Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Tuesday 19 March 2024

Tuesday In Passion Week. The Lenten Station Is At Saint Cyriacus. (The Basilica Of Santa Maria-In-Via-Lata).



Peterborough Cathedral.
© Chel @ Sweetbriar Dreams
www.sweetbriardreams.blogspot.co.uk



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

Tuesday in Passion Week.

Station at Saint Cyriacus.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.



English: Basilica of Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata.
Italiano: Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata.
Photo: December 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lalupa
(Wikimedia Commons)



The Church, today, unites the memory of a Martyr with that of The Passion of Jesus, in making The Lenten Station in The Church of The Holy Deacon, Cyriacus, Martyred, under Emperor Diocletian, at The Gates of Rome.

This Church, one of the twenty-five Parish Churches of Rome in the 5th-Century A.D., having been destroyed by fire, the body of The Holy Martyr was Translated to beneath The High Altar of Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata, which became The Place of Assembly for this day.

The Epistle and Gospel tell us of the approaching Passion of The Messiah and of The Rejection of Israel, who are replaced by The Gentiles in The Church.

“Daniel, who has destroyed Bel and slain the Dragon” (Epistle), is Jesus, Who denounces the crimes and sins of the World (Gospel). The Babylonians sought to destroy the Prophet, by throwing him as food to the hungry lions. The Jews, also, “sought to kill Jesus” and, for this dark design, “their hour is always at hand”.


Basilica of Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata.
Photo: 26 March 2014.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)



But, like Daniel, full of fortitude, He awaits The Lord (Introit), and God, “Who does not abandon those who love and seek Him” (Epistle, Offertory), “delivers Him from unjust men and from all the ills that threaten Him” (Gradual, Communion).

“Those who had wished to destroy Daniel were themselves thrown to the lions and devoured instantly” (Epistle). In the same way, the Deicide Nation suffered the penalty of its crime. Forty years later, Jerusalem was taken, by The Roman Legions, after five long months of famine.

Fearing the chastisements of Divine Justice, let us persevere in the expiatory practice of Fasting, in order that we may be made worthy of The Eternal Reward accorded to The Just (Collect).

Mass: Exspécta Dóminum.
Preface: Of The Holy Cross.


English: Engraving of Saint Cyriacus
(Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata).
Italiano: Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata.
Engraver: Giuseppe Vasi (1710-1782).
Author: Giuseppe Vasi (1710-1782).
(Wikimedia Commons)


English: Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata.
Italiano: Sancta Maria-in-Via-Lata.
Photo: 20 June 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lalupa
(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata is a Church on the Via del Corso (the ancient Via Lata), in Rome. It stands diagonally across from the Church of San Marcello-al-Corso.

It is claimed that Saint Paul spent two years here, in the Crypt under the Church, whilst under House Arrest awaiting his trial.


English: The Church of Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata.
Italiano: Chiesa di Santa Maria in Via LataRoma.
Facciata di Pietro da Cortona
Photo: 17 October 2005.
Source: Flickr https://www.flickr.com/
Author: Anthony Majanlahti.
(Wikimedia Commons)



The first Christian place of worship here was a 5th-Century A.D. Oratory, in the Roman building beneath the present Church. This was constructed within the remains of a large Roman warehouse, some 250 metres long, which has also been excavated.

The Church’s Upper Level was added in the 9th-Century A.D., and murals added to the Lower Level between the 7th- and 9th-Centuries A.D., (these have been detached for conservation reasons). The Cosmatesque pavement from this phase survives.

The Church’s 13th-Century icon of The Virgin Advocate, is said to have performed many Miracles. The Arcus Novus (an Arch erected by Emperor Diocletian in 303 A.D. - 304 A.D.), which stood on this site, was destroyed by rebuilding of the Church in the Late-15th-Century. Antonio Tebaldeo, poet and friend of Raphæl, was buried at the end of the North Aisle in 1537, though his tomb was designed in 1776.


“The Virgin Advocate”,
Church of Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata.
Photo: Google Images and cryptavialata.it



The Church was renovated in 1639 by Cosimo Fanzago, but the façade, with its Corinthian Columns imposing vertical emphasis, was completed (1658-1660) by a design from Pietro da Cortona. He appears to evoke a Triumphal Arch in the façade.

The High Altar’s “Madonna Advocata” (1636) is one of the few paintings in Churches attributed to Bernini (perhaps by Santi Ghetti).

The Ciborium in the Apse is made from alabaster and lapis lazuli. The first excavations of the site also occurred at this date, as commemorated by a Relief in the Crypt by Cosimo Fancelli. The families of Joseph and Lucien Bonaparte were buried here in the 18th-Century.


English: The Nave,
Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata.
Deutsch: Innenraum der Kirche.
Photo: 6 February 2011.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The first Altarpiece is a Martyrdom of Saint Andrew (1685), by Giacinto Brandi, while the second Altarpiece is of Saints Giuseppe, Nicola, and Biagio, by Giuseppe Ghezzi. In the Chapel, to the Left of the Apse, is a Madonna with Child and Saints Cyriac and Catherine, by Giovanni Odazzi.

The second Altar, on the Left, has a Saint Paul Baptising Sabine and Children, by Pier Leone Ghezzi, while the first Altarpiece is a Virgin and Saints, by Pietro de Pietri.

1 comment:

  1. Once more, Zephyrinus is most grateful for this contribution from our intrepid Roman Pilgrim.

    The Basilica and Stational church for Tuesday in Passion Week, as Zephyrinus notes above, replaced the Basilica of S. Cyriacus, destroyed by fire in early Christian times. Santa Maria in Via Lata on the busy Corso is easily located by the Roman visitor, only 2 blocks north. 900 m from the highly visible “Wedding Cake”, the marble Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II.

    Many Roman visitors have the same experience upon first sight of the basilica, mistaking it for one of the many Banks along the commercial Corso, Santa Maria in Via Lata having the distinctive “Bank-like” set of monumental pillars at street level, with a second floor level of pillars comprising a loggia, the creation of the overlooked Baroque artist and painter, Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669). Cortona, a contemporary of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, however, was considered an equal in architectural ability to their highly acclaimed company. For this visitor, the double level of pillars was reminiscent of the Brandenburg Gate of Berlin.

    This is an ancient Stational church, according to tradition it being the site where S. Paul was held under house arrest for two years until his execution AD 68. Some traditions state this was the house of S. Luke, who was well off and who put up S. Paul while awaiting the response to Paul’s imperial appeal. This tradition states it is here where the Acts of the Apostles was written by S. Luke (Acts 28:30: “Paul remained there in his lodgings for two full years at his own expense.”). The pilgrim can obtain access to the basement level, where a Latin inscription on the entrance states S. Paul was held at this site, and refers to a martyr, S. Martial (“Martialus”), Paul’s jailer, who was converted by S Paul.

    The basilica is a magnificent Baroque rebuilding project entrusted to Cosimo Fanzago (1591-1678), which, if the balanced and ordered interior and coffered ceiling is familiar, it is because Fanzago’s last great work not long after Santa Maria in Via Lata was the Interior we see today of Santa Maria Maggiore. Visitors describe the same “mystical darkness” of the Interior of both basilicas and the parallel rows of monumental pillars, framing, in the case of Santa Maria in Via Lata, the stunning artistry of the ciborium, composed of lapis lazuli and alabaster. Like many Roman basilicas, visitors mention their appreciation of this ancient church.for the peace and quiet off the Corso that it offers.

    The choice of this Stational church, the resting place of the holy martyr S. Cyriacus, reminded the early catechumens of the trial in the lion’s den of Daniel (Epistle: Dan. 14:27-42) and Jesus’ being plotted against by the Jews (Gospel: Jn. 7:1-13). May we be inspired to walk more closely with Our Lord during these last days leading inexorably to Good Friday.

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