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

Saturday 9 March 2024

Wednesday Of The Second Week In Lent. The Lenten Station Is At The Basilica Of Santa Cecilia-In-Trastevere.


It appears that, due to a technical malfunction, 
this particular Post was not published.

Therefore, we publish it again, 
albeit out of date order.


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



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

Wednesday of The Second Week in Lent.

Station at Saint Cecilia’s.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.


Santa Cecilia-in-Trastevere, Rome.
Photo: 19 May 2007 (original upload date).
Source: Originally from en.wikipedia;
description page is/was HERE
Author: Uploader was Dreamword at en.wikipedia
(Wikimedia Commons)




The Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia,
by Stefano Maderno (1575 - 1636)
Church of Saint Cecilia.
One of the most famous examples of Baroque sculpture.
Photo: January 2005.
Source: Flickr
Reviewer: Andre Engels
(Wikimedia Commons)



The Lenten Station is at the Sanctuary where the body of the illustrious Roman Virgin, Saint Cecilia, rests. It was there she lived and died a Martyr. In the 5th-Century A.D., this Church was mentioned as one of the most celebrated Parochial or Titular Churches of Rome. It is situated in Trastevere. It was customary to read, in this Church, the Gospel in which Jesus tells a woman it is necessary to drink His Chalice, if one is to participate in His Glory.

We read, at the Epistle, The Prayer of Mardochai, in favour of the Jewish people, whom the impious Aman had determined to destroy. He implored The Lord to turn their sadness into joy. The Christian people, in the same way, are mourning in their Lenten Penance and are looking forward to The Holy Paschal Joys. But, to deserve them, as the Gospel tells us, we must first drink The Chalice of The One Who came to shed His Blood to Redeem us, and Who will make us sharers in His Resurrection, if we die to our sins.

Let us abstain from the food which sustains our bodies, and from the vices which poison our Souls (Collect).

Mass: Ne derelínquas me.
Preface: Of Lent.


Basilica di Santa Cecilia-in-Trastevere.
Photo: January 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: MarkusMark
(Wikimedia Commons)




The Ciborium,
Church of Santa Cecilia-in-Trastevere.
Attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio.
Photo: June 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Ktulu
(Wikimedia Commons)




The Crypt Chapel of Santa Cecilia.
Photo: December 2006.
Source: Porkister
Author: Claudiu Georgescu.
(Wikimedia Commons)



The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

The first Church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd-Century A.D., by Pope Urban I; it was devoted to the Roman Martyr, Cecilia, Martyred, it is said, under Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander.

By the Late-5th-Century A.D., at The Synod of 499 A.D. of Pope Symmachus, the Church is indicated with the Titulus Ceciliae. Tradition holds that the Church was built over the house of the Saint.

The Baptistry associated with this Church, together with the remains of a Roman house of The Early Empire, was found during excavations under the Chapel of The Relics. On
22 November, 545 A.D., Pope Vigilius was Celebrating the Saint in the Church, when the Emissary of Empress Theodora, Antemi Scribone, captured him.

Pope Paschal I rebuilt the Church in 822 A.D., and moved here the Relics of Saint Cecilia from the Catacombs of Saint Calixtus. More Restorations followed in the 18th-Century.


The Crypt of Santa Cecilia-in-Trastevere.
Photo: 2005-06-01.
Photographer: tieseb
Original Source: Flickr.com
Original Photo: [1]
(Wikimedia Commons)



With the death of Carlo Maria Martini, in 2012, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti was appointed Cardinal Priest assigned to the Titulus S. Cæciliæ. Among the previous Titulars are Pope Stephen IIIAdam Easton, Thomas Wolsey and Giuseppe Maria Doria Pamphili.

Among the artefacts remaining, from the 13th-Century, are a mural painting, depicting The Final Judgement (1289-1293), by Pietro Cavallini, in The Choir of The Monks, and the Ciborium (1293) in the Presbytery, by Arnolfo di Cambio. The Gothic Ciborium is surrounded by four Marble Columns, White and Black, decorated with statuettes of Angels, Saints, Prophets, and Evangelists. The Apse has remains of 9th-Century A.D. mosaics, depicting The Redeemer with Saints Paul, Cecilia, Pope Paschal IPeter, Valerian, and Agatha.


English: Santa Cecilia-in-Trastevere.
Italiano: Roma, Santa Cecilia-in-Trastevere.
Photo: December 2006.
User: Lalupa
(Wikimedia Commons)



Among the most remarkable works, is the graphic Altar sculpture of Saint Cecilia (1600) by the Late-Renaissance sculptor, Stefano Maderno. The pavement in front of the statue encloses a marble slab, with Maderno’s sworn statement that he has recorded the body as he saw it when the tomb was opened in 1599.

The statue depicts the three axe strokes described in the 5th-Century A.D. account of her Martyrdom. It also is meant to underscore the incorruptibility of her body (an attribute of some Saints), which miraculously still had congealed blood, after Centuries.

The Crypt is also noteworthy, decorated in the Cosmatesque Style, containing the Relics of Saint Cecilia and her husband, Saint Valerian.

1 comment:

  1. Another most welcome Comment from our intrepid Pilgrim in Rome, for which we are most grateful.

    The Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (Trastevere: “across the Tiber”)is considered by many one of the most important early basilica churches in Rome, both in regard to its history and antiquity.
    Cecilia, a young Roman convert to the Catholic Faith, according to early Christian tradition, was martyred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (A.D. 222–235), her body later recovered by Christians and interred in the catacombs of San Callisto. The basilica was built upon the site of her house in Rome, and her body transferred to the basilica and interred under the high altar by P. Paschal I (d. 824 AD). According to pious belief, Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato, the titular cardinal of the church sometime in 1599 had the tomb excavated to verify the location of her relics, and her incorrupt body was found at that time. It is based on this account that the High Baroque artist Stefano Moderno (d. 1636 AD) sculpted the remarkable white marble statue of S. Cecilia, recumbent, asleep in death but lifelike, in stone, in an artistic act of genius that has to be seen by the Roman pilgrim.
    This writer found this basilica to be remarkable in its warmth and balanced proportions. It has a courtyard with palms that separate it from the noisy Roman street. The façade of the basilica has 4 polished stone pillars and to the right is a dark brick classic trecento belltower.
    Upon entering the basilica, one notices the golden mosaics in the apse over the high altar, which date to the time of P. Paschal I: Pope Paschal appears with a square halo, still being alive, but a phoenix, the symbol of resurrection is in the background. On the left stand SS. Paul, the Sicilian virgin martyr Agatha with P. Paschal, and on the right, SS. Peter, Valerian (the spouse of Cecilia who converted to the Faith and was also martyred) and Cecilia. The two female saints wear the crowns of martyrdom and are dressed as Byzantine princesses born to eternal life. Below them are 12 lambs representing the Apostles converging on the baroque baldachino and the Agnus Dei. Elsewhere in the interior are stone pillars, baroque frescoes.
    Music plays an important role in the basilica, with the adjacent Benedictine Nuns Monastery of S. Cecilia next door convening the Schola Cantantibus Organis, a school of chant and music (they perform Gregorian Chant at the 10 AM Sunday Mass) and several concerts are scheduled throughout the year in the church. The little 1903 pipe organ by Bossi of Turin is on the left side of the basilica, maintaining the tradition seen in art of S. Cecilia playing the organ, and it is an amazing antique piece in working order, constructed in the classic Italianate organ, producing the light, tinkling sound characteristic of the Italian baroque style (completely opposite of the massive sonorities and reeds of the English Cathedral sound).
    Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, OSB, observes that the Epistle for Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Lent from the Book of Esther (Esther 13:8ff) is Mordacai’s prayer for mercy and deliverance from the evil Babylonian Haman (Aman) who plans the Jewish exiles’ destruction, a prayer answered by Esther, rather like Cecilia’s bravery in martyrdom; and in the Gospel (Matt. 20:17ff), the mother of James and John asks that her sons sit at Our Lord’s left and right in the Kingdom. As Dom Lefebvre observes, only like S. Cecilia shedding her blood for her Faith, the cup of martyrdom is the cost of the seat in the Kingdom.
    Reflecting on the cost of discipleship paid by S. Cecilia, we Catholic Faithful in Lent may seek to find ways in which we can make personal sacrifices and acts of charity, and “abstain from carnal food and refrain from hurtful vices” (et, quos ab escis carnálibus prǽcipis abstinére, a nóxiis quoque vítiis cessáre concéde. (Collect).

    ReplyDelete

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