Picture taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)
Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for Monday of the
First Week in Lent
Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines
Violet Vestments
Church of St. Peter in Chains (Rome)
San Pietro in Vincoli (Italian) (St. Peter in Chains) is a Roman Catholic titular Church and Minor Basilica in Rome. It is also known as the home of Michelangelo's statue of Moses, part of the tomb of Pope Julius II. Two Popes were elected in this Church: Pope John II (533) and Pope Gregory VII (1073).
The Station is in one of the most ancient Roman Basilicas built by the Empress Eudocia, where the chains worn by the Prince of the Apostles, to whom Jesus confided His flock, are kept. In the 5th-Century, it was one of the twenty-five Parishes of Rome.
The Epistle (of the day), alluding to the penitents about to be reconciled at Easter and to the Catechumens preparing for Baptism, says that the Lord is the Shepherd who comes to seek His lost sheep. And the Gospel tells of the separation that this Shepherd will make for ever between the sheep and the goats, or between the good, who repent and give themselves up to works of Charity, and the sinners (this Prophecy was spoken by Jesus to His Apostles on the Mount of Olives, on the evening of the Tuesday preceeding His death).
Let us ask God to prepare us by “this Lenten Fast” (Collect) “to be loosened from the bonds of our sins” (the Prayer over the people) by virtue of the power of Peter, who was delivered from his chains.
