They desired to get back to the foundations of Christianity, theologically and artistically. Pope Paschal, thus, began two, linked, ambitious programmes: The recovery of Martyrs' bones from the Catacombs of Rome and an almost unprecedented Church building campaign. Paschal dug up numerous skeletons and transplanted them to this Church. The Titulus "S. Praxedis" was established by Pope Evaristus, around 112 A.D.

The Church provided the inspiration for Robert Browning's poem, "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church."

Saint Charles Borromeo
(one-time Titular of the Basilica).

Artist: Giovanni Ambrogio Figino (1548–1608).

Source/Photographer: http://www.arteecarte.it/
archivio/arteecarte_n.13/diocesano.php

(Uploaded by User:Lupo to en.wikipedia).

This Photo: December 2009.

User: Thomas Gun.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The main Altarpiece is a canvas of Saint Praxedes Gathering the Blood of the Martyrs (circa 1730 - 1735) by Domenico Muratori.

The most famous element of the Church is the mosaic decorative programme. Paschal hired a team of professional mosaicists to complete the work in the Apse, the Apsidal Arch, and the Triumphal Arch. In the Apse, Jesus is in the centre, flanked by Saints Peter and Paul, who present Prassede and Pudenziana to God. On the far left, is Paschal, with the Square Halo of the living, presenting a model of the Church as an offering to Jesus. Below, runs an inscription of Paschal's, hoping that this offering will be sufficient to secure his place in Heaven.

English: The Triumphal Arch.
Interior of Basilica of Saint Praxedes,
Rome, Italy.

Deutsche: Santa Prassede, Rom;
Triumphbogen (Panorama).

Photo: May 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Welleschik.

(Wikimedia Commons)

On the Apsidal Arch, are twelve men on each side, holding wreaths of victory, welcoming the Souls into Heaven. Above them, are symbols of the four Gospel writers: Mark, the lion; Matthew, the man; Luke, the bull; and John, the eagle, as they surround a Lamb on a Throne, a symbol of Christ's eventual return to Earth.

Though those mosaics, as well as those in the Saint Zeno Chapel, a Funerary Chapel that Paschal built for his mother, Theodora, are the best-known aspects of the Church, an intriguing and relatively hidden aspect are ancient frescoes. Ascending a spiral staircase, one enters a small room, covered in scaffolding. However, on the wall is a fresco cycle dating, most likely, from the 8th-Century. The frescoes depict, probably, the life-cycle of the Saint of the Church, Praxedes.

Representation of Saint Louis IX, considered to be true to life. 

Early-14th-Century statue from the Church of Mainneville, Eure, France.

Saint Louis IX, King of France (1226 - 1270), presented the Basilica 

with three alleged Thorns from the Holy Crown.

Photo: December 2007.

User: Michaelsanders.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Santa Prassede also houses a segment of the alleged Pillar, upon which Jesus was flogged and tortured before his Crucifixion in Jerusalem. The Relic is alleged to have been retrieved in the Early-4th-Century A.D., by Saint Helena (mother of the Roman Emperor, Constantine I), who, at the age of eighty, undertook a Pilgrimage to Golgotha, in the Holy Land, to found Churches for Christian worship and to collect Relics associated with the Crucifixion of Jesus.

English: Basilica of Saint Praxedes.

Italiano: Roma, Santa Prasede.

Photo: May 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Berthold Werner.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Among these legendary Relics, retrieved by Helena, which included pieces of the True Cross (now housed in the Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, also in Rome) and wood from Jesus' Crib, was the segment of the Pillar, now housed in Santa Prassede. The authenticity of these Relics, including the Santa Prassede Pillar, is disputed by historians and Christians, alike, due to lack of forensic evidence and the massive proliferation of fake Relics during the Middle Ages.

Among known Titulars of this See, are Lambertus Scannabecchi (later Pope Honorius II, circa 1099), Ubaldo Allucingoli (later Pope Lucius III, 1141), Alain de Coëtivy (1448), Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte (later Pope Julius III), Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), Rafael Merry del Val (1903 - 1930).