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

Monday 23 February 2015

Lenten Station At Saint Peter-Ad-Vincula (Saint Peter's Chains). Monday Of The First Week In Lent.


Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


Monday of The First Week in Lent.
Station at Saint Peter's Chains.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.


File:San pietro in vincoli 051218-01.JPG

English: Church of Saint Peter's Chains, Rome.
Italiano: San Pietro in Vincoli.
Latin: San Pietro ad Vincula.
Photo: December 2005.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lalupa
(Wikimedia Commons)


San Pietro-in-Vincoli (Italian) (Saint 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 A.D.) and Pope Gregory VII (1073).


File:Roma san pietro in vincoli catene.jpg

English: The Chains of Saint Peter in the "Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli" in Rome.
Italiano: Le catene di San Pietro, conservate nella Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli a Roma.
Photo: August 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Original photo by Raja Patnaik, 
post-processed and uploaded by Alessio Damato
(with permission of the author).
(Wikimedia Commons)


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. 


File:Sanpietroinvincoli.jpg

English: San Pietro in Vincoli's Apse.
Italiano: Abside di San Pietro in Vincoli a Roma.
Photo: March 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Goldmund100
(Wikimedia Commons)


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 preceding 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.


File:San pietro in vincoli, esterno.JPG

English: Basilica of Saint Peter's Chains,
Rome, Italy.
Italiano: San Pietro in Vincoli,
Roma, Italy.
Photo: 3 April 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: sailko.
(Wikimedia Commons)


San Pietro-in-Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains) is a Roman Catholic Titular Church and Minor Basilica in Rome, Italy, best known for being the home of Michelangelo's statue of Moses, part of the tomb of Pope Julius II.

Also known as the Basilica Eudoxiana, it was first rebuilt on older foundations in 432 A.D. – 440 A.D., to house the Relic of the Chains that bound Saint Peter, when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem, the episode called the Liberation of Saint Peter.

The Empress Eudoxia (wife of Emperor Valentinian III), who received them as a gift from her mother, Aelia Eudocia, consort of Valentinian II, presented the Chains to Pope Leo I. Aelia Eudocia had received these Chains as a gift from Iuvenalis, Bishop of Jerusalem.

According to legend, when Pope Leo, while comparing them to the Chains of Saint Peter's final imprisonment in the Mamertine Prison in Rome, the two Chains miraculously fused together. The Chains are kept in a Reliquary under The High Altar in The Basilica.




File:SPIV small-2.jpg

English: The Interior of San Pietro-in-Vincoli, Rome.
Deutsch: San Pietro in Vincoli, Gesamtansicht des Innenraums.
Photo: 20 May 2012.
Source: This file was derived from:
Author: SPIV_small.jpgPhilippos. Derivative work: Rabanus Flavus.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Basilica, consecrated in 439 A.D., by Pope Sixtus III, has undergone several restorations, among them a restoration by Pope Adrian I, and further work in the 11th-Century. From 1471 to 1503, in which year he was elected Pope Julius II, Cardinal Della Rovere, the nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, effected notable rebuilding. 

The front Portico, attributed to Baccio Pontelli, was added in 1475. The Cloister (1493–1503) has been attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo. Further work was done at the beginning of the 18th-Century, under Francesco Fontana, and there was also a renovation in 1875.


File:Sanpietroin cerro1.jpg

English: The Internal Courtyard of Saint Peter-ad-Vincula
(Saint Peter's Chains),
Rome, Italy.
Italiano: vista di parte del cortile interno.
Photo: 21 June 2008.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Titulus S. Petri ad vincula was assigned on 20 November 2010, to Donald Wuerl. The previous Cardinal Priest of the Basilica was Pío Laghi, who died on 11 January 2009.

Two Popes were Elected in this Church: Pope John II in 533 A.D., and Pope Gregory VII in 1073.

Next to the Church is hosted the Faculty of Engineering of La Sapienza University. This is named "San Pietro in Vincoli" per antonomasia. The Church is located on the Oppian Hill, near Cavour metro station, a short distance from the Colosseum.



File:San Pietro in Vincoli - ceiling, Rome retouched.jpg

Basilica of San Pietro-in-Vincoli.
18th-Century lacunar ceiling, frescoed in the centre
portraying the Miracle of the Chains (1706).
Photo: 26 December 2009.
Derivative work: Alberto Fernandez Fernandez.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Interior has a Nave and two Aisles, with three Apses divided by antique Doric Columns. The Aisles are surmounted by Cross-Vaults, while the Nave has an 18th-Century Coffered Ceiling, frescoed in the centre by Giovanni Battista Parodi, portraying the Miracle of the Chains (1706).

Michelangelo's Moses (completed in 1515), while originally intended as part of a massive 47-statue, free-standing funeral monument for Pope Julius II, became the centerpiece of the Pope's funeral monument and tomb in this, the Church of the della Rovere family. Moses is depicted with horns, connotating "the radiance of the Lord", due to the similarity in the Hebrew words for "beams of light" and "horns". This kind of iconographic symbolism was common in early sacred art, and, for an artist, horns are easier to sculpt than rays of light.

Other works of art include two canvasses of Saint Augustine and Saint Margaret by Guercino, the monument of Cardinal Girolamo Agucchi, designed by Domenichino, who is also the painter of a Sacristy fresco depicting the Liberation of Saint Peter (1604).

The Altarpiece on the first Chapel to the left is a Deposition by Cristoforo Roncalli. The tomb of Cardinal Nicholas of Kues (died 1464), with its Relief, Cardinal Nicholas before Saint Peter, is by Andrea Bregno. Painter and sculptor Antonio Pollaiuolo is buried at the left side of the entrance. He is the Florentine sculptor who added the figures of Romulus and Remus to the sculpture of the Capitoline Wolf on the Capitol. The tomb of Cardinal Cinzio Passeri Aldobrandini, decorated with imagery of the Grim Reaper, is also in the Church.


File:Moses San Pietro in Vincoli.jpg

Moses.
Artist: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564).
Date: 1513-1515.
Current location: San Pietro-in-Vincoli, Rome.
Source/Photographer: Prasenberg (transferred from en.wikipedia to
Commons by User:Leoboudv using CommonsHelper).
(Wikimedia Commons)


In 1876, archaeologists discovered the tombs of those once believed to be the Seven Maccabean Martyrs, depicted in 2 Maccabees 7–41. It is highly unlikely that these are, in fact, the Jewish Martyrs that had offered their lives in Jerusalem. They are remembered each year on 1 August, the same day as the Miracle of the fusing of the Two Chains.

The third Altar, in the left Aisle, holds a mosaic of Saint Sebastian from the 7th-Century. This mosaic is related to an outbreak of plague in Pavia, in Northern Italy. It would only stop if an Altar was built for Saint Sebastian in the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli in that city. Somehow, this story also became accepted in Rome. Hence the Altar.






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Sunday 22 February 2015

Antependia And Stained-Glass Window Designed By Charles Eamer Kempe.




Altar Frontal (Antependium) designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.
Illustration: MEDIEVAL CHURCH ART



Altar Frontal (Antependium) designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.
Illustration: MEDIEVAL CHURCH ART



Altar Frontal (Antependium) designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.
Illustration: MEDIEVAL CHURCH ART



Altar Frontal (Antependium) designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.
Illustration: MEDIEVAL CHURCH ART





Stained-Glass Window in The West Window of The South Transept of Bristol Cathedral, featuring, from left, King Alfred the Great, the writer Richard Hakluyt, the Priest and Theologian Richard Hooker, and the Playwright and Poet William Shakespeare. The entry on the window in the Cathedral's Inventory reads as follows:
Inv. no.22; M.S. S12. Window, South Transept; West Window; English; C.E. Kempe, circa 1905. Stained- and Painted-Glass. 1a. ALFREDUS REX, holding scroll, 1b. RICARDUS HAKLUYT PREB, 1c. RICARD HOOKER PREB, 1d. GULIELMUS SHAKESPEARE. In the Transom, Tudor Roses and the Sun in splendour. 2a. King David with Harp and Scroll: CANTATE..., 2b. EZRA SCRIBA DEI,
2c. S.LUCAS EVAN, 2d. S.PAULUS APOST. In the Tracery, Angel Musicians.
In Memory of Alfred Ainger, Canon 1887–1903.
Date: Circa 1905.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Lenten Station For The First Sunday Of Lent. The Papal Arch-Basilica Of Saint John Lateran.


Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


First Sunday of Lent.
Station at Saint John Lateran.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.

Semi-Double.
Privilege of the First Class.

Violet Vestments.


File:Facade San Giovanni in Laterano 2006-09-07.jpg

Papal Arch-Basilica of Saint John Lateran.
Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris et Sanctorum Iohannes Baptistae et Evangelistae in Laterano. Omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput.
English: Main façade of the Arch-Basilica of Saint John Lateran,
Rome, Italy, by Alessandro Galilei, 1735.
Italiano: Facciata principale della Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano (Roma)
progettata da Alessandro Galilei (1735).
Français: Façade principale de la basilique Saint-Jean-de-Latran (Rome) 
par Alessandro Galilei, 1735.
Photo: 2006/09/07.
Source: Own work.
Author: Jastrow
(Wikimedia Commons)


Originally, The Forty Days of Lent were counted from this Sunday. The Liturgical gathering of "The Station" takes place today, as it has since the 4th-Century, at Saint John Lateran, which is The Patriarchal Basilica of The Bishops of Rome. At its first Consecration, it was Dedicated to "Saint Saviour", a name which calls to mind the Redemption accomplished by Our Blessed Lord.

Immediately after His baptism, Our Lord began to prepare for His public life by a Fast of Forty Days in the mountainous desert which stretches between Jericho and the mountains of Judea. [Tradition tells us that Our Lord took shelter in the grotto on the highest peak of all, known as Mount of the Quarantine.] It was there that He was tempted by Satan, who wished to discover whether The Son of Mary was, in reality, The Son of God (Gospel of The Mass of The Day).

As in the case of Adam, Satan addresses his first attack to the senses. Our Lord is hungry and the tempter suggests to Him that He should turn stones into bread. In the same way, he tries, during these Forty Days, to make us give up on our Fasting and mortification. This is the concupiscence of the flesh.


File:Lazio Roma SGiovanni1 tango7174.jpg

English: Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Vatican. 
With its length of 400 feet, this Basilica ranks 15th among the largest Churches in the world.
Français: Basilique Saint-Jean-de-Latran, Vatican, située à Rome, Latium, Italie. Avec sa longueur de 121,84 mètres, cette Basilique se classe au 15è rang parmi les plus grandes églises au monde.
Photo: September 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Tango7174
(Wikimedia Commons)


The devil had promised our first parent that he should be as God. Now, he takes Our Lord to the pinnacle of the Temple and tries to induce Him to let Himself be carried by the Angels through the air, amidst the applause of the crowds below. Satan tempts us by Pride, which is opposed to the spirit of Prayer and meditation on God's Word. This is the Pride of Life.

Finally, just as he had promised Adam a knowledge which, like that of God Himself, should enable him to know all things, so Satan assures Jesus that he will make Him Ruler over all Created Things if He will fall at his feet and worship him. In the same way, the devil seeks to attach us to Temporal goods, when we ought, by Alms and Works of Charity, to be doing good to our neighbour. This is the concupiscence of the eyes, or Avarice.

Since the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, Our Lord made use of the 90th Psalm against Satan, and this is the theme of the whole Mass and is found again and again in The Office of The Day. "His Truth shall cover thee with a shield," says the Psalmist. This Psalm is, therefore, the ideal Psalm for Lent as a special time of warfare against the devil.


File:Lazio Roma SGiovanni2 tango7174.jpg

English: Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Vatican. 
The Choir and Apse. 
The mosaics in the dome are a 19th-Century rebuilding of
Jacopo Torriti's works, dating back to the 13th-Century.
Français: Basilique Saint-Jean-de-Latran, Vatican, située à Rome, Latium, Italie.
Chœur et abside. La mosaïque du dôme est une réfection du XIXè siècle de l'œuvre
de Jacopo Torriti remontant au XIIIè siècle.
Photo: September 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Tango7174
(Wikimedia Commons)


Again, the Eleventh Verse: "He hath given His Angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee in all Thy ways," recurs in Vespers-like refrain during the whole Season. We find the entire Psalm in The Tract, which reminds us of the old custom of singing Psalms during certain parts of the Mass.

Some of its Verses make up the Introit, with its Verse, The Gradual, The Communion and The Offertory, which last was formerly composed, in today's Mass, of three Verses instead of one, following the order of the threefold temptation as recorded in The Gospel.

Side-by-side with this Psalm, The Epistle, certainly dating from the time of Pope Saint Leo, sounds one of the characteristic notes of Lent. There, Saint Paul borrows a Text of Isaias: "In an accepted time, have I heard thee, and in the Day of Salvation have I helped thee." "Behold," says the Apostle, "now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the Day of Salvation" (Epistle and First Nocturn).


File:St John Lateran ceiling.jpg

The Decorated Ceiling
of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran,
Rome, Italy.
Photo: March 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Grenouille vert
(Wikimedia Commons)


On this, Saint Leo comments: "Although there is no Season of the Year which is not rich in Divine Gifts and in which we, by God's Grace, do not find immediate access to His Mercy; nevertheless, at this time, when the return of the day on which we are redeemed summons us to fulfill all the duties of Christian piety, the Souls of Christians must be stirred with more zeal for spiritual progress, and possessed of a very great confidence in Almighty God.

In this manner, with pure Souls and bodies, shall we celebrate this Mystery of The Lord's Passion, Sublime beyond all others. True, we ought always to be in The Divine Presence, just as much as on The Easter Feast. But, because this spiritual vigour is the possession of only a few, while, on the other hand, the weakness of the flesh leads to any very severe observance being relaxed, and on the other, the varied occupations of this life share and divide our interest, it necessarily happens that the dust of the world soils the hearts, even of Religious themselves.


File:Rom Lateran Kreuzgang 01.jpg

Cloisters at Saint John Lateran.
Photo: August 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Kodiak
(Wikimedia Commons)


This Divine Institution has been planned with great profit to our Salvation, in a manner that the exercises of these Forty Days may help us to regain the Purity of our Souls, making up, in a way, for the faults of the rest of the Year, by Fasting and pious deeds.

However, we must be careful to give no-one the least cause of complaint or scandal, so that our general behaviour may not be inconsistent with our Fasting and Penance. For it is useless to reduce the nourishment of the body unless the Soul departs from sin" (Second Nocturn).

In this "acceptable time" and in these "Days of Salvation", let us purify ourselves with The Church (Collect), "in Fastings

Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.




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Saturday 21 February 2015

You Can Always Tell Who's A Catholic. They're The Only Ones Up At Seven O'Clock On A Sunday Morning Going To Mass.



Français: Campagne de France.
English: Napoleon and his Staff returning from Soissons after The Battle of Laon.
日本語: 1814年のフランス戦役でのナポレオン.
Italiano: La campagna di Francia.
中文: 1814年莫斯科戰役.
Suomi: Napoleon käy taisteluun Ranskasta.
Українська: Рік 1814, Жан-Луї-Ернест Мейсон'єр 1864.[1]
1. Jump up↑ Juliette Glikman, Ernest Meissonier, 1814. Campagne de France, Cahiers de la Méditerranée, "Dossier : XVe - XXe siècles - De la tourmente révolutionnaire au traumatisme de 1870 : la fin du Guerrier et l'émergence du soldat", n°83 : "Guerres et guerriers dans l'iconographie et les arts plastiques", 2011, p. 175-186.
Artist: Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815–1891).
Current location: (Musée d'Orsay), Paris, France.
Date: 1864.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Lenten Station At The Church Of Saint Tryphon's (Now At Saint Augustine's), For Saturday After Ash Wednesday.


Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


Saturday after Ash Wednesday.
Station at Saint Tryphon's.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.


File:Sant agostino.JPG

The Church of Saint Augustine, Rome.
San'Agostino, Rome.
Photo: October 2005.
Source: Own Work.
Author: Lalupa.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Station at Rome was, previously, at The Church of Saint Tryphon, who died a Martyr in the East. This Church having been destroyed, The Station was removed, under Pope Clement VIII, to a neighbouring Church, that of Saint Augustine.


File:SantAgostino-Altare01-SteO153.jpg

High Altar, 
Sant'Agostino, Rome.
Photo: July 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: SteO153
Permission: CC-BY-SA-2.5
(Wikimedia Commons)


Saturday is the day of rest, which symbolises the eternal Sabbath (Epistle of the Mass of the day). To reach it, we must, during Lent, struggle by "Solemn Fast" (Collect of the Mass) and by works of Charity (Epistle) against our passions, of which the rough sea and the contrary winds, spoken of in the Gospel, are a figure.

In this hard struggle, Jesus will come to our aid (Postcommunion), as He did to the Apostles and "heal our bodies and our Souls by Fasting." (Collect), as He healed all the sick in the country of Genesareth.


File:R-Monica-SAgostNou.JPG

Altar and Tomb of Saint Monica of Hippo, 
at Sant'Agostino in Campo Marzio Church, Rome.
Photo: March 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Bocachete
(Wikimedia Commons)


Sant'Agostino is a Church in Rome, Italy, not far from Piazza Navona. It is one of the first Roman Churches built during the Renaissance. The construction was funded by Guillaume d'EstoutevilleArchbishop of Rouen and Papal Chancellor. The façade was built in 1483 by Giacomo di Pietrasanta, using travertine taken from the Colosseum. It is a fine, plain work of the early-Renaissance style.

The most famous work of art, presently in the Church, is the Madonna di Loreto, an important Baroque painting by Caravaggio. The Church also contains a Guercino canvas of Saints Augustine, John the Evangelist and Jerome; a fresco of the Prophet Isaiah by Raphael; and the statues of the Virgin and Child, by Andrea Sansovino and of the Madonna del Parto (Our Lady of Childbirth) by his pupil, Jacopo Sansovino. The latter sculpture is reputed by tradition to work miracles and was, according to a legend, based on an ancient statue of Agrippina holding Nero in her arms.

In 1616, the 17th-Century Baroque artist, Giovanni Lanfranco, decorated the Buongiovanni Chapel (in the Left Transept) with three canvasses and a ceiling fresco of the Assumption. The Church also houses Melchiorre Caffà's sculpture "St. Thomas of Villanova Distributing Alms", completed by his mentor, Ercole FerrataPietro Bracci designed and sculpted the polychromatic tomb of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali (1741).



English: Madonna di Loreto, 
by Caravaggio.
Deutsch: Altargemälde der Cavaletti-Kapelle in Sant' Agostino in Rom, 
Szene: Madonna der Pilger.
Date: 1603 - 1605.
Current location: Church of San'Agostino, Rome.
Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. 
DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202
Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
Permission: [1]
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Church contains the tomb of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine, and that of Fiammetta, lover of Cesare Borgia and a famous courtesan.

Sant'Agostino was once noted for the presence of a number of courtesans and prostitutes in its congregation.

The Titulus S. Augustini is held by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard since 2006. Furthermore, it is the Station Church of the first Saturday in Lent.






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Friday 20 February 2015

Soap. Cleansing. And Lent.



French Soap.



More French Soap.



Catholic Soap.




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Lenten Station At The Church Of The Holy Martyrs, John And Paul. Friday After Ash Wednesday.


Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for Friday after Ash Wednesday.

Friday after Ash Wednesday.
Station at The Church of The Holy Martyrs John and Paul.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.


File:Basilique Santi Giovanni e Paolo de Rome.JPG

Français: Vue d'ensemble de la Basilique Santi Giovanni e Paolo de Rome sur le Celio.
English: Basilica of the Church of the Holy Martyrs, John and Paul, on Mount Coelius, Rome.
Photo: May 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: LPLT.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Station at Rome was on Mount Coelius, in the Residence that the Christian Senator, Pammachius, in the 5th-Century, transformed into a Parish Church, which bears the Title of Saints John and Paul (Feast Day is 26 June). Six frescoes of that period represent the captivity and death of these two Romans, “who in the same Faith and the same Martyrdom were truly united as brethren”.


File:Roma-sangiovanniepaolo01.jpg

English: Church of The Holy Martyrs, John and Paul.
Italiano: SS. Giovanni e Paolo - Roma, Italia.
Photo: July 2006.
Source: Flickr
Author: Patrick Denker
Reviewer: Mac9
(Wikimedia Commons)


Near this Church is a Hospice for Pilgrims (Xenodochium Valerii). Pammachius, in other directions, spent his whole fortune upon the Poor. The Gospel of this Mass and the Postcommunion also speak of Charity.

The Epistle and the Gospel declare that the external works of Penance, such as Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving, which should be practised during Lent, have no value in the sight of God unless they are accompanied by the spirit of internal sacrifice. This spirit shows itself in works of mercy, done out of consideration for our neighbour, without distinction of friend or enemy and with the sole intention of pleasing God. Let us ask for the spirit of sacrifice and mercy.





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Thursday 19 February 2015

Lenten Station At San Giorgio-In-Velabro. Thursday After Ash Wednesday.


Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for Thursday after Ash Wednesday.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


Thursday after Ash Wednesday.

Station at St. George's.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.



San Giorgio-in-Velabro 
is a Minor Basilica Church 
iRomeItaly
devoted to Saint George.
Photo: April 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: User: Zello
(Wikimedia Commons)


This Station is, since the time of Pope Gregory II (7th-Century A.D.), at Saint George's-in-Velabro. This Church is in the district called the Velabrum or Velum aureum, on account of a Relic kept in a Golden Veil. Saint George's is one of the twenty-five Parishes of Rome in the 5th-Century A.D., where, under The High Altar, is kept the Head of this Christian warrior, a victim of The Persecution of The Emperor Diocletian, and called by the Greeks "The Great Martyr".

The Liturgy of today inculcates in us the spirit of Prayer, which forms part of the Forty Days' Penance. It was by Prayer that Ezechias obtained a prolongation of his life (Epistle of today) and the Centurion the healing of his servant (Gospel), and it is by Prayer that we shall obtain from God the strength to mortify ourselves, in order that we may gain the pardon of our sins, and, with it, the healing of our Souls and Life Eternal.


File:San Giorgio in Velabro - Roma - Interior1.JPG

Interior of San Giorgio-in-Velabro.
Photo: August 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Luc.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Gospel, in former times, reminded the Catechumens that, through Baptism, they were about to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Remember that, if sin offends God and draws upon us the scourge of His Righteous Anger, Penance, on the contrary, appeases Him and procures for us the effects of His Mercy (Collects).



Interior of San Giorgio-in-Velabro. 
Photo: March 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: sailko
(Wikimedia Commons)


San Giorgio-in-Velabro is a Minor Basilica Church in RomeItaly, devoted to Saint George.

The Church is located in the ancient Roman Velabrum, near the Arch of Janus, in the rione of Ripa. Sited near the River Tiber, it is within a complex of Republican-era pagan temples associated with the port of Rome. The ancient Arcus Argentariorum is attached to the side of the Church's façade.

San Giorgio-in-Velabro is The Station Church for The First Thursday in Lent.


The first religious building attested, in the place of the current Basilica, is a diaconia, funded by Pope Gregory the Great.


File:San giorgio al velabro, interno 02.JPG

The High Altar at San Giorgio-in-Velabro.
Photo: March 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: sailko
(Wikimedia Commons)


The current Basilica was built during the 7th-Century, possibly by Pope Leo II, who Dedicated it to Saint Sebastian. A 482-inscription in the catacombs of Saint Callixtus probably refers to a Church in the same zone. Its plan is irregular, indeed slightly trapezoidal, as a result of the frequent additions to the building. The interior columns are almost randomly arranged, having been taken from sundry Roman temples.

The Basilica was inside the Greek Quarter of Rome, where Greek-speaking merchants, civil and military officers, and monks of the Byzantine Empire lived — the nearby Santa Maria in Cosmedin, for example, was known as Schola Graeca at the time. Pope Zachary (741 A.D. - 752 A.D.), who was of Greek origin, moved the relic of St. George to this Basilica from Cappadocia, so that this Saint had a Basilica dedicated in the West, well before the spreading of his devotion associated with the return of the Crusaders from the East.

After a restoration by Pope Gregory IV (9th-Century), the Basilica received the addition of the Portico and of the Bell-Tower in the first half of the 13th-Century. The Apsis was decorated with frescoes by Pietro Cavallini in the 13th-Century.


File:Ripa - arco di Giano e san Giorgio al Velabro 1010863.JPG

Photo: April 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lalupa
(Wikimedia Commons)


Between 1923 and 1926, the Superintendent of Monuments of Rome, Antonio Muñoz, completed a more radical restoration programme, with the aim of restoring the building's "mediaeval character" and freeing it from later additions. This was done by returning the floor to its original level (and so exposing the column bases), reopening the ancient windows that gave light to the central nave, restoring the apsis, and generally removing numerous accretions from the other most recent restorations. During this process, fragments (now displayed on the Basilica's internal walls) were found indicating a schola cantorum on the site, attributed to the period of Pope Gregory IV.

The building, as we see it today, is largely a product of the 1920s restoration. However, five years' further restoration followed the explosion of a car bomb, parked close to the Basilica's facade, at midnight on 27 July 1993. That explosion caused no fatalities but left the 12th-Century Portico almost totally collapsed and blew a large opening into the wall of the main Basilica, as well as doing serious damage to the residence of the Generalate of the Crosiers (Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross), next door. The Ministry of Cultural Heritage researched and catalogued what was damaged or destroyed, placing the fragments in 1050 crates, with dates and locational references, before restoring the building with them, although some details, particularly in the Portico, were deliberately left un-restored as a memorial to the bombing.

Gianfranco Ravasi is, since November 2010, Cardinal-Deacon of the Church. Among the previous Titulars are: Oddone Colonna, who later became Pope Martin VRaffaele RiarioGiacomo Stefaneschi; and John Henry Newman. Cardinal Alfons Maria Stickler was Titular of San Giorgio, as a Cardinal Priest, until his death in 2007.




St Andrew Daily Missal (Traditional Mass)

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Wednesday 18 February 2015

Domine Non Secundum Peccata Nostra. The Tract For Ash Wednesday.





"Domine non secundum peccata nostra".
The Tract for Ash Wednesday.
Sung by Schola Bellarmina.
Available on YouTube at



"Domine non secundum peccata"
by Juan de Anchieta (1462-1523).
The Tract for Ash Wednesday.
Available on YouTube at

The following Text is from Wikipedia.
Juan de Anchieta (Azpeitia, Gipuzkoa, Spain, 1462 – Azpeitia, 1523)
was a leading Spanish Basque composer of The Renaissance,
at The Royal Court Chaplaincy, in Granada, Spain,

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