Lenten Station At St. Cecilia's

Non-Italic Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for Wednesday of the Second Week in Lent
Italic Text taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)
Pictures taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)
Station at St. Cecilia's
Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines
Violet Vestments

 

The altar at Santa Cecilia, Rome

The Station is at the Sanctuary where the body of the illustrious Roman Virgin, Saint Cecilia, rests. It was there she lived and died a Martyr. In the 5th-Century, this Church was mentioned as one of the most celebrated parochial or titular Churches of Rome. It is situated in Trastevere. It was customary to read in this Church the Gospel in which Jesus tells to a woman it is necessary to drink His chalice, if one is to participate in His glory.

We read at the Epistle the Prayer of Mardochai, in favour of the Jewish people, whom the impious Aman had determined to destroy. He implored the Lord to turn their sadness into joy. The Christian people, in the same way, are mourning in their Lenten Penance and are looking forward to the holy Paschal joys. But, to deserve them, as the Gospel tells us, we must first drink the chalice of the One who came to shed His blood to redeem us and who will make us sharers in His resurrection, if we die to our sins.

Let us abstain from the food which sustains our bodies, and from the vices which poison our Souls (Collect).

Facade of Santa Cecilia, a 1725 project by Ferdinando Fuga, 

with the 12th century belltower

The first Church on this site was founded, probably in the 3rd-Century, by Pope Urban I; it was devoted to the Roman Martyr, Cecilia, (martyred, it is said, under Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander) by the late 5th-Century, for in the Synod of 499 A. D. of Pope Symmachus, the Church is indicated with the Titulus Ceciliae. Tradition holds that the Church was built over the house of the saint. The baptistery associated with this Church, together with the remains of a Roman house of the early Empire, was found during some excavations under the Chapel of the Relics. On 22 November 545 A. D., Pope Vigilius was celebrating the saint in the Church, when the emissary of Empress Theodora, Antemi Scribone, captured him.

The Church has a façade built in 1725 by Ferdinando Fuga, which incloses a courtyard decorated with ancient mosaics, columns and a cantharus (water vessel). Its decoration includes the coat of arms and the dedication to the titular cardinal who paid for the facade, Francesco Cardinal Acquaviva d'Aragona.

Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia, by Stefano Maderno, 

one of the most famous examples of Baroque sculpture

Pope Paschal I rebuilt the Church in 822 A. D., and moved here the relics of Saint Cecilia from the catacombs of St Calixtus. More restorations followed in the 18th-Century.

Among the most remarkable works is the graphic altar sculpture of Saint Cecilia (1600 A.D.) by the late-Renaissance sculptor, Stefano Maderno. This sculpture reportedly is modelled on the saint's body as seen in 1595, when her tomb was opened. The statue subtly depicts the saint's decapitation. In addition, it also it is meant to underscore the supposed incorruptibility of her cadaver (an attribute of some saints), which miraculously still had congealed blood after centuries. This statue could be conceived as proto-Baroque, since it depicts no idealized moment or person, but a theatric scene, a naturalistic representation of a dead or dying saint. It is striking, because it precedes by decades the similar high-Baroque sculptures of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (for example, his Beata Ludovica Albertoni) and Melchiorre Caffà (Santa Rosa de Lima).

The crypt is also noteworthy, decorated with cosmatesque style, keeping the relics of Saint Cecilia and Saint Valerian.

The Cardinal priest of the Titulus Santa Caeciliae is Carlo Maria Martini. Among the previous titulars are Pope Stephen III, Adam Easton, Thomas Wolsey and Giuseppe Maria Doria Pamphili.

Lenten Station At St. Balbina's

Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for the Tuesday of the Second Week in Lent
Pictures taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)
Station at St. Balbina's
Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines
Violet Vestments

 Facade of Santa Balbina

The Station is at the Sanctuary of Saint Balbina, a Roman Virgin who lived in the 2nd-Century and whose remains lie under the altar with those of her father, the martyr Saint Quirinus. This Church, which stands on a slope of the Aventine, was, in the 5th-Century, one of the twenty-five Parish Churches of Rome. Formerly, it was the house of a Roman lady, named Balbina, who was martyred during the persecution of Trajan.

The reason for the choice of this Church is explained by the Epistle, which speaks of the widow of Sarephta. Thus, is celebrated, the faith of one who transformed her residence into a Church.

Jesus declares in the Gospel that the Jews, who taught the Law of Moses, did not observe it. On the other hand, the Kingdom of God is open to the heathen, who, by Baptism, become disciples of Christ and do His works.

Interior of Santa Balbina

The Epistle tells of Elias going to a heathen widow woman of Sarephta to ask for nourishment, when a drought had fallen on impenitent Israel. The widow took two pieces of wood, typical of the cross of Jesus, and prepared a hearth cake for the Prophet and one for herself.. Her compassion was rewarded, for never after did she want for bread. Whereas the Jews suffer from the scarcity, the Gentiles, as a reward for their fidelity, receive daily the Eucharistic bread, which applies to them the merits gained for them by the Saviour on the Cross.

Let us pray that God may grant us the grace of perseverance in the observance of the fast, of which He has set us an example (Colletc).

Basilica di San Clemente

Taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)

 Facade of San Clemente

The Basilica of Saint Clement (Italian: Basilica di San Clemente al Laterano) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement I, located in Rome, Italy. Archaeologically-speaking, the structure is a three-tiered complex of buildings: (1) the present basilica built just before the year 1100 during the height of the Middle Ages; (2) beneath the present basilica is a 4th-Century basilica that had been converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman, part of which had in the 1st-Century briefly served as an early church, and the basement of which had in the 2nd-Century briefly served as a mithraeum; (3) the home of the Roman nobleman had been built on the foundations of a republican era building that had been destroyed in the Great Fire of 64 A. D.

This ancient Church was transformed over the centuries from a private home that was the site of clandestine Christian worship in the 1st-Century to a grand public basilica by the 6th-Century, reflecting the emerging Catholic Church's growing legitimacy and power. The archaeological traces of the basilica's history were discovered in the 1860s by Joseph Mullooly.[1]

The lowest levels of the present basilica are remnants of the foundation of a republican era building that was destroyed in the Great Fire of 64 A.D. A new house was built on those foundations shortly thereafter. At this time, the home was owned by the family of Roman consul and martyr, Titus Flavius Clemens, who was one of the first among the Roman senatorial class to convert to Christianity. Clemens allowed his house to be used as a secret gathering place for fellow Christians, the religion being outlawed at the time.

The Cloisters at San Clemente

An insula, or apartment complex, in the basement of the same building was used around 180 A.D.- 220 A.D. as part of a mithraeum, that is, as part of a sanctuary of the cult of Mithras. The main cult room (the speleum, "cave",[2] which is about 9.6m long and 6m wide, was discovered in 1867 but could not be investigated until 1914 due to lack of drainage.[3] The exedra, the shallow apse at the far end of the low vaulted space, was trimmed with pumice to render it more cave-like. Ventilation was provided by seven holes in the ceiling.

Central to the main room of the sanctuary was found an altar, in the shape of a sarcophagus, and with the main cult relief of the tauroctony, Mithras slaying a bull, on its front face.[4] The torchbearers Cautes and Cautopates appear on respectively the left and right faces of the same monument. A dedicatory inscription identifies the donor as one pater Cnaeus Arrius Claudianus, perhaps of the same clan as Titus Arrius Antoninus' mother. Other monuments discovered in the sanctuary include a bust of Sol[5] kept in the sanctuary in a niche near the entrance, and a figure of Mithras petra generix,[6] i.e. Mithras born of the rock. Fragments of statuary of the two torch bearers were also found .[7] One of the rooms adjoining the main chamber has two oblong brickwork enclosures,[8] one of which was used as a ritual refuse pit for remnants of the cult meal. All three monuments mentioned above are still on display in the mithraeum. A fourth monument, – a statue of St. Peter found in the speleum's vestibule and still on display there – is not of the mysteries.

At some time in the 4th-Century, the former home of the Clemens family was extended and converted into a Church, for which were acquired the adjoining insula and other nearby buildings. The basement level was filled in, and the upper level of the house's courtyard became the central nave of the church, with upper rooms becoming the side aisles and the apse lying approximately over the former mithraeum. This "first basilica" is known to have existed in 392 A.D., when Saint. Jerome wrote of the Church dedicated to Saint Clement, i.e. Pope Clement I, a 1st-Century A.D. Christian convert and considered by patrologists and ecclesiastical historians to be identical with Titus Flavius Clemens. Restorations were undertaken in the 9th-Century and 1080 A.D.- 1099 A.D.[9]

 

 The ceiling of San Clemente

Apart from those in Santa Maria Antiqua, the largest collection of Early-Medieval wall paintings are to be found in the lower basilica of San Clemente.[10] Among these, there is one of the earliest examples of the passage from Latin to vernacular Italian: a fresco of around 1100 A.D. depicts the pagan Sisinnius and his servants, who think they have captured Saint Clement, but are dragging a column instead; Sisinnius encourages the servants in Italian "Fili de le pute, traite! Gosmari, Albertel, traite! Falite dereto colo palo, Carvoncelle!",[11] which, translated into English, means: "Come on, you sons of bitches, pull! Come on, Gosmari, Albertello, pull! Carvoncello, you put that lever under it!" The saint speaks in Latin, in a cross-shaped inscription: "Duritiam cordis vestris, saxa trahere meruistis", which means "You deserved to drag stones due to the insensitivity of your hearts."

Over the next several centuries, San Clemente became a beacon for church artists and sculptors, benefitting from Imperial largesse.

The early basilica was the site of Councils presided over by Pope Zosimus (417 A.D.) and Symmachus (499 A.D.). The last major event that took place in the lower basilica was the election in 1099 A.D. of Cardinal Rainerius of St Clemente as Pope Paschal II.

Apse mosaic, San Clemente, c.1200 A.D., showing a common form of Byzantine arabesque motif of scrolled acanthus tendrils

The current basilica was rebuilt in one campaign by Cardinal Anastasius, ca 1099 A.D.-ca. 1120 A.D., after the original Church was burned out during the Norman sack of the city under Robert Guiscard in 1084 A. D.[12] Today, it is one of the most richly adorned churches in Rome. The ceremonial entrance (a side entrance is ordinarily used today) is through an atrium (B on plan) surrounded by arcades, which now serves as a cloister, with conventual buildings surrounding it. Fronting the atrium is Fontana's chaste facade, supported on antique columns, and his little campanile (illustration). The basilica church behind it is in three naves divided by arcades on ancient marble or granite columns, with Cosmatesque inlaid paving. The 12th-Century schola cantorum (E on plan) incorporates marble elements from the original basilica. Behind it, in the presbytery is a ciborium (H on plan) raised on four gray-violet columns over the shrine of Clement in the crypt below. The episcopal seat stands in the apse, which is covered with mosaics on the theme of the Triumph of the Cross that are a high point of Roman 12th-Century mosaics.

Irish Dominicans have been the caretakers of San Clemente since 1667 A.D., when England outlawed the Irish Catholic Church and expelled the entire clergy. Pope Urban VIII gave them refuge at San Clemente, where they have remained, running a residence for Priests studying and teaching in Rome. The Dominicans themselves conducted the excavations in the 1950s in collaboration with Italian archaeology students.

Interior of San Clemente

On one wall in the courtyard, there is a plaque affixed by Pope Clement XI, who praises San Clemente, declaring, "This ancient Church has withstood the ravages of the centuries." Clement undertook restorations to the venerable structure, which he found dilapidated. He selected Carlo Stefano Fontana, nephew of Carlo Fontana as architect, who erected a new facade, completed in 1719 A. D..[13] The carved and gilded coffered ceilings of nave and aisles, fitted with paintings, date from this time, as do the stucco decor, Ionic capitals and frescos.

In one lateral chapel, there is a shrine with the tomb of Saint Cyril of the Saints Cyril and Methodius who created the Glagolitic alphabet and Christianized the Slavs. Pope John Paul II used to pray there sometimes for Poland and the Slavic countries [1]. The chapel also holds a Madonna by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato.

Current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Clementi is Adrianus Johannes Simonis, archbishop emeritus of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Pope Paschal II (1076–1099) was one of the previous holders of the titulus.

Lenten Station At St. Clement's

 Non-Italic Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for the Monday of the Second Week in Lent
Pictures and Italic Text taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)

Station at St. Clement's

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines

Violet Vestments

 Basilica of Saint Clement

Basilica di San Clemente al Laterano (Italian)

The Station is at the Church of Saint Clement, built above the very house of the third successor of Saint Peter, whose name is found in the Canon of the Mass. This Sanctuary, a Parish of Rome in the 5th-Century, is a most faithful example of an old Roman Basilica, although it was rebuilt in the 11th-Century. There are found, under the altar, the remains of the holy martyr and of Saint Ignatius of Antioch.

Our Lord foretells in the Gospel that the Jews will lift Him up on the cross, and thrice He asserts that they will die in their sin, because they have not believed in Him and done His works.

Apse mosaic at Saint Clement's

The wrath of God, which fell a first time on Jerusalem at the time of the captivity of Babylon (Epistle), was renewed against Israel at the burning of the Temple. Like guilty Christians, they would only be able to return to the Lord by Penance, while the heathen are called, instead, to believe in Jesus, to become part of His people by Baptism.

“Let us mortify our flesh by abstinence from food and let us fast from sin by following justice” (Collect).

The Basilica of San Clemente is a complex of buildings in Rome centred around a 12th-Century Roman Catholic church dedicated to Pope Clement I. The site is notable as being an archaeological record of Roman architectural, political and religious history from the early Christian era to the Middle Ages.

Lenten Station At St. Mary's in Domnica

Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for the Second Sunday in Lent

Pictures taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)

Station at St. Mary's in Domnica

Semi-Double

Privilege of the First Class

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines

Violet Vestments

Italiano: Santa Maria in Domnica (detta anche Santa Maria alla Navicella) è una basilica paleocristiana di Roma.
English: Santa Maria in Domnica is a Church of Rome founded in the 

7th-Century, then rebuilt by Pope Paschal I (817 A. D.). 

The Station at Rome is in the Church of St. Mary's in Domnica, because, in former times, the Christians gathered there on Sundays in the house of the Lord (Dominicum). It is said to have been here that Saint Laurence distributed the goods of the Church to the poor. It is one of the 5th-Century Parishes of Rome.

Just as on Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sundays, the subject matter of the Divine Office forms the texture of the Masses for the Second, Third and Fourth Sundays of Lent, in such a way, that past ages still carry on their work of illustrating the Paschal mystery and so preparing us for it. And, indeed, Our Lord's ancestors, according to the flesh, are types of both Him and His Church.

Today, in the Breviary, we read of the Patriarch, Jacob, model of the most complete trust in God in the midst of all adversities. The Holy Scriptures often call Jehovah the God of Jacob or Israel, when He is referred to as the protector of His people. In the Introit, we say "O God of Israel deliver us from all our tribulations".

Interior of Santa Maria in Domnica

It is, then, to the God of Jacob, the God of those who serve Him, that the Church addresses herself today. In the Introit, we read that he who puts his trust in God will never be ashamed. In the Collect, we ask almighty God to keep us, both inwardly and outwardly, that we may be preserved from all adversities.

In the Gradual and Tract, we beseech Our Lord that He will deliver us from our troubles and adversities and "visit us with His salvation". The life of the Patriarch, Jacob, could not be summed up in a better way; he whom God always helped in the midst of his trouble and, in whom, as Saint Ambrose says, "we must acknowledge singular courage and great patience in labours and trials".

Jacob was chosen by almighty God to be the heir of His promises, just as formerly He had selected Isaac, Abraham, Sem and Noah. The name "Jacob" really means "Supplanter", and he fulfilled the meaning of his name when he bought the first birthright of his brother, Esau, from him for a mess of pottage, and obtained, by a trick, that blessing of the elder son which his father meant to give to Esau. His father, Isaac (whose sight was impaired), blessed indeed his younger son, Jacob, after having touched his hands, which Rebecca (Jacob's mother) had covered with goatskins. Isaac said to Jacob: "Let peoples serve thee. . . and be thou lord of thy brethren".

Interior of Santa Maria in Domnica

Further, when Jacob had to flee, to escape Esau's vengeance, he saw in a dream a ladder, reaching to Heaven, upon which the angels ascended and descended. At the head of the ladder was the Lord, who told him: "In thee and thy seed all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed. And I will be thy keeper whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee back into this land; neither will I leave thee, till I shall have accomplished all that I have said."

After twenty years, Jacob returned to his own land; then an angel wrestled with him all night, without overpowering him, and in the morning told him: "Thy name shall not be called "Jacob", but "Israel"; for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shall thou prevail against men ?" Jacob gained his brother's confidence and they were reconciled.

Every feature of the history of this Patriarch is typical of Christ and the Church in the Paschal mystery. Saint Augustine writes: "The blessing which Isaac gave Jacob, has a symbolic meaning in which the goatskins represent sins, while Jacob clothed in these skins is the figure of Him, Who, having no sins of His own, bore those of others." In somewhat the same way, a Bishop uses gloves at a Pontifical Mass and says in effect, that Jesus was offered for us in the likeness of the flesh of sin. Saint Leo, in his exposition, says: "That for the restoration of the human race, His unchangeable Divinity stooped to take the form of a slave and that this is why Our Lord promised, in formal and precise terms, that some of His disciples should not "taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom," that is, in the royal glory which belongs spiritually to His adopted human nature, a glory which the Lord willed to reveal to His three disciples; since "although they were aware of the Divine majesty , which lay hidden within Him, they were ignorant of the possibilities of the very Body  which clothed the Divinity".

Apsidal mosaic of Santa Maria in Domnica

Again, on the holy mountain, where Our Lord was transfigured, a voice was heard saying: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased. Hear ye Him." So, God the Father blesses His Son, clothed with our sinful flesh, as Isaac blessed Jacob, clothed with the goatskins, which blessing given to Christ is given also to the Gentiles, just as Jacob was blessed in preference to his elder brother.

When the Bishop puts on his pontifical gloves, he addresses the following Prayer to almighty God: "Encompass my hands, O God, with the purity of the New Man come down from Heaven, that, as Jacob, who had covered himself with goatskins, obtained his father's blessing, having offered him meats and good wine, so also may I, offering to Thee the victim of salvation at my hands, obtain the blessing of thy grace. Through Our Lord."

It is in Christ that we are blessed by the Father. He is our elder brother and our head. To Him must we listen for He has chosen us for His people. "We pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus," says Saint Paul, "that, as you have received from us, how you ought to walk and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more. For you know what precepts I have given you by the Lord Jesus. . . For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification in Christ Jesus Our Lord" (Epistle).

The ceiling of Santa Maria in Domnica

In Saint John's Gospel, Our Lord applies the vision of Jacob's ladder to Himself, to show that in the midst of the persecutions, of which He was the object, He was constantly under the protection of almighty God and His angels. So, Saint Hippolytus says: "As Esau planned his brother's death, so the Jews plotted against Christ and the Church. Jacob must needs fly into a far country; in the same way, Christ, thrust out by the unbelief of His own nation, had to depart into Galilee, where the Church, sprung from the race of Gentiles, is given to Him as His Spouse." Moreover, at the end of time, these two peoples will be reconciled, as were Esau and Jacob.

Today's Mass, then, taken in connection with the Breviary Lessons for this week, acquires its full sense and helps us to understand the true meaning for us of the Paschal mystery which we are about to celebrate. Jacob beheld the God of Glory; the Apostles saw Jesus transfigured; soon, the Church will show us the risen Saviour.

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

Lenten Station At St. Peter's

Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for Saturday of Ember Week in Lent

Pictures taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)

Station at St. Peter's

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines

Violet Vestments

Interior of St. Peter's Basilica by Giovanni Paolo Pannini

The Station for Saturday of Ember Week is always at the great Basilica erected by Constantine and rebuilt by the Popes in the Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Centuries. It is on the hill of the Vatican on the spot where St. Peter died on the cross and where his body rests. Besides, the Gospel is about the Transfiguration, of which St. Peter was the chief witness.

It was in this Basilica that Ordinations took place, preceded, during the night, by twelve Lessons. We have a trace of these Lessons in those occurring in the Mass for today. The Introit verse alludes to this nocturnal vigil: "I have cried in the day and in the night before Thee."

St. Peter's Basilica from the River Tiber. 

The iconic dome dominates the skyline of Rome

Like the Apostles selected to be present on Mount Thabor at the manifestation of the divine life of Jesus (Gospel), the new Priests will ascend the steps of the altar to enter into communication with God. It is they who, in His name, will exhort us to Prayer, to Patience and to Charity.

If we abstain during Lent from even the appearance of evil, our Souls and our bodies will be preserved unstained for the day of the eternal Pasch, when Christ (Epistle) will allow us to participate in the glory of His Transfiguration for all eternity.

Let us pray to God to fortify us with His blessing so that, during this Lent, we may never depart from His holy will (Prayer Over The People).

Santi Apostoli. The Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles in Rome

Taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)

Basilica dei Santi Apostoli 

Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles

Santi XII Apostoli (Italian)

View of the Church from the Vittoriano

The Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles (Italian: Santi XII Apostoli, Latin: SS. XII Apostolorum) is a 6th century Roman Catholic parish and titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, dedicated originally to St. James and St. Philip and later to all Apostles. Today, the basilica is under the care of the Conventual Franciscans, whose headquarters in Rome is in the adjacent building.

The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus XII Apostolorum is Angelo Scola. Among the previous Cardinal Priests are Pope Clement XIV, whose tomb by Canova is in the basilica, and Henry Benedict Stuart.

Built by Pope Pelagius I to celebrate a Narses victory over the Ostrogoths, and dedicated by Pope John III to Saint John the Apostle and Saint Philip the Apostle, the basilica is listed as 'Titulus SS Apostolorum' in the acts of the synod of 499. Santi Apostoli was ruined by the earthquake of 1348, and left abandoned.

 

Baroque ceiling in Santi Apostoli

In 1417, Pope Martin V, whose Colonna family owned the adjacent Palazzo Colonna, restored the church, while the facade was built at the end of the same century by Baccio Pontelli. It was frescoed by Melozzo da Forlì whose wall-paintings at Santi Apostoli were renowned for their innovative techniques of foreshortening and came to be regarded as Melozzo's masterpiece.

Pope Clement XI instigated dramatic renovations of the church. Melozzo's frescoes were either destroyed or moved partly to the Quirinal and partly to the Vatican Museums. A new Baroque interior was designed by Carlo Fontana and Francesco Fontana, and was completed in 1714. The church was later restored again, with the facade completed by Giuseppe Valadier in 1827.

This church has three naves, divided by a row of Corinthian pillars, supporting the ceiling, on the middle of which is painted in 1707 the Triumph of the Order of St Francis, by Baciccio. There are also frescoes of the Evangelists by Luigi Fontana. The use of perspective is very good, and the angels appear to come out of the vault. Above the sanctuary is a fresco from 1709 by Giovanni Odazzi, representing the "Fall of Lucifer and his Angels".

 

Fresco from the apse of Santi Apostoli by Melozzo

To the right of the high altar are the tombs of Count Giraud de Caprières (died 1505) and Cardinal Raffaele Riario (died 1474), tentatively attributed to Michelangelo. To the left is a monument to Cardinal Riario, by the school of Andrea Bregno and possible designed by Andrea Bregno himself. There is also a Madonna by Mino da Fiesole.

On the wall, to the right of the portico of the ancient church, is an antique bas-relief of an eagle surrounded by an oak crown thagt it holds in its talons. Opposite is the monument of the engraver Giovanni Volpato executed and erected by his friend and countryman Antonio Canova. It consists of a large bas-relief, representing "Friendship" in the form of a woman weeping before the bust of the deceased Volpato.[2]

On a pier of the nave on the right-hand side, near the first chapel, is enshrined the heart of Maria Klementyna Sobieska, wife of the Old Pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart. Her tomb is in St Peter's Basilica. Her monument is by Filippo della Valle. Her husband used to pray here every morning. James III was laid in state here himself in 1766, before he was buried with his wife at St Peter's.

 

 

Fresco (Apotheosis of the Franciscan Order, 1707), Basilica Santi XII Apostoli

Melozzo da Forlì painted, on the ceiling of the great chapel, the Ascension of our Lord. According to Giorgio Vasari, "the figure of Christ is so admirably foreshortened as to appear to pierce the vault; and in the same manner the angels are seen sweeping through the field of air in two opposite directions." [3] This painting was executed for Cardinal Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV about the year 1472. During the dramatic renovation of the church, it was removed and placed in the Quirinal Palace in 1711, where it is still seen, bearing this inscription: "Opus Melotii Foroliviensis, qui summos fornices pingendi artem vel primus invenit vel illustravit". Several heads of the apostles which surrounded it, and were likewise cut away, were deposited in the Vatican palace.

The twelve chapels in total, with three domed ones on each side, are adorned with marbles and fine paintings; the painting in the first chapel to the right, is by Nicola Lapiccola; and that in the next, by Corrado Giaquinto. The Chapel of St. Anthony contains eight fine marble columns, and a painting by Benedetto Luti.

The first chapel on the right-hand side is the Chapel of the Immaculate. It has a 15th century Madonna donated by Cardinal Bessarion (1403–1472).

 

 

Main Altar, Santi Apostoli

The Chapel of the Crucifixion on the right-hand side is divided into a nave and two aisles. The 8 columns are from the 6th-century church. The tomb of Raffaele della Rovere (died 1477), brother of Pope Sixtus IV and father of Pope Julius II, is found in the chapel on the left side of the crypt. It was designed by Andrea Bregno.

The confessio was constructed in 1837. During its construction, the relics of St James and St Philip, which were taken from the catacombs in the 9th century to protect them from invaders, were rediscovered. The wall paintings are reproductions of ancient catacomb paintings. An inscription explains that Pope Stephen IV walked barefoot in 886 from the catacombs to the church carrying the relics on his shoulders. The other chapels were decorated 1876-1877.

Pope Clement XIV (1769–1774) is buried in the last chapel on the left side, near the door of the sacristy. His Neo-Classical tomb is by Antonio Canova, made in 1783-1787. Besides the statue of that Pope, there are two uncommonly fine figures of "Temperance" and "Clemency". This was the first major work Canova did in Rome.

 

 

Interior, Santi Apostoli

Beyond the sacristy is the chapel of St. Francis, painted by Giuseppe Chiari. On the altar of the following chapel, The second chapel on the left has an altarpiece from 1777 by Giuseppe Cades, depicting Saint Joseph of Cupertino. The two columns of verde antico, green marble, are the largest known in that type of stone[citation needed]. The "Descent of the Cross", on the altar of the last chapel, is a famous work of Francesco Manno.

On the second pillar on the left side is the epitaph of Cardinal Bessarion, and a 16th century portrait of him. His mortal remains were moved here in 1957.

For a short time, the basilica housed the tomb of Michelangelo, before its transportation to the Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze. Upon the death of James Francis Edward Stuart, his body lay in repose here in 1776 before he was buried with his wife at St. Peter's Basilica.

Lenten Station at the Church of The Twelve Apostles

Pictures taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)

Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for Friday of Ember Week in Lent

Station at the Church of The Twelve Apostles

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines

Violet Vestments

 The Church of The Twelve Apostles, Rome

On the Friday in Ember Week, the Station was always made in the Church of the Twelve Apostles, situated at the foot of the Quirinal, for the examination of candidates for ordination. Thus were the future Priests and Deacons put under the protection of the whole Apostolic College.

This Basilica, one of the oldest in Rome, was built shortly after the time of Constantine by Pope Julius I, on the occasion of the translation of the bodies of the Apostles Philip and James the Less, which rested there. Pope John III (561 A.D. to 574 A.D.) made of it a Votive Monument for the freeing of Rome from the Goths of Totila.

Interior of the Basilica of Santi Apostoli, Rome

Addressing herself to the public penitents in the first centuries of Christianity, the Church told them, by the mouth of Ezechiel, that God was ready to forgive them because they repented (Epistle). Like the sick, who assembled in the porches of the pond situated on the North of the Temple in Jerusalem, they waited at the doors of the Church, and on the great day of the Sabbath, which is the Feast of Easter, Jesus cured them, as He healed the paralytic, spoken of in the Gospel.

Our Souls, washed in the waters of Baptism, but since fallen back into sin, must atone for their faults, and Jesus, through the instrumentality of His Priests, will pardon them in the holy tribunal of Penance.

The excuse, “I have no man”, will not avail us, for if we remain stricken with the palsy of sin, it is because we do not have recourse to the ministry of Priesthood, which is always at our disposal.

Let us pray to Almighty God to “receive us with His kind assistance” (Collect), that our vices being “cleansed away” by Penance (Postcommunion), our Souls may once more be shown “the light of His grace” (Prayer Over The People).

Lenten Station At St. Laurence's in Panisperna

Pictures taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)

Non-Italic Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for Thursday of the First Week in Lent

Italic Text taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia)

Station at St. Laurence in Panisperna

Indulgence of 10 years and 10 Quarantines

Violet Vestments

 San Lorenzo in Panisperna

The Station at Rome was established by Pope Gregory II, in the old Church of St. Laurence in Panisperna, erected to the glory of the heroic Deacon on the very spot where he suffered martyrdom.

The Church reminds the Catechumens that, since the coming of Jesus, it is no longer the race of Israel alone that has the promise, but that all can enter the Church by Baptism and partake of the Eucharistic bread of the children of God.

If the heathen will solemnly deny the evil deeds of his fathers and practise the Christian law of Penance and Charity (Epistle), his Prayer will be granted, as was that of the woman who belonged to the accursed race of Canaan, but whose faith was great (Gospel).

Let us seek in the Eucharist the strength required to observe Lent. For it is our fasting, in conjunction with the sacrifice of Jesus, that will obtain for us salvation (Secret, Communion, Postcommunion).

Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Panisperna, Cappella di Santa Brigida

Church of Saint Laurence in Panisperna, Chapel of Saint Brigid

San Lorenzo in Panisperna, or San Lorenzo in Formoso, is a church on Via Panisperna, Rome, central Italy. It was built on the site of its dedicatee's martyrdom.
Panisperna most probably refers to the tradition of the Poor Clares in the adjacent convent of distributing bread and ham (pane e perna) on August 10, Lawrence's feast day, in remembrance of his distributing funds from the church to the poor. Formoso refers to Pope Formosus who built the first attested church here.

Tradition states that the first building was constructed during the reign of Emperor Constantine I, only 100 years after the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, though the first written evidence is from 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII rebuilt the church and annexed an abbey to it. That abbey was given to the Benedictines in 1451, and then had the Poor Clares settled in it by Cardinal Jacopo Colonna in 1896, who also restored the church and monastery. The Franciscans now serve the church. In the fifth century, this church was one of Rome's Stational Churches visited by the Pope on its titular day: the Thursday of the first week in Lent. Recent popes have revived this ancient custom.

The present church is a result of a rebuilding by Carlo Rainaldi in 1575-1576, under Pope Gregory XIII. It was at this time it became known as 'in Panisperna' rather than 'in Formoso', and that the present facade was built. A new outer portico was added in the 17th century, then restored and decorated with images of Sts Lawrence and Francis of Assisi in 1893-1894 by Pope Leo XIII who in 1843 had been ordained bishop in this church. Leo also added a steep flight of steps in front of the church, leading to a tree-lined courtyard. There is a modern bronze statue of St Bridget of Sweden here.

 

St. Laurence's martyrdom by Pasquale Cati di Jesi (1589) in the Church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna

A medieval house is preserved next to the church with an exterior staircase, one of the few such houses to have been preserved in Rome.

The church has a single nave with three chapels on each side.

• South side

1. Includes a painting of St Clare of Assisi (1756) by Antonio Nessi, and a ceiling fresco of Glory of St Lawrence by Antonio Bicchierai.
2. Contains the tomb of the brothers St Crispin and St Crispinianus, with a painting by Giovanni Francesco Romano.
3. Painting of the Immaculate Conception by Giuseppe Ranucci.

• North side

1. Painting of Stigmata of St Francis by Niccolò Lapiccola.
2. Chapel of St Bridget, where she was buried before her body was moved to Sweden. She had used to beg for alms for the poor outside this church, and prayed before the crucifix by the high altar. Now, a martyr named Victoria lies underneath the altar in the chapel. The painting of St Bridget Praying before the Crucifix is by Giuseppe Montesanti, and was painted in 1757.
3. Includes an 18th century crucifix of the Roman school.

Under its porch is a chapel containing the oven said to have been used for St. Lawrence's martyrdom. A late 16th century fresco of maryrdom of Saint Lawrence behind the high altar (said to be by Pasquale Cati, a mediocre pupil of Michelangelo) portrays the martyrdom. The crucifix by the high altar is from the 14th century.