The Exposition of the Holy Lance at St Peter’s Basilica

The YouTube channel of EWTN recently published a video about the exposition of the Holy Lance at St Peter’s basilica on the first Saturday of Lent. This was formerly done on the Ember Friday, which was long kept as the feast of the Holy Lance and Nails, but since this feast is no longer observed, the exposition of the relic has been transferred to the following day, when the station is at St Peter’s. Each of the four massive pillars which hold up the church’s dome is dedicated to one of its major relics (apart from those of the Apostle himself, of course): the True Cross, a piece of which is kept there; the Holy Lance; the skull of St Andrew; and the veil of Veronica. The last of these is shown to the faithful on Passion Sunday, when the station is also at St Peter’s. Our good friend Jacob Stein from Crux Stationalis is interviewed, and talks about the importance of the station and the relic, the veneration of which starts Lent off by looking forward to the Passion on Good Friday.

Here is Jacob’s own video about the station of that day: as a reminder, his YouTube channel has new videos about the stations and other Roman customs several times a week at least.

More on the Restored Façade of Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome

We recently noted that the façade of the FSSP church in Rome, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, has been beautifully restored to its original appearance, after a cleaning project of several month’ duration. Our friend Jacob Stein, author of the blog Crux Stationalis, was on hand yesterday for the official unveiling, and has graciously shared with us some photos, as well of a video of the moment when the nighttime lighting was turned on for the first time. The Italian really excel at the design and set-up of this kind of outdoor illumination, and it has been used to magnificent on important buildings up and down the peninsula.

A beautiful shot which also captures the church’s artistic masterpiece, Guido Reni’s Trinity over the high altar.

For comparison, this is what the façade looked like before restoration. The reddish-brown ochre was added in the late 19th century, very much in the taste of the era, which dislike the clean white so typical of early Roman Baroque buildings.

Image from Wikimedia Commons by Dedi62, CC BY-SA 4.0

Roman Pilgrims at the Station Churches 2024 (Part 3)

In the eleven years we have run this series, we have had a number of interruptions, when, for one reason or another, our Roman pilgrim friends were unable to make it to the stational churches. So this year we lost the second half of the second week of Lent, and the beginning of the third, to Agnese having a serious cold, work commitments, and the ever-popular Roman public transport strike. (Maybe two strikes... who can tell?) Things should be back on track now to the end of Passion week, so it’s time to do some catching up. We also have some videos from Jacob Stein’s YouTube channel Crux Stationalis, and a some photos from our newest Roman pilgrim, Fr Joseph Koczera SJ. Our thanks to them all for sharing with us these testimonies of the Faith in the Eternal City!

Monday of the Second Week of Lent – St Clement

This basilica is famously built on top of two earlier levels; the 12th-century church sits on top of a church of the 4th century, which in turn sits on top of two ancient Roman buildings, one of the later 1st and another of the mid-2nd century. (All three of these levels are accessible to the public.) The procession begins in the ruins of the ancient basilica (1st picture), makes its way upstairs and through the large portico, before entering the main church for the Mass. Also notice in the 6th photo the custom of strewing greenery on the floors of churches during the station Masses; nobody seems to really know where this comes from or why it is done.

Agnese has a real knack for catching photos of the station processions from one side of the portico or cloister as they make their way through the opposite side.

The church’s liturgical choir, and the three ambos which form part of it, date to a mid-6th century restoration of the old basilica; they were removed from the ruins of it and set in place in the new basilica when it was built at the beginning of the 12th century.

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Roman Pilgrims at the Station Churches 2024 (Part 2)

We continue with our annual series of photos of the Lenten station churches in Rome, thanks to our friends Agnese, Jacob, and Fr Joseph. Every year, at least one station gets omitted due to something Roman happening; this post does not include the station of Ember Friday, since there was a major strike going on that day. Don’t forget to visit Jacob’s YouTube channel Crux Stationalis, and enjoy his visits to the Eternal City’s many other important religious sites. Gratias vobis, cari amici!

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent – St Anastasia

The statue of St Anastasia in the niche in front of the high altar was planned by a sculptor called Francesco Aprile, in imitation of a similar statue of St Cecilia by Stefano Maderno, and Bernini’s Blessed Ludovica Albertoni. Aprile died in 1684 at the age of 30, and the work was executed by Ercole Ferrata, who was already in his 70s, and died very shortly after completing it.

Photos by Fr Joseph: the stem of the Portuguese cardinal Nuno da Cunha e Ataíde, who commissioned a significant restoration of the church in the early 18th century.

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Roman Pilgrims at the Station Churches 2024 (Part 1)

This year marks the eleventh time we have run this series on the Lenten station churches in Rome! Last year, our dear friend Agnese Bazzucchi, the original Roman pilgrim, was unable to do most of them due to work commitments, but this year, she is back to attending them regularly. In past years, she has sometimes been joined in this series by other people; one of them, Mr Jacob Stein, whose work we have shared many times, will also be providing photos this year, as well as videos from his YouTube channel Crux Stationalis. Today they are also joined for one of the stations, St Peter in Chains, by another old friend from Rome, Fr Joseph Koczera SJ, and hopefully for some more occasions as the season goes on. We thank them all in advance for helping to keep up one of our favorite annual traditions - feliciter!

We start with a photo by Agnese of the Forty Hours devotion which the FSSP church in Rome, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, does every year on the three days before Ash Wednesday, according to a long-standing and widely-imitated custom which was observed in the Eternal City for centuries.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday – San Giorgio in Velabro

The stational observances are organized by the Vicariate of Rome and the Pontifical Academy for the Cult of the Martyrs; here we see the banner of the latter being carried in procession outside the church. 

His Eminence Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology, comes each year to personally celebrated the station in his title church, which he holds in the illustrious company of (among many others) Bl. John Henry Newman; his predecessor in the title was Alphonse Card. Stickler.

The fresco in the apse show Christ with the Virgin Mary and St George on the left, and on the right, Ss Peter the Apostle and Sebastian. The church was originally dedicated to both of the soldier Saints, and the Gospel assigned to the day is the healing of the centurion’s servant, Matthew 8, 5-13.

Friday after Ash Wednesday – Ss John and Paul

This church has been the home of the generalate of the Passionist Order since it was given to them by Pope Clement XIV (1769-74). In 1887, a member of the order, Fr Germanus of St Stanislaus, began to dig under the church, hoping to identify the precise location of the titular martyrs’ burial. His excavation led to the discovery of a complex of twenty rooms from several different periods (late-1st to mid-5th centuries), which can now be visited by the public. Here we see the clergy and faithful gathered in one of the rooms for the procession which precedes the Mass... 

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A Roman Pilgrim at the Station Churches 2023 (Part 8)

Before we continue with our Holy Week and Easter photoposts, today we finish off our annual series on the Roman stational churches of Lent. Thanks once again to our Roman pilgrim friends, Jacob Stein (the major contributor this year) and Agnese Bazzucchi - tanti auguri di buona Pascua, carissimi! Be sure to check out Jacob’s YouTube channel Crux Stationalis for more videos, including some of the exemplary Holy Week services at the FSSP church in Rome, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini.

Passion Friday – St Stephen on the Caelian Hill 

This basilica has the distinction of being the only round church built in Rome in antiquity, and is therefore often called “Santo Stefano Rotondo” in Italian, “round St Stephen’s.” The central rotunda was originally surrounded by two rings, but after many centuries of damage and neglect, the outer ring was demolished in the 1140s. (The Pantheon was dedicated as a church to the Virgin Mary at the beginning of the 7th century, and was often called “Santa Maria Rotonda”, but was not, of course, originally built as a church.) 

In the 1580s, the painter Niccolò Circignani, generally known by the nickname Pomarancio, was commissioned to decorate the inside of the exterior wall with frescoes of early martyrdoms. These were intended as a response to the conceits of the so-called reformers of the age that the Church had abandoned and corrupted the Faith, a statement that all the martyrs witnessed to the same beliefs within the same Church established by Christ, an image of whose Crucifixion begins the series. It has to be said that many of the depictions are disturbingly violent, and the work as a whole has been the object of much criticism.

This weirdly enormous wooden tabernacle was placed on the altar in 1613, but later removed during one of the church’s innumerable restorations. 

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A Roman Pilgrim at the Station Churches 2023 (Part 7)

For the next-to-last post in this year’s Lenten Roman Pilgrim series, we switch back to the singular, since these all come from Jacob. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel Crux Stationalis, where you can see more about the liturgical traditions of the Eternal City all year round.

Passion Sunday – St Peter’s Basilica

For many centuries, it has been the custom that after Vespers of Passion Sunday at St Peter’s, the Veil of Veronica is shown to the faithful from the balcony of one of the great pillars that holds up the church’s dome, the one seen at the lower left of this first photograph.

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Roman Pilgrims at the Station Churches 2023 (Part 6)

Once again, our thanks to Jacob and Agnese for sharing their photos of the Lenten Station churches in Rome.

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent – St Lawrence “in Damaso”

Since there are so many churches in Rome dedicated to St Lawrence (more, in fact, than to either St Peter or St Paul), they are distinguished by various nicknames; this one is named for its founder, Pope St Damasus I (366-84). The chancery building of the Roman Curia, constructed between 1489 and 1513, encloses it on two sides and above, so the procession before Mass is held in its courtyard.

Kudos to Jacob for these two particular good shots of the courtyard!

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Roman Pilgrims at the Station Churches 2023 (Part 5)

This annual series is now in its tenth year, but this is the very first time we have ever shown pictures of the station for Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent at the church of St Sixtus, since it was under restoration since before we began in 2014. This post also includes another first, pictures of the excavations under the church of St Lawrence ‘in Lucina’, the station of the following Friday. The first five pictures in this post (and one other) come from Agnese, the rest are from Jacob, as are the videos from his YouTube channel Crux Stationalis.

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent – St Sixtus

This church was originally built at the very end of the fourth century, and known from its founder as the “title of Crescentiana.” By at least the mid-7th century, it had been renamed for St Sixtus II, the martyred Pope who is named in the Canon of the Mass, and figures prominently in the legendum of St Lawrence, since his relics had been moved here from the catacomb of Callixtus. A convent of Dominican nuns was established here within the lifetime of St Dominic, although they later moved; a new order of Dominican nuns has had it since the 1890s.

The stational liturgy began in the chapter hall off the cloister, the very room where St Dominic raised from the dead a young Roman nobleman named Napoleone Orsini, who had been thrown from a horse and trampled.

Thence began the usual procession through the cloister...

to the newly restored church.

“In this basilica, there rest the bodies of these holy martyrs: first, blessed Pope Sixtus, Pope Felix, Pope Zephryrinus, Pope Antheros, Pope Lucius, Pope Soter, Pope Lucian; Soter, Calocerus and Parthenius, Julius the bishop, Lucius the bishop, and Maximus, the martyr.” This church is located right across the street from the baths of Caracalla, and only a bit more than a half a mile away from a gate in the walls of Rome known as the Porta Ardeatina. From there, it is less than two miles to the catacombs of Callixtus, the original burial location of several of the person named in this inscription.

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Roman Pilgrims at the Station Churches 2023 (Part 4)

Once again, our thanks to our Roman pilgrim friends Jacob and Agnese for sharing their photos of the Lenten station Masses in Rome with us. This post includes a lot of relics, and, more by coincidence that any deliberate design on my part, shows three different churches which are now below street level, as the many layers of the Eternal City have risen up around them. We also have a good example of a modern revival of the ancient custom of the Collect churches, once an integral part of the Stational liturgy, as explained in this article from 2010. 

Friday of the Second Week of Lent – St Vitalis

San Vitale was first dedicated in the year 416; modern constructions around it, including the street on which it sits, the via Nazionale, are on a much higher level, and one must now descend a rather large staircase to reach the church. This first photo was taken from the top of the stairs. In Italy, it was also a very common custom once upon a time to hand decorative covers on the columns of a church for a major feast day and other important occasions, as we see here.  

This church has also faithfully maintained the custom of spreading greenery all over the floor on the station day...

and of making a display of its many relics.

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Roman Pilgrims at the Station Churches 2023 (Part 3)

For this installment of our annual Lenten station series, I have changed the title back to “Roman Pilgrims” in the plural, since Agnese was able to attend one of them. Our thanks once again to both her and Jacob for sharing their pictures with us, and be sure to check out the videos from Jacob’s YouTube channel, Crux Stationalis. It just works out that each of the churches shown here has preserved some beautiful medieval mosaics.

The Second Sunday of Lent – Santa Maria in Domnica

The apsidal mosaic of this church is one of three that survived from the time of Pope St Paschal I, who is here shown kneeling at the feet of the Virgin Mary, the titular Saint, with a square blue halo. This was a way of indicating that the person portrayed was alive at the time the image was made, dating it to before the Pope’s death in 822. 

Christ the Pantocrator at the top of the proscenium arch.

The wooden paneled ceiling was made in the time of Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici, who held the title of this church until his election to the papacy, with the name Leo X, in 1513. Each section represents a title of the Virgin Mary from an earlier form of the Litany of Loreto.  

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