Peterborough Cathedral.
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Thursday of The First Week in Lent.
Station at Saint Laurence’s-in-Panisperna.
Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.
Violet Vestments.
Church of San Lorenzo-in-Panisperna, Rome.
Photo: March 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: LPLT
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Church reminds The Catechumens that, since the coming of Jesus, it is no longer the Race of Israel, alone, that has the promise, but that all can enter The Church by Baptism and partake of The Eucharistic Bread of The Children of God.
If the heathen will Solemnly deny the evil deeds of his fathers and practise the Christian Law of Penance and Charity (Epistle), his Prayer will be granted, as was that of the woman who belonged to the accursed Race of Canaan, but whose Faith was great (Gospel).
Let us seek in The Eucharist the strength required to observe Lent. For it is our Fasting, in conjunction with The Sacrifice of Jesus, that will obtain for us Salvation (Secret, Communion, Postcommunion).
Mass: Conféssio et pulchritúdo.
Preface: Of Lent.
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.
San Lorenzo-in-Panisperna, or San Lorenzo-in-Formoso, is a Church on Via Panisperna, Rome. It was built on the site of Saint Laurence’s Martyrdom.
Panisperna most probably refers to the Tradition of The Poor Clares (in the adjacent Convent) of distributing bread and ham (pane e perna) on 10 August, Laurence’s Feast Day, in remembrance of his distributing funds from The Church to the Poor. "Formoso" refers to Pope Formosus, who built the first attested Church, here.
Tradition states that the first building was constructed during the Reign of Emperor Constantine I, only 100 years after the Martyrdom of Saint Laurence, though the first written evidence is from 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII rebuilt the Church and annexed an Abbey to it. That Abbey was given to The Benedictines in 1451, and then had The Poor Clares settled in it by Cardinal Jacopo Colonna in 1896, who also restored the Church and Monastery.
The Franciscans now Serve the Church. In the 5th-Century A.D., this Church was one of Rome’s Stational Churches and was visited by The Pope on its Titular Day, the Thursday of The First Week in Lent. Recent Popes have revived this ancient custom.
The present Church is a result of a re-building by Carlo Rainaldi in 1575–1576, under Pope Gregory XIII. It was at this time that it became known as “in-Panisperna”, rather than “in-Formoso”, and that the present Façade was built.
A new Outer Portico was added in the 17th-Century, then restored and decorated with images of Saint Laurence and Saint Francis of Assisi in 1893–1894 by Pope Leo XIII, who, in 1843, had been Ordained Bishop in this Church. Pope Leo XIII also added a steep flight of steps, in front of the Church, leading to a tree-lined Courtyard. There is a modern bronze statue of Saint Bridget of Sweden, here.
A Mediæval house is preserved, next to the Church, with an exterior staircase, one of the few such houses to have been preserved in Rome.
The Church has a single Nave with three Chapels on each side.
South Side.
Includes a painting of Saint Clare of Assisi (1756), by Antonio Nessi, and a Ceiling fresco of Glory of Saint Laurence, by Antonio Bicchierai.
Contains the Tomb of the brothers, Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian, with a painting by Giovanni Francesco Romano.
Painting of The Immaculate Conception, by Giuseppe Ranucci.
Saint Laurence’s Martyrdom,
by Pasquale Cati (1589).
Church of San Lorenzo-in-Panisperna, Rome
Photo: March 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: LPLT
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.
(Wikimedia Commons)
San Lorenzo-in-Panisperna, or San Lorenzo-in-Formoso, is a Church on Via Panisperna, Rome. It was built on the site of Saint Laurence’s Martyrdom.
Panisperna most probably refers to the Tradition of The Poor Clares (in the adjacent Convent) of distributing bread and ham (pane e perna) on 10 August, Laurence’s Feast Day, in remembrance of his distributing funds from The Church to the Poor. "Formoso" refers to Pope Formosus, who built the first attested Church, here.
Tradition states that the first building was constructed during the Reign of Emperor Constantine I, only 100 years after the Martyrdom of Saint Laurence, though the first written evidence is from 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII rebuilt the Church and annexed an Abbey to it. That Abbey was given to The Benedictines in 1451, and then had The Poor Clares settled in it by Cardinal Jacopo Colonna in 1896, who also restored the Church and Monastery.
English: Chapel of Saint Brigid,
Church of Saint Laurence-in-Panisperna, Rome.
Italiano: Chiesa di San Lorenzo-in-Panisperna,
Cappella di Santa Brigida.
Photo: 1996.
Source: Own work.
Author: Torvindus
(Wikimedia Commons)
The present Church is a result of a re-building by Carlo Rainaldi in 1575–1576, under Pope Gregory XIII. It was at this time that it became known as “in-Panisperna”, rather than “in-Formoso”, and that the present Façade was built.
A new Outer Portico was added in the 17th-Century, then restored and decorated with images of Saint Laurence and Saint Francis of Assisi in 1893–1894 by Pope Leo XIII, who, in 1843, had been Ordained Bishop in this Church. Pope Leo XIII also added a steep flight of steps, in front of the Church, leading to a tree-lined Courtyard. There is a modern bronze statue of Saint Bridget of Sweden, here.
A Mediæval house is preserved, next to the Church, with an exterior staircase, one of the few such houses to have been preserved in Rome.
Church of San Lorenzo-in-Panisperna, Rome
Photo: March 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: LPLT
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.
(Wikimedia Commons)
South Side.
Includes a painting of Saint Clare of Assisi (1756), by Antonio Nessi, and a Ceiling fresco of Glory of Saint Laurence, by Antonio Bicchierai.
Contains the Tomb of the brothers, Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian, with a painting by Giovanni Francesco Romano.
Painting of The Immaculate Conception, by Giuseppe Ranucci.
North Side.
Painting of The Stigmata of Saint Francis, by Niccolò Lapiccola.
Chapel of Saint Bridget, where she was buried before her body was moved to Sweden. She had used to beg for Alms for The Poor outside this Church, and Prayed before The Crucifix by The High Altar. Now, a Martyr, named Victoria, lies underneath the Altar in the Chapel.
The painting of Saint Bridget, Praying before The Crucifix, is by Giuseppe Montesanti and was painted in 1757.
An 18th-Century Crucifix of The Roman School.
Under its Porch is a Chapel containing the oven, said to have been used for Saint Laurence’s Martyrdom. A Late-16th-Century fresco of The Martyrdom of Saint Laurence stands behind The High Altar (by Pasquale Cati, a mediocre pupil of Michelangelo). The Crucifix, by The High Altar, is from the 14th-Century.
Zephyrinus is most grateful for this splendid Comment from a visitor to Rome.
ReplyDeleteThis church is only an 800m. walk, about 15 minutes, from one of the previous stational churches we have looked at, S. Pietro in Vincoli, and a shorter distance than by auto because there are small pedestrian walkways from the Via Eudossiana (in front of S. Pietro) going northward that will take us to the Viminial Hill, the smallest of the hills of Rome, upon which S. Lorenzo is situated. This writer has not actually been inside this church but visitors who do enter it, according to comments at TripAdvisor.com, find it a quiet escape and a very peaceful and thoughtful atmosphere..
As the article states, the original church dated from the time of Constantine. It fell into disrepair in the Middle Ages like many Roman churches.
But there is some conflict with the Wikipedia account above because it mentions that Card. “Jacobo Colonna” restored the church “in 1896;” however Wikipedia must be referring to Giacomo Colonna, who was of course of the powerful Colonna clan. He was made cardinal in 1278 and died 30 years later in 1318. So it is much more likely that Cardinal Colonna did his work of restoration at the end of the 1200s, and he probably was responsible for inviting the “Poor Clares” (2nd Order Franciscans) which gave the church its title (“Panisperna”). Other interior restoration was made during the 1500’s, and steps leading up the hill to the church were added.
Other than being the site of the reliquary of the gridiron of St. Lawrence, and at one time, the tomb of Saint Bridget of Sweden, this church is often overlooked by the Roman Pilgrim. Like Sant’ Agostino in Campo Marzo, this church has been dealt with roughly by time and the secular government. At least when this writer saw it, the exterior looked so dilapidated that it was very disappointing.
In 1872 the secular authority seized the church and its adjacent Poor Clare Monastery (as with Sant’ Agostino in Campo Marzo) and the properties were turned over to the Italian Royal Institute of Physics (Reale Accademia di Italia), which operated on the premises until 1939. Enrico Fermi, the physicist who developed the theory of the neutrino, and also later built the first nuclear reactor at the University of Chicago in the U.S., conducted his research on the adjacent former Poor Clare Monastery grounds and he and the other physicists were called “the Panisperna boys.” (Fermi and his wife left Italy in 1938 for the US because of new anti-Semitic laws) (his wife was Jewish).
After World War II, the church was returned to the Franciscans, who staff it presently, but the large surrounding grounds still remain the property of the government.
It is worth noting, however, as the history above mentions , that Saint Bridget of Sweden (d. 1373 in Rome, canonized only 18 years later in 1391), one of the truly extraordinary saints and mystics in Catholic history, often lived at this church and prayed before the high altar and crucifix and begged alms outside this church.
The Gospel is of the Canaanite woman who seeks Our Lord’s help to cast a devil out of her daughter (Matt. 15: 21-28). Dom Lefebvre OSB states: “If the heathen will solemnly deny the evil deeds of his fathers and practice the Christian law of penance and charity, his prayer will be granted, as was that of the woman who belonged to the cursed race of Canaan, but whose faith was great.” That message of prayer and penance perfectly fits in with the stational church for the Thursday in the First Week of Lent.