Friday 7 April 2017

The Ferial Mass Of Friday In Passion Week. Lenten Station At Saint Stephen-In-The-Round On Mount Coelius.




Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Ferial Mass of The Friday in Passion Week.
   Station at Saint Stephen's on Mount Coelius.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.




English: The Basilica of Saint Stephen-in-the-Round 
on Mount Coelius, Rome, Italy.
Italiano: Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome (rione Celio).
Date: Circa 1880.
Source: Scanning of reproduction.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Station is at the Church of Saint Stephen on Mount Coelius, called Saint Stephen-the-Round, on account of its circular form. It was Dedicated in the 5th-Century A.D. to The First of The Martyrs, whose Relics had been brought to Rome.

This Saint was The First Martyr, or Witness, of Christ. Whilst dying, he beheld The Saviour at The Right-Hand of The Father in Heaven. Thus, it was fitting to assemble in this Basilica at this Holy Time, Consecrated to the Memory of The Saviour’s Passion, which prepares us to Celebrate His Triumph at Easter.



English: Basilica of Saint Stephen-in-the-Round 
on Mount Coelius, Rome, Italy.
Santo Stefano Rotondo is the most ancient example 
of a Centrally-Planned Church in Rome
Photo: January 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lalupa.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Gospel of today mentions The Sitting of The Sanhedrin, at which The Death of Jesus was irrevocably decreed by the Jewish priests. [Jesus having raised Lazarus from the dead, at the time that the Pilgrims were preparing to come in multitudes to Jerusalem for The Feast of The Passover, the Jewish authorities of The Sanhedrin assembled on The Mount of Evil Counsel, and, under pretext that the Romans, who had conquered Judea, would take umbrage at the influence of Christ and use repressive measures against the Jewish people, the High Priest declares that Jesus must die.]



English: The Basilica of Saint Stephen-in-the-Round 
on Mount Coelius, Rome, Italy.
Italiano: Roma, Santo Stefano Rotondo al Celio: 
interno dopo il restauro.
Photo: June 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lalupa.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus they say, will excite such popular enthusiasm during the Paschal festivities, when crowds fill Jerusalem, that the Romans, uneasy for their authority, will destroy our City and Nation. It is therefore better, concludes Caiphas, that one man should disappear and that the Nation should be saved.

Jeremias, in the Epistle, and the Psalmist, in the Introit, the Gradual, the Offertory and the Communion, express the sorrows and anguish of Jesus, Who feels Himself surrounded by such treacherous and relentless enemies.

Let us participate in The Feelings of Christ, Who will soon atone for our sins by The Sufferings of His Passion. And may The Fear of Eternal Punishment make us accept the troubles of this life and the holy austerities of Lent (Collect).

Mass: Miserére mihi.




Coat-of-Arms of Hungary.

English: Blazon: “Per Pale, the first Barry of eight Gules and Argent, the second Gules, on a Mount Vert a Crown Or, issuant therefrom a Double Cross Argent. In Crest The Holy Crown of Hungary.”
MagyarCímer: MagyarországCímerleírás A Magyar Köztársaság címere hegyes talpú, hasított pajzs. Első mezeje vörössel és ezüsttel hétszer vágott. Második, vörös mezejében zöld hármas halomnak arany koronás kiemelkedő középső részén ezüst kettős kereszt. A pajzson a magyar Szent Korona nyugszik. Hivatkozási A Magyar Köztársaság Alkotmánya - XIV. fejezet - A Magyar Köztársaság fővárosa és nemzeti jelképei.
Date: January 2009.
Source: Own work, based on Flags of the World - Hungary -
Author: Thommy.
(Wikimedia Commons)




English: Cardinal Mindszenty was a Cardinal Priest 
of the Titulus S. Stephani-in-Coelio-Monte.
Magyar: Mindszenty József szobor (szobrász: Domonkos Béla, 2009).
Állíttatta a „Hittel a nemzetért” alapítvány 2009-ben, október 26-án 220 centiméter
magas bronzszobor, amely egy 80 centiméteres süttői mészkő alapon áll.
A szobor áldást emelő kézzel ábrázolja Mindszenty Józsefet.
Mindszenty József szobor (szobrász: Domonkos Béla, 2009).
Photo: 8 November 2009 (original upload date).
Source: Transferred from hu.wikipedia; transferred to Commons
Author: Original uploader was Misibacsi at hu.wikipedia
(Wikimedia Commons.)

The Venerable József Mindszenty (29 March 1892 – 6 May 1975) was a Cardinal and the Head of The Roman Catholic Church in Hungary, as the Archbishop of Esztergom. He became known as a steadfast supporter of Church freedom and opponent of Communism and the brutal Stalinist persecution in his Country. As a result, he was tortured and given a life sentence in a 1949 Show Trial that generated Worldwide condemnation, including a United Nations resolution.

Freed in The Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he was granted political asylum and lived in the
U.S. Embassy in Budapest for fifteen years. He was finally allowed to leave the Country in 1971.
He died in exile in 1975 in Vienna, Austria.



Basilica of San Stefano Rotondo, 
Rome, Italy.
Photo: March 2003.
Author: seier+seier
(Wikimedia Commons)


The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

The Basilica of Saint Stephen-in-the-Round on Mount Coelius (Italian: Basilica di Santo Stefano al Monte Celio), (Latin: Basilica San Stephani in Coelio Monte) is an ancient Basilica and Titular Church in Rome. Commonly named Santo Stefano Rotondo, the Church is The National Church in Rome of Hungary, Dedicated to Saint Stephen and, also, Saint Stephen of Hungary. The Minor Basilica is also The Rectory Church of The Pontifical Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum.

The Cardinal Priest, or Titular, of Saint Stephen's is Friedrich Wetter.

The earliest Church was Consecrated by Pope Simplicius between 468 A.D. and 483 A.D. It was Dedicated to The Proto-Martyr, Saint Stephen, whose body had been discovered a few decades before in The Holy Land, and brought to Rome. The Church was the first in Rome to have a Circular Plan, inspired by The Church of The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.


Illustration of Pope Saint John I
(523 A.D. - 526 A.D.),

who embellished the Basilica di Santo Stefano-al-Monte-Celio.
He is the first Pope known to have visited Constantinople, while in Office.
Author: Artaud de Montor, Alexis François.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Santo Stefano was probably financed by the wealthy Valerius Family, whose estates covered large parts of The Caelian Hill. Their villa stood nearby, on the site of the present-day Hospital of San Giovanni - Addolorata. Saint Melania the Elder, a member of the Family, was a frequent Pilgrim to Jerusalem and died there, so the Family had connections to The Holy Land.

Originally, the Church had three concentric Ambulatories, flanked by twenty-two Ionic Columns, surrounding the central circular space, surmounted by a tambour (22 m high and 22 m wide). There were twenty-two windows in the tambour, but most of them were walled up in the 15th-Century restoration. The outermost corridor was later demolished.

The Church was embellished by Pope John I and Pope Felix IV in the 6th-Century A.D. In 1130, Pope Innocent II had three Transversal Arches added to support the Dome.


English: Pope Nicholas V, who Reigned from 6 March 1447 until his death in 1455. 
Born Tommaso Parentucelli, Nicholas was made a Cardinal for his diplomatic efforts by Pope Eugene IV.
In 1454, Pope Nicholas V entrusted the ruined Church to The Pauline Fathers, the only Catholic Order founded by Hungarians. This is the reason why Santo Stefano Rotondo later became the unofficial Church of Hungarians in Rome.
Nederlands: Paus Nicolas V.
Date of painting: 1612 - 1616.
Author: Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640).
(Wikimedia Commons)

In The Middle Ages, Santo Stefano Rotondo was in The Charge of The Canons of San Giovanni-in-Laterano, but, as time went on, it fell into disrepair. In the middle of the 15th-Century, Flavio Biondo praised the Marble Columns, Marble-covered-walls and Cosmatesque works-of-art of the Church, but he added that: "Unfortunately, nowadays, Santo Stefano Rotondo has no roof". Blondus claimed that the Church was built on the remains of an ancient Temple of Faunus. Excavations in 1969 to 1975 revealed that the building was never converted from a pagan temple, but was always a Church, erected under Emperor Constantine I in the first half of the 4th-Century A.D.


A model of a Renaissance Church
inside San Stefano Rotondo, Rome.
Photo: March 2003.
Author: seier+seier
(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1454, Pope Nicholas V entrusted the ruined Church to The Pauline Fathers, the only Catholic Order founded by Hungarians. This is the reason why Santo Stefano Rotondo later became the unofficial Church of the Hungarians in Rome. The Church was restored by Bernardo Rossellino, it is presumed under the guidance of Leon Battista Alberti.

In 1579, the Hungarian Jesuits followed The Pauline Fathers. The Collegium Hungaricum, established here by István Arator that year, was soon merged with The Collegium Germanicum in 1580, which became The Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum, because very few Hungarian students were able to travel to Rome from the Turkish-occupied Kingdom of Hungary.


English: Coat-of-Arms of Pope Nicholas V.
Français: Armoiries du pape Nicolas V
de gueules à la clef d'argent posée en bande
et à la clef d'or posée en barre toutes 
deux liées d'un cordon d'azur.
Source du blasonnement : 
Date: August 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Odejea.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Stephani in Coelio Monte has been Friedrich Wetter since 1985. His predecessor, József Mindszenty, was famous as the Persecuted Catholic leader of Hungary under the Communist dictatorship. Although the Interior of the Church is circular, the Exterior is cruciform.

The walls of the Church are decorated with numerous frescoes, including those of Niccolò Circignani (Niccolò Pomarancio) and Antonio Tempesta, portraying thirty-four scenes of Martyrdom, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th-Century. Each painting has a Titulus, or inscription, explaining the scene and giving the name of the Emperor who ordered the execution, as well as a quotation from The Bible. The paintings' naturalistic depictions of torture and execution are somewhat morbid.





English: Cardinal Friedrich Wetter,
Cardinal-Priest of the Titulus
S. Stephani-in-Coelio-Monte.
Deutsch: Kardinal Friedrich Wetter
bei der Verleihung des Martinsmantels
Photo: November 2008.
Source: Transferred from de.wikipedia;
transferred to Commons by User:Kurpfalzbilder.de
using CommonsHelper. (Original text : selbst fotographiert).
Author: Papiermond. Original uploader was Papiermond at de.wikipedia.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Altar was made by the Florentine artist, Bernardo Rossellino, in the 15th-Century. The painting in the Apse shows Christ between two Martyrs. The mosaic/Marble decoration is from 523 A.D. - 530 A.D. One mosaic shows the Martyrs, Saint Primus and Saint Felicianus, flanking a Crux Gemmata (Jewelled Cross).

There is a Tablet, recording the burial here, of the Irish King, Donough O'Brien, of Cashel and Thomond, who died in Rome in 1064. An ancient Chair of Pope Gregory The Great, from around 580 A.D., is also preserved here.

The Chapel of Saints Primo e Feliciano has very interesting and rare mosaics from the 7th-Century A.D. The Chapel was built by Pope Theodore I, who brought the Relics of The Martyrs here and buried them (together with the Remains of his father).

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