Lenten Station At The Basilica Of Saint Laurence's-In-Lucina. Friday Of The Third 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.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.
Violet Vestments.

Basilica of San Lorenzo-in-Lucina,
Rome, Italy.

Image taken during a survey 
of Roman monuments in 1911.

Current File: November 2005.

User: Panairjdde

(Wikimedia Commons)

This is one of the numerous Sanctuaries built in Rome in honour of the martyred Deacon. Part of the gridiron, on which he was tortured, is kept there. This Church, one of the twenty-five Titular, or Parish, Churches of the first Christian Capital in the 5th-Century, is still today from which the first of the Cardinal Priests derives his title.

It was during the forty years passed in the desert that Moses and Aaron asked God to bring from the rock - a figure of Christ - "a spring of living water," so that all the people could quench their thirst (Epistle). During these forty days of Lent, the Church asks Christ to give us the living water, about which He spoke to the woman of Samaria near Jacob's well, the water which quenches our thirst for ever (Gospel).

Interior of the Basilica of 
Saint Laurence's-in-Lucina, Rome.

Photo: July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: SteO153

Permission: CC-BY-SA-2.5

(Wikimedia Commons)

This water is our faith in Jesus, it is grace, it is the blood which flows from the wounds of the Saviour, and which, through Baptism, Penance and the other Sacraments, purifies our Souls, and gushes forth into eternal life, of which it assures us a share.

We should note the parallel that it pleased Christian art to establish between Saint Peter and Moses. It is the latter who touched the rock from whence the water surged; this is a symbol of Christian Baptism, given by the Church, of which Saint Peter is the head.

The High Altar,
San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome.

The Crucifix painting is by Guido Reni.

Photo: July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: SteO153.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church of Saint Laurence's at Lucina (Italian: San Lorenzo in Lucina, Latin: S. Laurentii in Lucina) is a Roman Catholic Parish and Titular Church and Minor Basilica in Rome.

The Church is dedicated to Saint Laurence, Roman Deacon and Martyr. The name "Lucina" comes from the 4th-Century Roman matron that gave permission for Christians to build a house of worship. 

Pope Marcellus I hid here during persecutions of Maxentius, while Pope Damasus I was elected here in 366 A.D. A Church here was consecrated by Pope Sixtus III in the year 440 AD. The Church was known as Titulus Lucinae, and thus is mentioned in the Acts of the 499 Synod of Pope Symmachus. It was first reconstructed under Pope Paschal II in the first decades of the 1100s.

Italian: Roma - Chiesa di S. Lorenzo in Lucina.

English: Basilica of San Lorenzo-in-Lucina, Rome.

Photo: May 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Geobia

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1606, Pope Paul V placed the Church under the Franciscan Order of Clerics Regular Minor. The interior was completely transformed by Cosimo Fanzago in the 17th-Century, converting the lateral Aisles of the Basilica structure into Chapels. The Ceiling was frescoed by the Neapolitan Mometto Greuter.

Charles Stewart, an Officer in the Papal Army, who died in 1864, is buried within the Church. He was the son of John Stewart, Prince Charles Edward Stuart's (Charles III) 'maestro di casa'. Charles had created John a Baronet in 1784. The current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Laurentii-in-Lucina, established in 684 A.D., is Malcolm Ranjith, since November 2010.

English: Chapel of St. Laurence's gridiron, 
San Lorenzo-in-Lucina, Rome.

Italiano: San Lorenzo in Lucina, Roma. 
La cappella che conserva la sedicente 

graticola su cui sarebbe stato
martirizzato San Lorenzo.

Photo: July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: SteO153

(Wikimedia Commons)

The High Altar, designed by Carlo Rainaldi, is decorated with a painting of The Crucifixion by Guido Reni. Under the Altar, there is the gridiron on which Saint Laurence was martyred. The relics were put here by Pope Paschal II, according to an inscription on the Throne behind the Altar. The Chorus is decorated by Virgins and Saints by Placido Costanzi.

The second Chapel to the right, designed by Carlo Rainaldi, was decorated by Jan Miel. Nicolas Poussin is buried in the second Chapel on the right, with a monument donated by Chateaubriand with a Bust by Paul Lemoyne and a relief by Louis Desprez.

Interior of the Basilica 
of Saint Laurence's-in-Lucina, 
Rome, Italy.

Photo: August 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Lalupa

(Wikimedia Commons)

The fourth Chapel, the Fonseca Chapel, was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and features a lively Bust of Gabriel Fonseca by the master sculptor. It also houses a copy of Guido Reni's "Annunciation", completed by Giacinto Gimignani.

The fifth Chapel on the right has a Death of Saint Giacinta Marescotti by Marco Benefial and a Life of Saint Francis (1624) by Simon Vouet. The fourth Chapel has a Saint Giuseppe by Alessandro Turchi and a San Carlo Borromeo by Carlo Saraceni. The first Chapel has works (1721) by Giuseppe Sardi.

The High Altar. Ottobeuren Abbey.

The High Altar

at Ottobeuren Abbey

(Kloster Ottobeuren),

Ottobeuren, Germany.

Photo: 18 April 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Ottobeuren Basilica.

The Choir and The High Altar.

Photo: 16 September 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Digital cat.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Ottobeuren Basilica.

The Nave.

Photo: 16 September 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Digital cat.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Lenten Station At The Basilica Of The Holy Martyrs, Cosmas And Damian. Thursday Of The Third 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.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.
Violet Vestments.

Altar and Apse of the 
Basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano,
Rome, Italy.

Photo: June 2002.

Source: flickr.com

Author: iessi

(Wikimedia Commons)

This Thursday takes the name of "Mid-Lent Thursday", because it is the twentieth day in the middle of the Holy Forty Days. The Church brings to the following Sunday the sentiments of joy which she wishes to fill our hearts. The Feast of Easter approaches, and we must courageously continue the Lenten Fast , already half completed.

It is in a Church, made of two Pagan Temples (of The Holy City and of Romulus), where rest the bodies of The Holy Martyrs, Cosmas and Damian, who were put to death during the Diocletian Persecution, that this Station is made.

The sick came in crowds to visit the tomb of these two brothers, doctors by profession, imploring them to restore their health. It was thus fitting to say this Gospel relating to the cure of the mother-in-law of Simon Peter and of the sick of Capharnaum. It is also a Mass of Dedication, as the words of the Epistle show: Templum Domini est.

The Jews, who possessed the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem, began to believe that respect for the House of God sufficed to sanctify them, and they considered themselves dispensed from observing the Spirit of the Law. Wherefore, the Church warns us that our Lent should not only consist of Prayers and Fasts, but should be accompanied by Exercises of Charity and Justice towards our neighbour.

Theodoric The Great, 
King of the Ostrogoths.

Source: Goed gezien: Tien eeuwen wetenschap 
in handschrift en druk Object 19.

Author: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

We must imitate the example of Jesus, and during the whole of Lent follow Him, with the Holy Liturgy, in His ministry of redemption, preaching the Kingdom of God, healing the sick, and casting out devils (Gospel). Let us love to listen to the word of God: It will cure our Souls and banish from them the Devil, who seeks to reign therein.

The Catechumens, who were preparing for Baptism, listened especially at this Season of the Year to the word of God. They also received the Imposition of Hands, so as to be delivered from evil spirits and to obtain the cure of their Souls.

Through the intercession of The Holy Doctors, Cosmas and Damian, in whose Church today's Solemnities are celebrated, let us ask The Divine Physician that the severe abstinence of the Lenten Fast may cool the fever of our passions and assure our salvation (Collect, Epistle, Postcommunion).

Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian,

Rome, Italy.

Titular Church.

Photo: September 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Riccardov

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano is a Church in Rome, located in the Roman Forum. It is one of the ancient Churches called Tituli, of which Cardinals are Patrons as Deacons. The Cardinal Deacon of the Titulus Ss. Cosmae et Damiani is Giovanni Cheli. The Basilica, devoted to the two Greek brothers, doctors, Martyrs and Saints, Cosmas and Damian, is located in the Forum of Vespasian, also known as the Forum of Peace.

The Temple of Romulus was dedicated by Emperor Maxentius to his son, Valerius Romulus, who died in 309 A.D., and was rendered divine honours. It is possible that the temple was, in origin, the temple of "Iovis Stator" or the one dedicated to Penates, and that Maxentius restored it before the re-dedication.

Pope Felix IV presents Saints Cosmas and Damian

with the Basilica that he re-dedicated to them.

Painting from SS Cosma e Damiano. Early-1600s, Tuscan school.

Source: http://www.franciscanfriarstor.com/theorder/

Basilica/stf_basilica_paintings.htm

(Wikimedia Commons)

The ancient Roman fabric was Christianised and dedicated to Sancti Cosma et Damiano in 527 A.D., when Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, and his daughter Amalasuntha donated the Library of the Forum of Peace (Bibliotheca Pacis) and a portion of the Temple of Romulus to Pope Felix IV (526 A.D. - 530 A.D.).

The Pope united the two buildings to create a Basilica devoted to two Greek brothers and Saints, Cosmas and Damian, in contrast with the ancient pagan cult of the two brothers, Castor and Pollux, who had been worshipped in the nearby Temple of Castor and Pollux. 

Not really a Temple, but a Vestibule opening into a 

Hall of Vespasian's Forum of Peace, 

which now houses the Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano.

Photo: May 2005.

Source: Flickr

Author: Anthony M. from Rome, Italy

Reviewer: KenWalker

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Apse was decorated with a Roman-Byzantine mosaic, representing a parousia, the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time. The bodies of Saints Mark and Marcellian were translated, perhaps in the 9th-Century, to this Church, where they were re-discovered in 1583 during the reign of Pope Gregory XIII.

In 1632, Pope Urban VIII ordered the restoration of the Basilica. The works, projected by Orazio Torriani and directed by Luigi Arrigucci, raised the floor level seven metres, bringing it equal with the Campo Vaccino, thus avoiding the infiltration of water. Also, a Cloister was added. The old Floor of the Basilica is still visible in the lower Church, which is actually the lower part of the first Church.

In 1947, the restorations of the Imperial Forums gave a new structure to the Church. The old entrance, through the Temple of Romulus, was closed, and the temple restored to its original forms; with the Pantheon, the Temple of Romulus is the best preserved pagan temple in Rome. A new entrance was opened on the opposite side (on via dei Fori Imperiali), whose Arch gives access to the Cloister, and through this to the side of the Basilica.

Pope Urban VIII (1623 - 1644)

ordered the restoration of the Basilica in 1632.

Artist: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680).

Date: 1632.

Current location: Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome, Italy.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork

(Wikimedia Commons)

Next to the new entrance to the complex, there are rooms with the original marble paving of the Forum of Peace, and the wall where the 150 marble slabs of the Forma Urbis Romae were hung. Through the Cloister, the entrance to the Church opens on the side of the single Nave. The plan of the Basilica followed the norms of the Counter-Reformation: a single Nave, with three Chapels per side, and the big Apse, which now looks quite over-sized because of the reduction in height of the 17th-Century restoration, framed by the triumphal Arch, also mutilated by that restoration.

The mosaics are masterpieces of 6th-7th-Century art. In the middle, is Christ, with Saint Peter presenting Saint Cosmas and Saint Theodorus (right), and Saint Paul presenting Saint Damian and Pope Felix IV; the latter holds a model of the Church.

The importance of this Basilica, for the history of medicine, is not only related to the fact that the two brothers were physicians, and soon became patrons of physicians, surgeons, pharmacists and veterinarians, but also to the tradition, according to which, Claudius Galen himself lectured in the Library of the Temple of Peace (“Bibliotheca Pacis”). Furthermore, for centuries, in this “medical area” Roman physicians had their meetings.

Streets Of London. Or Streets Of Brighton ?

Fr. Ray Blake, Parish Priest at Saint Mary Magdalen, Brighton, has now got an excellent new Parish Web-Site at ST. MARY MAGDALEN BRIGHTON

The Web-Site is full of information about Fr Blake's Parish activities and, in particular, Zephyrinus's attention was caught by the item, under PARISH LIFE, which details THE SOUP RUN. Do have a look at the Web-Site and see what I mean.

The SOUP RUN details the outstanding efforts undertaken by the Parish and many volunteers, over many years, to ensure that the homeless and destitute at least have a daily hot meal.

In this Penitential Season of Lent, Works of Charity underscore many aspects of Lenten Duties, so why not visit the Web-Site to read all about THE SOUP RUN and consider making a donation to Fr. Ray Blake's Parish Funds and/or consider adding ST. MARY MAGDALEN BRIGHTON to your Daily Prayer List.

The following YouTube song, STREETS OF LONDON, says it all, really. Do have a listen.

Streets of London,

by Ralph McTell.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/DiWomXklfv8.

London Pride. Noël Coward.

English: "London Pride".

Latin: Saxifraga x urbium ‘Variegatum’.

Latvian: Lietuvių: dekoratyvinė apvalialapė uolaskėlė.

Photo: 2007.06.02.

Source: Own work.

Author: Hugo.arg.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Fr Timothy Finigan ("His Hermeneuticalness") has previously Posted a very witty, funny, and extremely "British", Post on his Blog, THE HERMENEUTIC OF CONTINUITY, entitled "Weather almost reaches "Rather Tiring" level". Here it is: The hermeneutic of continuity: Weather almost reaches "Rather Tiring" level

Fr's Post put Zephyrinus in mind of this Noël Coward 1941 composition, "London Pride", which can be found on YouTube and was uploaded by hostroute on 13 November 2008.

To listen, please CLICK, here.

LONDON PRIDE by Noel Coward.

See if you agree whether the two things match up.

Portrait for Noël Coward's last Christmas Card.

Photograph by Allan Warren.

Date: 1972.

Source: Own work / allanwarren.com

Author: Allan Warren.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Coward wrote "London Pride" in the Spring of 1941, during the Blitz. According to his own account, he was sitting on a seat on a platform of a damaged railway station in London, and was "overwhelmed by a wave of sentimental pride". The song started in his head, there and then, and was finished in a few days.

The song compares the pride of wartime Londoners to the flower "London Pride" which can grow anywhere and was often found growing on bomb sites.

Coward gave many morale boosting broadcasts to people in wartime London, via the BBC.

Lenten Station At The Basilica Of San Sisto (Santi Nereo e Achilleo). Wednesday Of The Third 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.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.
Violet Vestments.

English: Basilica of Saint Sixtus, Rome.

Italian: San Sisto (Santi Nereo e Achilleo) 
(Terme di Caracalla).

Photo: June 2006.

Source: nereo-achilleo2

Uploaded by Kurpfalzbilder.de

Author: Hengist Decius

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Station is at Saint Sixtus's on the Appian Way, a Parish Church of Rome in the 5th-Century. It was of this holy Pontiff, and, according to several authors, in this very place, that Saint Laurence begged to be permitted to accompany him as his Minister in the sacrifice of himself which he was about to make. Saint Sixtus is buried in this Church.

The candidates from among the heathen, after a period of waiting, became Catechumens at the Lenten Station, this day. Their Sponsors presented them by testifying to their purity of intention and conduct. Their names were written on tablets of ivory covered in leather, which were read at the Commemoration of the Living. After the Collect, and before the Lessons, they proceeded to the Rites of Exsufflation, of the Sign of the Cross, of the Imposition of Hands, and of that of the Salt, which are still to be found in the first part of the ceremonies of Baptism.

God, on Sinai, had commanded men, the Epistle and Gospel tell us, to honour their parents and to love their neighbours. The Pharisees added to these commandments human traditions, which consisted of formalities wholly external, to which they attached more importance than they did to the Law of Moses.

Interior of the Basilica of Saint Sixtus, Rome.
Photo: November 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author:  LPLT
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church, therefore, seeks to put us on our guard against the observance of exterior practices of worship or Fasts, which are not united to acts of Charity. For, in order to obtain the approval of Heaven, our Penance  must come from a heart overflowing with love of God and our neighbour, for it is from the heart that the holiness and malice of man proceeds.

To bodily mortifications, let us take great care to add the practice of Virtues: Sincerity; Justice; Patience; Charity; or, as the Collect expresses it, let us impose upon ourselves Fasting of Soul and body.

Insufflation and Exsufflation

In religious and magical practice, insufflation and exsufflation are ritual acts of blowing, breathing, hissing, or puffing, that signify, variously, expulsion or renunciation of evil or of the Devil (the Evil One), or infilling or blessing with good (especially, in religious use, with the Spirit or grace of God).

Pope Leo III (795 A.D. - 816 A.D.) 
rebuilt the old "Titulus" in 814 A.D.

Mosaics in the Hall (Triclinium) of Leo III 

of the Lateran Palace (798 A.D. - 799 A.D.).

(Wikimedia Commons)

In historical Christian practice, such blowing appears most prominently in the Liturgy, and is connected almost exclusively with Baptism and other ceremonies of Christian initiation, achieving its greatest popularity during periods in which such ceremonies were given a prophylactic or exorcistic significance, and were viewed as essential to the defeat of the Devil or to the removal of the taint of Original Sin.

Ritual blowing occurs in the Liturgies of Catechumenate and Baptism from a very early period and survives into the modern Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Maronite, and Coptic rites. 

Catholic Liturgy, post-Vatican II (the so-called Novus Ordo 1969), has largely done away with insufflation, except in a special rite for the consecration of Chrism on Maundy Thursday. Protestant liturgies typically abandoned it very early on. Muslims include the practice to a certain degree, following the Biblical rites to a lesser extent. The Tridentine Catholic Liturgy retained both an insufflation of the Baptismal water and (like the present-day Orthodox and Maronite rites) an exsufflation of the Candidate for Baptism, right up to the 1960s:

THE INSUFFLATION. He breathes thrice upon the waters in the form of a cross, saying: Do You with Your mouth bless these pure waters: that besides their natural virtue of cleansing the body, they may also be effectual for purifying the Soul.

THE EXSUFFLATION. The priest breathes three times on the child in the form of a cross, saying: Go out of him...you unclean spirit and give place to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

Artist: Justus van Gent and Pedro Berruguete.

Title: Pope Sixtus IV (1414-1484).

Date: Circa 1473 - 1475.

Current location: Louvre Museum, Paris.

Source/Photographer: cartelen.louvre.fr : Home : Info : Pic

Pope Sixtus IV restored the Basilica in 1475.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Santi Nereo e Achilleo is a 4th-Century Basilica Church in Rome, located in via delle Termi di Caracalla, in the rione Celio, facing the main entrance to the Baths of Caracalla. The current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus Ss. Nerei et Achillei is Theodore Edgar McCarrick.

A 337 A.D., epitaph inscription in the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura celebrates the late Cinnamius Opas, Lector of a Church known as Titulus Fasciolae; the name has traditionally been explained as the place where St. Peter lost the foot bandage (fasciola) that wrapped the wounds caused by his chains, on his way to escape the Mamertine Prison. 

In the Acts of the Synod of Pope Symmachus, 499 A.D., the Titulus Fasciolae is recorded as served by five Priests. This same building is recorded as Titulus Sanctorum Nerei et Achillei in 595 A.D; therefore, the dedications to Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, two soldiers and martyrs of the 4th-Century, must date to the 6th-Century.

Basilica of San Sisto (Santi Nereo e Achilleo), Rome.

Photo: June 2006.

Source: DSCN0317

Uploaded by Kurpfalzbilder.de

Author: Hengist Decius

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 814 A.D., Pope Leo III rebuilt the old Titulus. In the 13th-Century, the relics of the two martyrs (Santi Nereo e Achilleo) were transferred from the Catacomb of Domitilla to the Sant'Adriano, whence they were transferred to this Church by Cardinal Baronius.

The Church degraded with time, and in 1320, according to the Catalogue of Turin, it was a Presbyterial Title with no Priest serving. So, Pope Sixtus IV restored the Church on occasion of the Jubilee of 1475, while the Jubilee of 1600 was the occasion for the last major restoration, funded by the scholarly antiquarian, Cardinal Cesare Baronio, who commissioned the frescoes.

Artist: Cristoforo Roncalli.

Title: Saint Domitilla with Saints Nereus and Achilleus.

Date: Circa 1598 and circa 1599.

Current location: Chiesa dei Santi Nereo e Achilleo, Rome.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork

(Wikimedia Commons)

Behind its unassuming facade, the Church is built according to the typical Basilica plan, with a single Nave and two Side Aisles. The original Columns were replaced in the 15th-Century by octagonal Pillars, and the Nave is characterised by the large fresco decorations commissioned by Cardinal Baronio.

The Cardinal, in his iconographic scheme timed for the 1600 Jubilee, emphasised the role of the Roman martyrs during the early centuries of Christianity. The execution of the frescoes was entrusted to a minor painter, generally thought to be Niccolò Circignani, called "Pomarancio". There are a lot of gruesome details and blood all over the walls, but the pastel colours soften somewhat a fearsome effect of the pictures.

The Ciborium and High Altar, 

Basilica of San Sisto (Santi Nereo e Achilleo).

Photo: June 2006.

Source: DSCN0316

Uploaded by Kurpfalzbilder.de

Artist: Hengist Decius

(Wikimedia Commons)

The mediaeval Ambo is set on a large, porphyry urn taken from the nearby Baths of Caracalla. The low Screen, separating the Choir, is faced with 13th-Century Cosmatesque-style inlays. A white marble candelabra was brought here from San Paolo fuori le Mura. The Ciborium, dating from the 16th-Century, is raised on African marble columns.

The spandrels of the Arch, at the end of the Nave, retain some of the former mosaics of the time of Pope Leo III, with a central Transfiguration in a mandorla. The High Altar, made of three Cosmatesque panels, houses the relics of Nereus, Achilleus, and Saint Flavia Domitilla; all three of whom were brought here from the Catacomb of Domitilla. Next to the Altar, there are two pagan stones, depicting two winged spirits, taken from a nearby temple.

In the Apse, behind the Altar, is the Episcopal Throne, assembled under the direction of the Antiquary, Cardinal Baronius, re-using lions in the Cosmatesque style, that is associated with the Vassalletto school, which support the armrests; on the back-rest, is inscribed the opening and closing words of the twenty-eighth Homily of Saint Gregory the Great, inscribed under the mistaken tradition that he preached them here, in front of the relics of Saints Nereus and Achilleus on their Feast Day. 

When Cardinal Baronio ordered the inscription, he did not know that the relics were originally buried in the underground Basilica of the Catacomb of Domitilla, so thought that this was the place where Saint Gregory preached.

The Arch of the Apse has mosaics of the 9th-Century with the Annunciation, the Transfiguration, and the Theotokos (Madonna and child).

The Annunciation Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Feast Day 25 March.

Roman Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,

unless otherwise stated.

The Annunciation.

Artist: Paolo de Matteis.

Date: 1712.

Current location: Saint Louis Art Museum,

Missouri, United States of America.

Source/Photographer: Saint Louis Art Museum official site.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Annunciation (Anglicised from the Latin Vulgate, Luke 1:26-39, Annuntiatio nativitatis Christi), also referred to as The Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or The Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God, marking His Incarnation.

Gabriel told Mary to name her Son, Jesus, meaning "Saviour". Many Christians observe this event with the Feast of the Annunciation on 25 March, nine full months before Christmas, the ceremonial birthday of Jesus. According to Luke 1:26,, The Annunciation occurred "in the sixth month" of Elizabeth's pregnancy with John the Baptist. Irenaeus (circa 130 A.D. - 202 A.D.), of Lyon, regarded the conception of Jesus as 25 March, coinciding with The Passion.

Our Lady of Ushaw,

Durham, England.

Photo: April 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Zephyrinus.

Approximating the Northern Vernal Equinox, the date of The Annunciation also marked the New Year in many places, including England, where it is called Lady Day. Both the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church hold that The Annunciation took place at Nazareth, but differ as to the precise location. The Basilica of The Annunciation marks the site preferred by the former, while the Greek Orthodox Church of The Annunciation marks that preferred by the latter.

The Annunciation has been a key topic in Christian art, in general, as well as in Marian art in the Catholic Church, particularly during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The following Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

The Annunciation Of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Feast Day 25 March.

Double of the First-Class.

White Vestments.

This Feast, prepared by that of Saint Gabriel, recalls the greatest event in history, the Incarnation of Our Lord (Gospel) in the womb of a Virgin (Epistle). On this day, the Word was made flesh, and united to itself for ever the humanity of Jesus.

25 March is, indeed, the anniversary of the Ordination of Christ as Priest, for it is by the anointing of the Divinity that He has become Supreme Pontiff, Mediator between God and man.

English: L'Innocence.

Français : L'Innocence.

Русский: "Невинность", картина Виллиама Бугро.

И маленький ребёнок, и ягнёнок — символы невинности.

Artist: William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905).

Date: 1893.

Source/Photographer: http://www.illusionsgallery.com.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Mystery of the Incarnation has earned for Mary her most glorious title, that of "Mother of God" (Collect), in Greek "Theotokos", a name which the Eastern Church always inscribed in letters of gold, like a diadem, on the forehead of her images and statues.

"Standing on the threshold of Divinity" [Saint Thomas], since she gave to the Word of God the flesh to which He was hypostatically united, the Virgin has always been honoured by a super-eminent worship, that of hyperdulia.

"The Virgin With Angels".

Artist: William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905).

Date: 1900.

Current location: Petit Palais, Paris.

Source/Photographer: Art Renewal Center image.

Copied from the English Wikipedia to Commons.

(Wikimedia Commons)

"The Son of the Father and the Son of the Virgin naturally became a single and identical Son", says Saint Anselm; hence, Mary is Queen of the human race and is to be Venerated by all (Introit).

To 25 March will correspond, nine months later, 25 December, the day on which will be manifested to the world the Miracle as yet only known to Heaven and to the humble Virgin.

Since the title of Mother of God makes Mary all powerful with her Son, let us have recourse to her intercession with Him (Collect), so that, by the merits of His Passion and Crucifixion, we may have a part in the glory of His Resurrection (Postcommunion).

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

Lenten Station At Saint Pudentiana's And Saint Agatha's. Tuesday Of The Third 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.

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines.
Violet Vestments.

Interior of Santa Pudentiana, 
Rome, Italy.

Photo: May 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Welleschik

(Wikimedia Commons)

By Apostolic Letters, dated 5 March 1934, and published on 15 October 1935, the Churches of Santa Agatha and Santa Maria Nova (also called Santa Francisca Romana) were raised to the title of Stational Churches.

The same Ceremonies are performed and the same Indulgences may be gained there, respectively, as Santa Pudentiana on the Third Tuesday in Lent and San Apollinare on Passion Thursday. These two Churches are not on the published Map of Stational Churches in The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

English: Interior of Sant'Agata dei Goti, Rome.

Deutsch: Innenraum von Sant' Agata dei Goti.

Photo: September 2006.

Source: Photo taken by Th1979

Author: Th1979

(Wikimedia Commons)

Stational Indulgences.

Indulgences are mentioned in the Missal at some Stational Days. These Indulgences may be gained in Rome by taking part in the Stational Procession and Mass or by visiting the Stational Church on that day.

All Regulars may gain the same by attending Conventual Mass and praying for the Pope's intentions in their own Convent Church (Pope Paul V, 23 May 1606).

This privilege may have been extended to some Confraternities affiliated to these Orders.

The same interior of Sant'Agata dei Goti, (Saint Agatha of the Goths), Rome, as the photo, above. But this photo taken, circa, 1899. Taken from Web-site of University College, Cork, Ireland at 

http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Church_of_St_Agatha_Rome.

The Station is at the very ancient Sanctuary of Saint Pudentiana, erected on the site of the house of her father, the Senator, Pudens, mentioned by Saint Paul in his Epistles. Saint Pudentiana lived here with her sister, Saint Praxedes. Here, Saint Peter received hospitality and the first Christians often assembled.

In the 2nd-Century, this house seems to have been the residence of the Roman Pontiffs. For such reasons, it became one of the twenty-five Parish Churches of Rome in the 5th-Century. It was quite fitting to read there the Gospel in which Saint Peter asks Our Lord about the use of the power of the keys.

Santa Pudentiana, Rome.

Photo: August 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Luc.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The clemency of the Jews was content to forgive three times. Jesus, in the Gospel, says we are to forgive seventy times seven times, that is to say, always. Mercy, with the sacrifices which accompany it, forms part of the Lenten Penance.

Wherefore, the Epistle shows us, in the miraculous increase of a small quantity of oil at the word of Eliseus (by the sale of which a poor widow was enabled to pay a pitiless creditor) a figure of the mercy of the Saviour, whose infinite merits supply the ransom for our sins.

In order to participate in the effects of this Charity of Christ, we should, in our turn, exercise the same virtue. Then will the Church, in the name of Jesus, make use in our favour of the power of remission which she holds from her Head.

Let us atone for our sins and forgive our neighbour his sins against us. And then let us implore the God of mercy to grant us by His almighty power the pardon for our sins (Postcommunion).

"Saint Pudentiana being received into Heaven", by Bernardino Nocchi. 

Painting (1803) behind the High Altar of 
Santa Pudentiana, Rome, Italy.

Photo: April 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Georges Jansoone (JoJan)

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church of Santa Pudenziana (Pudentiana) is recognised as the oldest place of Christian worship in Rome. It was built over a 2nd-Century house (probably during the pontificate of Pope Pius I (140 A.D. – 155 A.D.)) and re-uses part of a Baths facility, still visible in the structure of the Apse. 

This Church was the residence of the Pope until, in 313 A.D., Emperor Constantine offered them the Lateran Palace. 

In the 4th-Century, during the pontificate of Pope Siricius, the building was transformed into a Three-Naved Church. In the Acts of the Synod of 499 A. D., the Church bears the Titulus "Pudentis", indicating that the administration of the Sacraments was allowed.

"Christ delivering the keys of Heaven to Saint Peter" (1594) 

by the architect and sculptor, Giacomo della Porta.

Saint Peter Chapel in the 
Church of Santa Pudenziana, Rome, Italy.

Photo: April 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Georges Jansoone (JoJan)

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Saint Peter Chapel, on the left side of the Apse, contains a part of the table at which Saint Peter would have held the celebration of the Eucharist in the house of Saint Pudens. The rest of the table is embedded in the Papal Altar of Saint John Lateran. 

In the same Chapel, there are two bronze slabs in the wall, explaining that here Saint Peter was given hospitality and that he offered, for the first time in Rome, bread and wine as a consecration of the Eucharist. The Pavement is ancient. A door opens into a Cortile (Courtyard) with a small Chapel that contains frescoes from the 11th-Century.

Main entrance to Saint Pudentiana's, Rome.

Photo: November 2005.

Source: Own work.

Author: Panairjdde

(Wikimedia Commons)

Caetani Chapel: This Chapel for the Caetani family (family of Pope Boniface VIII) was designed by Capriano da Volterra in 1588 and, after his death in 1601, was completed by Carlo Maderno. The mosaics on the floor are notable. The columns are of Lumachella marble. The Relief (1599), above the Altar, is by Pier Paolo Olivieri and depicts The Adoration of the Magi. Giovanni Paolo Rossetti painted Saint Praxedes and Saint Pudentiana collecting the Blood of the Martyrs in 1621. He also painted the fresco of The Evangelist in the Ceiling, to a design by Federico Zuccari.

"Saints Praxedes and Pudentiana 
collecting the Blood of the Martyrs" (1621)

by Giovanni Paolo Rossetti. 

The Caetani Chapel, 
Church of Santa Pudentiana, Rome.

Photo: April 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Georges Jansoone (JoJan)

(Wikimedia Commons)

The statue of Saint Pudentiana, in a niche, is by Claude Adam, dating from, circa, 1650. The Sisters’ Well stands just outside the Caetani Chapel, in the left Aisle, and is said to contain the relics of 3,000 early Martyrs, many of which were brought here and hidden by Saints Pudentiana and Praxedes. This is marked by a square porphyry slab in the floor.

The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Pudentianae is Joachim Meisner. One of the former Cardinal Priests of this Basilica was Cardinal Luciano Bonaparte, great-nephew of the Emperor Napoleon I.

Trier Cathedral.

Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,

unless otherwise stated.

English: Trier Cathedral.

Deutsch: Trierer Dom.

Photo: 10 June 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Berthold Werner.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The High Cathedral of Saint Peter in Trier, Germany, (German: Hohe Domkirche St. Peter zu Trier) is a Roman Catholic Church in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the oldest Cathedral in the country. The edifice is notable for its extremely long life span under multiple different eras each contributing some elements to its design, including the centre of the main Chapel being made of Roman brick, laid under the direction of Saint Helen, resulting in a Cathedral added onto gradually, rather than rebuilt in different eras. Its dimensions, 112.5 metres by 41 metres, make it the largest Church structure in Trier. In 1986, it was Listed as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of Saint Peter and Church of Our Lady, in Trier. UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Catholic Cathedral of Trier, Germany, at night.

Photo: 18 December 2004.

Source: Own work.

Author: Benutzer:Josef Thiel.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Cathedral is raised upon the foundations of Roman buildings of Augusta Treverorum. Following the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, the Bishop Maximin of Trier (329 A.D. - 346 A.D.) co-ordinated the construction of the grandest ensemble of ecclesiastical structures in the West outside of Rome; on a ground-plan four times the area of the present Cathedral, no less than four Basilicas, a Baptistery, and outbuildings, were constructed; the four Piers of The Crossing formed the nucleus of the present structure.

The 4th-Century structure was left in ruins by the Franks and re-built. Normans destroyed the structure again in 882 A.D. Under Archbishop Egbert (†993 A.D.), it was restored once more.

The West Vault

of Trier Cathedral.

Photo: 10 May 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Han Wang.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The West Front, in five symmetrical sections, remains typical of Romanesque architecture under the Salian Emperors. The West End Choir, with its Apsidal semi-cylinder expressed on the exterior façade, was completed in 1196. The Interior is of three Romanesque Naves, with Gothic Vaulting, and a Baroque Chapel for the Relic of the Seamless Robe of Jesus, recovered from the Interior of the High Altar in 1512.

English: Trier Cathedral seen from the Cloisters.

Deutsch: Trierer Dom vom Kreuzgang ausgesehen.

Photo: 16 July 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Kelisi.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Latin inscription, above the clock on the Tower, reads "NESCITIS QVA HORA DOMINVS VENIET" ("You do not know what time the Lord is coming"). The skull of Saint Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, is displayed in the Cathedral.

Deutsch: Innenansicht des Trierer Doms.

English: Interior of Trier Cathedral.

Photo: 16 April 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: LoKiLeCh.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Deutsch: Innenansicht des Trierer Doms.

English: Interior of Trier Cathedral.

Photo: 16 April 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: LoKiLeCh.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Deutsch: Trierer Dom, Blick vom Eingang

der Heilig-Rock-Kapelle in das Schiff.

English: Interior of Trier Cathedral, Germany.

Photo: 1 May 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Elke Wetzig (Elya).

(Wikimedia Commons)