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

Tuesday 6 March 2018

Tuesday Of The Third Week In Lent. Lenten Stations At The Basilica Of Saint Pudentiana And The Basilica Of Saint Agatha.



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

Tuesday of The Third Week in Lent.


Stations at Saint Pudentiana's and Saint Agatha's.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.




Basilica 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 the Basilica of Saint Agatha, 
Rome, Italy.
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 [Editor: Regular Clergy, as opposed to Secular Clergy] 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 previous photo, above. But the photo, here, was taken circa 1899. Taken from the Web-site of University College, Cork, Ireland at UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, CORK, IRELAND.


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 A.D., 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 A.D. 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.


Basilica of Santa Pudentiana, Rome.
Photo: August 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Luc.
(Wikimedia Commons)




English: Basiliica of Saint Agatha, 
Rome. Italy.
Deutsch: Roma, Sant'Agata dei Goti (rione Monti).
Photo: 25 May 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Pippo-b.
(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.



Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman. 
One-time Cardinal Priest of Santa Pudenziana, Rome.
Artist: Eduardo Cano de la Peña (1823–1897).
Date: 1865.
Current location: University of Seville, Spain.
Source/Photographer: [2]
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following paragraph is from THE FAR SIGHT
The first Archbishop of Westminster and also the first Cardinal resident in England
since The Reformation was Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman.



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).

Mass: Ego clamávi.



"Saint Pudentiana being received into Heaven".
Artist: 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 following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

The Church of Santa Pudenziana (Pudentiana) is recognised as the oldest place of Christian worship in Rome. It was built over a 2nd-Century A.D. 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 A.D., 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", 
by the architect Giacomo della Porta.
Date: 1594.
The 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.
Date: 1621.
Artist: Giovanni Paolo Rossetti.
Current location: 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.


The following three paragraphs are from THE CATHOLIC TRAVELER


The Station Churches of Rome.

Pilgrims who travel to Rome, during Lent, can participate in a beautiful custom that dates back to the 4th-Century A.D. It’s a custom that began as a way to strengthen the sense of community in the City, while honouring The Holy Martyrs of Rome.

The Faithful would journey through the streets to visit various Churches. As they walked, they would Pray The Litany of The Saints. The Bishop of Rome, that is The Holy Father (The Pope), would join them, lead them in Prayer and Celebrate Mass at the Church.

Though this practice was around for years, Pope Saint Gregory the Great established the order of the Churches to be visited, the Prayers to be recited, and designated this as a Lenten Practice. The Tradition continued until 1309, when the Papacy moved to Avignon, France. Pope Leo XIII revived the Tradition and it was fully restored by Pope Saint John XXIII in 1959.

Monday 5 March 2018

Monday Of The Third Week In Lent. Lenten Station At The Basilica Of Saint Mark's, Rome.



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

Monday of The Third Week in Lent.


Station at Saint Mark's, Rome.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.




English: Façade of the Basilica of Saint Mark's, Rome. 
To the Right, is the Palazzo Venezia,

the former See of The Embassy 
of The Republic of Venice, whose Protector was Saint Mark.
Italiano: Facciata della basilica di San Marco a Roma.
Photo: January 2006.
Author: Panairjdde.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Station is at Saint Mark’s, an ancient Parish Church of Rome, built in the 4th-Century A.D. by Pope Saint Mark in honour of his Patron, The Evangelist. Under the Altar lie the Remains of this Pope, with the bodies of The Holy Martyrs, Abdon and Sennen.

One cannot choose a better spot wherein to read this account of The Syrian, Naaman, than in this Sanctuary, so clearly Oriental, since Saint Mark is the Founder of The Patriarchal Seat of Alexandria, and Abdon and Sennen are Persians. This account of Naaman seems to make allusion to the Egyptians of Alexandria, whom Saint Mark healed from the leprosy of unbelief by Baptism.



Saint Ursula and her Companions, 
with Pope Ciriacus and Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
Artist: Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (1590–1625).
Date: 1608.
Current location: Basilica di San Marco, Rome. 
(Basilica of Saint Mark, Rome).
Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Epistle and the Gospel speak to us of Naaman, the valiant General of the King of Syria’s Army. He was cured by bathing in The Jordan, although he did not belong to the Race of Israel. Later on, Jesus was to plunge Himself into the same River and to communicate a Sanctifying Virtue to its waters.



The Nave, 
San Marco, Rome.
Photo: July 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: SteO153.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Naaman, therefore, is a figure of the heathen whom The Church, by Baptism, cures of the leprosy of sin. Peter, says Tertullian, has Baptised in The Tiber, and those that he has cleansed, from the leprosy of sin, have abandoned the waters of Damascus, by which is meant their sensual life.

Let us renew ourselves, in the spirit of our Baptism, by purifying our hearts in the salutary bath of Penitence. This will cure them of the leprosy of the Soul called sin.

Mass: In Deo.



The High Altar, 
Basilica of Saint Mark's, Rome.
Photo: July 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: SteO153.
Permission: CC-BY-SA-2.5.
(Wikimedia Commons)





English: The Organ of the Basilica of Saint Mark's, Rome.
Italiano: Roma, basilica di san Marco, Roma, controfacciata e organo.
Photo: October 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lalupa.
(Wikimedia Commons)



The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

In 336 A.D., Pope Saint Mark built a Church devoted to one of The Evangelists, his name-bearer Saint Mark, in a place called ad Pallacinas. The Church is recorded as Titulus Marci in The 499 A.D. Synod of Pope Symmachus. [At that time, it became one of The Stational Churches of The City (Monday of The Third Week in Lent)].

After Restoration, 792 A.D., by Pope Adrian I, the Church was rebuilt by Pope Gregory IV, 833 A.D.

Besides the addition of a Romanesque Bell-Tower in 1154, the major change in the architecture of the Church was ordered by Pope Paul II in 1465-1470, when the Interior and Exterior were re-styled according to the Renaissance taste. On that occasion, the Church was assigned to the Venetian people living in Rome, Pope Paul II being a Venetian by birth.




Pope Paul II (1464 - 1471) ordered the re-styling 
of the Basilica of Saint Mark's, Rome.
Artist: Cristofano dell'Altissimo (1525–1605).
Picture title: Pietrobarbo.
Source/Photographer: Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here.
Original uploader was Savidan at en.wikipedia, 2007-06-29 (original upload date).
(Wikimedia Commons)



The last major re-working of the Basilica was started in 1654-1657 and completed by Cardinal Angelo Maria Quirini in 1735-1750. With these Restorations, the Church received its current Baroque decoration.

The façade (1466) was built with Marble taken from The Colosseum and the Theatre of Marcellus, and is attributed to Leon Battista Alberti.




English: The Theatre of Marcellus, Rome, from which Marble 
was taken
to build the façade of the Basilica di San Marco a Roma.
Italiano: Il teatro di Marcello accanto al tempio di Apollo Sosiano (in Circo)
a Roma, 
ripreso dai piedi del Campidoglio, oltre la moderna via del Teatro di Marcello.
Photo: 2005.
Author: MM, uploaded to Italian wikipedia 09.05.2005.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The inside is clearly Baroque. However, the Basilica shows noteworthy elements of all its history.

The Apse mosaics, dating back to Pope Gregory IV, show the Pope, with the squared halo of a living person, offering a model of the Church to Christ, in the presence of Saint Mark The Evangelist, Pope Saint Mark and other Saints.

The wooden Ceiling, with the emblem of Pope Paul II, is one of only two original 15th-Century wooden Ceilings in Rome, together with the one at Santa Maria Maggiore.

Sunday 4 March 2018

The Third Sunday In Lent. The Lenten Station Is At The Basilica Of Saint Laurence-Without-The-Walls.




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

Third Sunday in Lent.


Station at Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Semi-Double.

Privilege of The First Class.

Violet Vestments.


(The spelling of this Saint's name can be either Laurence or Lawrence.)



Jesus casts out an unclean spirit.
Whereupon a woman, lifting up her voice cries:
"Blessed is the womb that bore Thee".
Artist: René de Cramer.
"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".
Used with Permission.





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)


The Station, today, is made at Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls, one of the first Patriarchal Basilicas of Rome, where are buried the bodies of the two Deacons, Laurence and Stephen. In the Collect for Saint Laurence's Feast (10 August), we Pray that the flame of our sins may be quenched within us, as the Saint overcame the fire of his torments; while, in that for Saint Stephen's Day, we undertake to love our enemies, like this Saint who Prayed for his persecutors.

Here are two virtues, Chastity and Charity, which were especially practised by the Patriarch Joseph, whose history The Church gives us this week in The Breviary. For Joseph resisted the evil solicitation of Potiphar's wife, while, on the other hand, he loved his brethren to the extent of rendering them good for evil.

When Joseph told his brethren the dreams, which foreshadowed his future greatness, they became filled with hatred against him, and at the first opportunity got rid of him by throwing him into a disused pit. After which, they sold him to some Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt and, after, sold him to an Egyptian noble named Potiphar. It was in this man's house that Joseph strenuously resisted the advances of his wife, thus becoming a great model of purity.



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)


Saint Ambrose says: "Today, it is the history of the pious Joseph which invites our attention. He possessed many virtues, yet he shone especially by his conspicuous Chastity. Rightly, therefore, is this holy Patriarch set before us as a Mirror of Chastity" (Matins).

When Joseph was cast into prison, having been unjustly accused by Potiphar's wife, turning to God in Prayer, he asked to be freed from his bonds. In similar terms, we say in the Introit: "My eyes are ever towards The Lord; for He shall pluck my feet out of the snare." And the Tract continues: "Behold, as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, so are our eyes unto The Lord our God, until He have mercy on us."

And, in the Collect, we speak of Almighty God, Who regards the desires of those who humble themselves, as stretching forth in our defence the Right-Hand of His Majesty. In this event, Pharao took Joseph from his prison, made him sit on his Right-Hand, and entrusted to him the government of his whole Kingdom; and when, through his gift of foreknowledge he predicted the famine which should last seven years, Pharao gave him the title "Saviour of the people." [Only once in the Gospels is this title given to Our Lord, namely, when He was speaking to the Samaritan woman, at Jacob's Well. The incident is recorded in the Gospel for Friday of this week, devoted, Liturgically-speaking, to the history of Joseph.]



Interior of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura
(Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls).


Then, Joseph's brethren came to Egypt and he told them: "I am Joseph, whom you sold. Be not afraid. God has brought everything to pass that I may be the means of preserving you from death." Jacob's happiness, at seeing his son again, was unbounded; and he came and lived with his sons in The Land of Gessen, which Joseph gave them.

Saint Ambrose says: "The jealousy of Joseph's brethren is at the bottom of all the facts which make up his history. Besides, it is recorded to teach us that a perfect man does not give the rein to his desire to avenge an outrage or to render evil for evil" (Matins).



English: Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls.
Fotografia Anderson, Rome - Catalogue # 110.
Italiano: Fotografia Anderson, Roma -
Numero di catalogo: 110.
Date: 1938.
Source: Own work (scan).
Author: Either James Anderson (1813-1877)
or his son Domenico Anderson (1854-1938).
(Wikimedia Commons)


Surely, in all this, we can recognise a type of Christ and His Church. Jesus, The Blessed Virgin's Son, is, in the highest degree, the model of Virginal Purity. And, in today's Gospel, we see Him contending in a special way with the unclean spirit. For so do Saint Matthew and Saint Luke describe the Devil, whom Our Lord cast out of The Dumb Man by The Finger of God, that is, by The Holy Ghost.

So does The Church drive out the same unclean spirit from the Souls of the Newly-Baptised. Lent was a time of Preparation for Baptism and, in administering this Sacrament, the Priest breathes three times on the person to be Baptised with the words: "Go out of the child, unclean spirit, and give place to The Holy Ghost."

Saint Bede, in his Commentary on this Gospel, says: "What then took place, visibly, is every day accomplished, invisibly, in the conversion of those who become Believers. First, the Devil is driven out of their Soul, then they perceive The Light of Faith; and, finally, their mouth, until then dumb, opens to Praise God" (Matins).



Pope Saint Pius X 
is buried at the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura

(Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls).
Date: between 1880 and 1900.
Source: Library of Congress, U.S.A.
Author: Tryphosa Bates Batcheller.
(Wikimedia Commons)


In the same sense, in today's Epistle, Saint Paul says: "No fornicator or unclean or covetous person hath inheritance in The Kingdom of Christ and of God. Fornication and all uncleanness, let it not so much as be named among you."

And it is especially at this Season of Combat against Satan that we must imitate Christ, of Whom Joseph was only the type.

With regard to the Virtue of Charity, of which this Patriarch has set us an example, the likeness to Christ and His Church is obvious enough. Our Lord, too, was hated by His own people and sold by one of His Apostles, and, when He was Dying on The Cross, He Prayed for His enemies.

He had recourse to God and God Glorified Him, making Him sit on His Right-Hand in His Kingdom. As Joseph distributed the corn of nature, so, at Easter, Jesus will distribute The Wheat of The Eucharist. We know that, as a condition of receiving Holy Communion,

The Church requires that Charity, of which an example was set by Saint Stephen when he pardoned his enemies, and whose Relics are kept in the Church where today's Station is held, the same Charity above all, which Our Lord practised in an heroic degree when He "delivered Himself for us" on The Cross, of which The Eucharist is the Constant Memorial.

Thus, Joseph, as a type of Our Lord, and today's Station, perfectly illustrate The Paschal Mystery for which The Liturgy prepares us at this Season.

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

Mass: Oculi mei.



Pope Pelagius II (579 A.D. - 590 A.D.) 
ordered the enlargement

of 
the 
Basilica of Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls.



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

The Papal Basilica of Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura) is a Roman Catholic Parish Church and Minor Basilica, located in Rome, Italy.

The Basilica is one of The Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and one of The Five Patriarchal Basilicas, each of which is assigned to a Patriarchate. Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls is assigned to The Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

The Papal Basilica is the Shrine Tomb of the Church's namesake, Saint Laurence, one of the first Seven Deacons of Rome, Martyred in 258 A.D. Blessed Pope Pius IX, awaiting Canonisation into Sainthood, is also buried at the Basilica.




Basilica of Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls, 
Rome, Italy 
(pre-1943 bombing raid of Rome).



English: The Cloisters, Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls.

Italiano: Roma , San Lorenzo fuori le mura: interno del chiostro.
Photo: 16 July 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: user:Lalupa.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The following three paragraphs are taken from TRANSALPINE REDEMPTORISTS


The Laurentian Basilica owes its Foundation to Emperor Constantine, but, being considered too small, a large Upper Aula was added to it by Pope Pelagius II (578 A.D. - 590 A.D.) and Dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary.

For this reason, Pope Leo IV (847 A.D. - 855 A.D.) decreed that The Station for The Octave of The Assumption should be held here.

The Gospel of today alludes to this Dedication by Praising The Great Mother of God, who, not only gave Her Own Substance to form The Sacred Humanity of The Lord's Anointed, but was, on her part, nourished Spiritually by The Divine Word and lived thereby.




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