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)

Lenten Station At The Basilica Of Saint Mark's. Monday 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: 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.

Italian: 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 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.

Artist: Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (1590–1625).

Title: Saint Ursula and her companions with Pope Ciriacus 

and Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

Date: 1608.

Current location: Basilica di San Marco, Rome.

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

(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.

Interior. San Marco, Rome.

Photo: July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: SteO153

Permission: CC-BY-SA-2.5

(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, called sin.

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)

Italiano: Roma, basilica di san Marco, controfacciata e organo.

English: The organ of the Basilia of Saint Mark's, Rome.

Photo: October 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Lalupa.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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 thus 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 1465-70, when the inside and the outside were restyled 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), who ordered the restyling 

of the Basilica in the Renaissance style

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 reworking of the Basilica was started in 1654-57 and completed by Cardinal Angelo Maria Quirini in 1735-50. 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, 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. 

Foto ripresa personalmente maggio 2005.

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 her 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.

Ecce Sacerdos Magnus. Behold The Great Priest. Used At The Procession Of A Bishop At A Solemn Celebration Of Ordination.

Note: The Great Priest, referred to in the Antiphon, relates to Christ, the High Priest, in whose place the Bishop stands.

Zephyrinus noted that Fr Timothy Finigan, Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen, used the term Ecce Sacerdos Magnus, in one of his 2008 Postings, referencing the, then, Bishop McMahon of Nottingham, on his excellent Blog, THE HERMENEUTIC OF CONTINUITY

It was announced this week that Bishop McMahon OP has been appointed the new Archbishop of Liverpool.

Ad Multos Annos.

Bishop McMahon OP

at Merton, Oxford,

2008.

Photo from

Flickr Set of Fr Lawrence Lew OP

Ecce Sacerdos Magnus,

by Anton Bruckner.

Mass of the Most Precious Blood

of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

Westminster Cathedral,

London, 2010.

The mosaic, that captures

Pope Benedict XVI's attention,

is that of Dewi Sant,

(Welsh for Saint David).

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/YBvijgJ5LTI.

Gregorian Chant

for the Festival of a Confessor Bishop.

Date: 1895.

Source: Liber Responsorialis pro Festis I. Classis

et Communi Sanctorum juxta Ritum Monasticum

Author: Monastery of Solesmes.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Responsory "Ecce sacerdos magnus" for the Festival of a Confessor Bishop,

from the Liber Responsorialis juxta Ritum Monasticum, Solesmes, 1895, page 194.

Since it is the Second Responsory of its Nocturn, it doesn't have a half-doxology.

The Responsory ends with the repetition of the Partial Respond.

Ecce Sacerdos Magnus.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/S2_xbenssOQ.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Ecce sacerdos magnus is an Antiphon and a Responsory from the Common of Confessor Bishops in the Liturgy of the Hours and in the Graduale Romanum, and the Epistle in their proper Mass.

Its words are: Ecce sacerdos magnus, qui in diebus suis, placuit Deo, which means: "Behold the great Priest, who, in his days, pleased God".

In certain cases, those words are followed by: Et inventus est iustus (meaning: "And has been found just").

In others, the Response is: Non est inventus similis illi, qui conservaret legem excelsi, which means: "No-one has been found to be like Him in the keeping of the Laws of the Most High).

The following is a complete Text and translation of a different version, which may be used at the Procession of a Bishop at a Solemn Celebration of Ordination:

Ecce sacerdos magnus, qui in diébus suis plácuit Deo: Ideo jure jurando fecit illum Dóminus crescere in plebem suam. Benedictiónem ómnium géntium dedit illi, et testaméntum suum confirmávit super caput ejus. Ideo jure jurando fecit illum Dóminus crescere in plebem suam. Gloria patri et filio et spiritui sancto . . .

"Behold a great Priest, who, in His days, pleased God: Therefore, by an oath, the Lord made Him to increase among His people. To Him He gave the Blessing of all nations, and confirmed His covenant upon His head. Therefore, by an oath, the Lord made Him to increase among His people. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit . . ."

The Priest mentioned in the Hymn refers to Christ, the High Priest, in whose place the Bishop stands.

The Hymn has often been set to music by composers, including Anton Bruckner, Jules Van Nuffel and Edward Elgar.

Lenten Station. The Basilica Of Saint Laurence-Without-The-Walls. Third Sunday 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.

Semi-Double.
Privilege of the First Class.
Violet Vestments.

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

English: Papal Basilica of Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls.

Italian: 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.

Artist: Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853).

Title: The Cloisters, San Lorenzo fuori le mura.

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.

[taken from: http://papastronsay.blogspot.com]

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 to his desire to avenge an outrage or to render evil for evil" (Matins).

Italiano: Fotografia Anderson, Roma - "Roma - S. Lorenzo Fuori le Mura". 

Numero di catalogo: 110.

English: Fotografia Anderson, Rome - 
"Rome - Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls Church". Catalogue # 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.

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.

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

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

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. 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).

[The following three paragraphs are taken from the web-site of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer at http://papastronsay.blogspot.com]

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.