English: Papal Basilica of Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls.
Italiano: Basilica Papale di San Lorenzo fuori-le-Mura.
Photo: February 2005.
Source: Own work.
Author: User:Panairjdde
(Wikimedia Commons)
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Easter Wednesday.
Station at Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls.
Indulgence of 30 Years and 30 Quarantines.
Semi-Double.
White Vestments.
[The spelling of this Saint's name can be either Laurence or Lawrence.]
unless otherwise stated.
Easter Wednesday.
Station at Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls.
Indulgence of 30 Years and 30 Quarantines.
Semi-Double.
White Vestments.
[The spelling of this Saint's name can be either Laurence or Lawrence.]
The Lenten Station is at Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls. The Church puts before her New-Born Children, as a model, the illustrious Roman Deacon, to whom this Basilica is Dedicated.
Like Saint Paul, yesterday, Saint Peter tells us that The Prophets foretold the Death of Jesus and that The Apostles were witnesses of His Resurrection (Epistle). The Alleluia further reminds us that "The Lord hath appeared to Peter"; while the Gospel shows us Saint Peter directing the fishing operations of his companions, in expectation of the hour, now fast approaching, when he will direct their labours as fishers of men. More devoted to Jesus than the others, he cast himself into the sea to rejoin Him, and it was he who drew to land the net, full of one hundred and fifty-three big fishes.
The Cloisters.
San Lorenzo fuori-le-mura
(Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls).
Artist: Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853).
Date: 1824.
Current location: Art Institute of Chicago,
(Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection).
Photo: April 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: user:Rlbberlin
(Wikimedia Commons)
According to The Fathers, these fishes, brought by Peter to The Feet of The Risen Christ, represented the Neophytes, for The Catechumens were born to Supernatural Life in The Font of Baptism. Called by God to receive His Kingdom (Introit), they eat The Bread of Angels, The Bread of Heaven (Offertory, Secret), which transforms them into New Creatures (Postcommunion), the "Agni Novelli" or "New-Born Lambs".
[The "Agnus Dei", or figures of The Lamb of God, stamped on the wax which remains from The Paschal Candle of the previous year, were formerly Blessed by the Pope on this day. Cherished in a spirit of Reverence and Faith, they are a protection against sickness and danger.]
Let us Celebrate these Festivities of The Resurrection of Our Lord in a Spirit of Holy Rejoicing, a foretaste of the joy we shall experience at The Eternal Pasch (Collect).
Mass: Veníte, benedícti.
Sequence: Victimæ paschali laudes.
Creed: Is said.
Preface: For Easter.
Commemoration: For Easter.
Hanc igitur: For Easter.
Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, OSB, the editor of the S. Andrew’s Missal, explains the meaning of the Easter Octave Week, and what we can only try to grasp was the extraordinary personal experience of the early Christian neophytes, radiant with their Holy Saturday night baptism and their full induction into the Catholic Faith:
ReplyDelete“The Octave of Easter during which formerly no servile work was done, was one continual Feast. Each day the Neophytes attended Mass at a Station at which they received Holy Communion. In the evening they went to S. John Lateran for The Office of Vespers.”
One can only attempt to imagine the intense spiritual experience of the catechumens during this “Second Holy Week,” starting at S. John Lateran Holy Saturday night and morning; and continuing through the testimonies of S. Peter (Easter Monday, S. Peter’s Basilica), S. Paul (Easter Tuesday, S. Paul-Outside-the-Walls), and today, the burial site of the illustrious deacon martyr, S. Lawrence, and also the translated remains of S. Stephen from Jerusalem.
For the Roman pilgrim, despite its name (“Outside-the-Walls”), San Lorenzo is really quite close to Rome center, only a 2 ½ km walk from the Piazza de Santa Maria Maggiore, and about the same from Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, on the southwest side of the old city on the ancient Via Tiburtina. It is actually easier to walk to the church from these other sites, because by automobile one has to follow a circuitous route. Or, one can take the No. 71 bus from Piazza di Santa Maggiore at Via del’Olmata, which takes one directly to the basilica or the No. 3 bus from S. Giovanni Laterano (which also passes by Santa Croce in Gerusalemme).
The basilica is open early daily from 7:30-noon, also 4pm-7pm, but one must be careful to leave the grounds before closing times, because some have reported almost getting locked inside. The grounds are extensive: The former Benedictine cloister next door is usually open to the public; also the catacombs underneath the basilica, where the grate upon which S. Lawrence was tortured is reserved, and the basilica itself is large. There are often funerals being conducted regularly and often at this church because one of the largest and most hallowed cemeteries in Rome, the Verano Cemetery, is directly adjacent.
The original ancient basilica of P. Pelagius II (ca 500-561 AD) was mostly destroyed during a period of unrest between the 9th and 12th C, and when rebuilt by Clement III (papal reign 1084-1100 AD), a new church was constructed that enclosed the ancient church plan with 3 naves, so the architecture is mixed (the 22 columns that enclose the nave are of different sizer and marble: 6 original of Cipollino marble, and the rest of granite) and it isn’t quite perfectly aligned. As Zephyrinus has noted in other posts, the basilica façade and part of the interior was badly damaged by Allied bombing during WW2, but this permitted a post-war restoration of the basilica to some of its earlier Constantinian design. (cont.) - comment by Dante P
(comment, continued San Lorenzo Fuori-le-Mure, Easter Wednesday stational church)
ReplyDeleteThere are many artworks within this church that survived the bombing, such as the Cosmatesque floor surrounding the high altar dating from 1148, and also the dramatic classic early Renaissance ciborium or baldacchino which is a unique pyramidal design on 4 majestic porphyry columns. The baladcchino to this observer seems almost like a perfectly designed structure out of a Giotto Cycle of the Life of S. Francis. But especially most pilgrims likely would wish to visit the tombs of P. Pius IX, as well as several very early papal funerary monuments, including P. Zosimus (417-418), Sixtus III (432-440), P. Hilarius (461-468) and P. Damasus II (1048: he was only pope for 23 days); and above all, the tombs of SS. Lawrence and Stephen in the crypt under the high altar.
We in our jaded age of today, when it doesn’t seem possible for us not to have an electronic device at hand or to be distracted by continual e-notifications and messages, we have to put aside our present experience to conceive the total dedication and intense mystical cleansing of mind and spirit of the catechumenate journey through Lent, Holy Week, and now the glory of Easter Week. What an extraordinary undistracted focus! What a putting aside of mundane daily, even necessary activities---and what a sacrifice--- for the catechumens to prepare in the present life for a heavenly future promise. They were “all in” in a way we post-moderns would be challenged to likewise dedicate ourselves; yet here is the invitation in the Introit for Wednesday in Easter Week:
Matt 25:34
Veníte, benedícti Patris mei, percípite regnum, allelúia: quod vobis parátum est ab orígine mundi, allelúia, allelúia, allelúia.
Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom alleluia, prepared for you from the foundation of the world, allelúja, allelúja, allelúja.
Note by Dante P. (part II)
Zephyrinus is tremendously impressed, and grateful, for this outstanding Comment on the Basilica of Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls. Grazie Mille, Dante P !!!
DeleteSuch information and, indeed, necessary pointers for the visitor to Rome, is of great value, for which Zephyrinus is mightily thankful.