Giancarlo Ciccia, RIP

Of your charity, please pray for the repose of a friend, Mr Giancarlo Ciccia, who passed away in Rome earlier today as the result of a long-term illness. For many years, he served as one of the masters of ceremonies and sacristans at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, the FSSP parish in Rome; the reputation which that church has long enjoyed for the superb quality of its liturgies is due in no small measure to his constant hard work and diligence. He was very much involved in the revival of the church’s confraternity, whose members helped greatly with taking care of him during his illness; he was also an extremely talented Latin scholar, and had taught Latin at the Dominican university in Rome, the Angelicum.

Inclína, Dómine, aurem tuam ad preces nostras, quibus misericordiam tuam súpplices deprecámur: ut ánimam fámuli tui Joannis Cároli, quam hodie de hoc sáeculo migráre jussisti; in pacis ac lucis regióne constituas, et Sanctórum tuórum júbeas esse consortem. Per Christum, Dóminum nostrum. Amen.

Incline Thine ear, o Lord, to our prayers, by which we humbly ask for Thy mercy, that Thou may set the soul of Thy servant Giancarlo, which today Thou hast commanded to go forth from this world, in a place of light and peace, and command him a portion with Thy Saints. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

New Pictures of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome

We recently reported that the façade of FSSP’s church in Rome, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, had been beautifully restored to its original color.

As a follow up, here are some pictures of the interior; the staff have been hard at work on slowly improving the decorations, and the results are very lovely indeed. Here we see the high altar on Pentecost Sunday, decorated with a red antependium and several reliquaries. 

Another very nice and relatively recent addition to the church is this baptismal font at the back, which is kept covered when not in use. Note the finial on top carved as an image of the Holy Trinity. 

This is a copy of a picture which is kept at the Roman Oratory, which shows St Philip caught in a candid pose while he was washing the feet of pilgrims in the great pilgrim hospice formerly attached to the church, which he founded, along with its confraternity. As explained by a caption in Italian at the bottom, one of his penitents sketched the Saint while he was working, and made the original painting from his sketch; when Philip saw it, he laughed and said, “You have secretly stolen me!” This picture was formerly in the sacristy, but has now been happily moved out into the nave where it can be seen by all. 

A banner church’s primary patron, the Holy Trinity, is hung from the “coretto - little choir loft” on the left side of the sanctuary...

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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

The Newly Restored Façade of Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome

Thanks to our dear friend Agnese Bazzucchi, the Roman Pilgrim, for sharing with us these pictures of the newly restored façade of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, the Fraternity of St Peter’s church in Rome. It was fully uncovered earlier today after a restoration project of several months’ duration. Felicissime!

In addition to basic repairs, the restoration also cleared off a layer of brown-ochre plaster which was added to the building in the 19th or early 20th century. (There was a major vogue for this at the time, and a lot of buildings in Rome especially, but also in many other parts of Italy, have been returned to their original appearance by removing these layers of colored plaster.) In the first photo above, you can see what the former color was like on the building next door; likewise, in these photo from a 2015 post about the splendid Corpus Christi procession which the church has every year.

The Feast of All Saints 2023

From the Breviary according to the use of the Roman Curia, 1529, the beginning of the sermon for the seventh day in the Octave of All Saints.

Today, most beloved, we celebrate with one rejoicing the feast of All Saints, in whose company heaven exsulteth, by whose protection the earth is made glad, by whose triumphs the Holy Church is crowned, whose confession is all the more glorious in honor, as it was the mightier in their suffering. For as the striving increaseth, so increaseth also the glory of those that strive, and the triumph of martyrdom is adorned by many different sorts of suffering. Come then, brethren, let us now seize upon the way unto life, which bringeth us unto the heavenly city, where we are enrolled and proclaimed as citizens, the way of that happiness whose feast we celebrate today under the name of the dedication of Round St Mary’s.

The altar of the Pantheon decorated for the feast day in 2016. 

“Sancta Maria Rotunda - Round St Mary’s” was the usual medieval name of the Pantheon as a church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and All Martyrs by Pope Boniface IV (608-15) in 609 A.D. The common tradition, explicitly stated in the other All Saints sermons in the 1529 Breviary, was that the origin of the feast of All Saints lay in this act of dedication, by which the temple of all the gods was cleansed from the worship of demons and given to the honor of all the Saints. It must be stated as a matter of history that there is no evidence to prove that the Pantheon was actually a temple.

In the Middle Ages, the sermon read at Matins on the feast of All Saints was the same in almost every Use of the Roman Rite, called from its first words “Legimus in ecclesiasticis historiis”; the author is unknown, although it was frequently attributed to St Rabanus Maurus. The first lesson refers to the institution of the feast of All Saints, and the dedication of the Pantheon as a church. (In 2017, I wrote an article explaining that this is almost certainly not the case, and that the feast was instituted as a response to the iconoclast heresy of the 8th century.) The second lesson is about God, while the six lessons that follow descend through the hierarchy of the Saints: the Virgin Mary, the Angels, the Patriarchs and Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs, and the various types of Confessors. The holy Virgins and other female Saints are mentioned in the same lesson as the Virgin Mary, the model of consecrated life; the ninth lesson is taken from a homily of St. Augustine on the Sermon on the Mount, the beginning of which is the Gospel of the feast.

When All Saints was granted an octave by Pope Sixtus IV in the early 1480s, each day of the octave was assigned a different sermon with the same structure, covering the first eight of the nine lessons at Matins. Each year, we commemorate All Saints and its octave with one of these lessons, taking them this year from from the sermon assigned to be read on November 7th.

Just a few minutes’ walk away, the church of the FSSP, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, celebrates the feast of All Saints every year by decorated the high altar with many of its relics. The large busts in the upper tier are of Ss Gregory the Great, Augustine, Pius V and Charles Borromeo, made for the canonization of the last of the, which was celebrated on All Saints’ day in 1610. On the second tier, relics of the Apostles Peter, Paul, Matthew and John are enclosed in bases which support bronze statues of them (which are unbelievably heavy), with a variety of small relics between them. The two small silver busts are of Saints from the Roman catacombs. (Our thanks to Mr John Ryan Debil for these pictures.)  

On the altar of the left transept, which is dedicated to St Matthew, a variety of other relics, with St Philip Neri, the founder of the church’s confraternity, front and center.

Epiphany 2023 Photopost (Part 2)

We are very pleased to begin our second Epiphany photopost with some very beautiful pictures of a pontifical Mass celebrated by His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke at the FSSP church in Rome, at the end of which, he blessed the parish’s new manger scene. These were taken by Don Elvir Tabaković, a former professional photographer from Croatia who is now in religious life, and putting his skills to excellent use in the service of the Church. We also have a couple of late-entries from the Christmas octave; since the season will conclude with the feast of the Purification very soon, we will post photopost request for that next week. Keep up the good work of evangelizing through beauty! 

Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini – Rome, Italy

Tradition will always be for the young!

Member of the church’s confraternity attend in their habits; a special “Sant’ Onomastico!” (Happy Name-Day) to our favorite Roman pilgrim, Agnese Bazzuchi (furthest to the right.)

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A Traditional Italian Manger Scene at the FSSP Parish in Rome

Although the invention of the creche is attributed to an Umbrian, St Francis of Assisi, the city of Naples can truly boast of having developed it into a particular art form, with the creation of a highly theatrical Baroque style admired and imitated up and down the peninsula. The Neapolitan tradition began with St Cajetan, the founder of the Theatine Order. One of his favorite places to pray in Rome was the basilica of St Mary Major, specifically, the chapel where the relics of Christ’s crib were kept. At the end of the 13th century, the sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio had carved for this chapel a large Nativity set, several pieces of which survive to this day. While praying there one year on Christmas Eve, St Cajetan had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who handed him the Baby Jesus to hold. When he came to Naples in 1534, he set up a Nativity scene in the church of a major public hospital, in imitation of the Roman one; this was then picked up by many other churches, as well as private families. It was also in Naples that the tradition began of dismantling the creche after the Christmas season ended, so that it could be reassembled, perhaps in a different way, the following year; previous ones like di Cambio’s, the figures of which were all stone, were permanent fixtures.

As the tradition developed and spread throughout Italy and elsewhere, it became a kind of competition (a friendly one, we hope) to enrich the scene with an ever larger number of human figures, and make them continually bigger with the addition of whole buildings, streets, piazzas etc. The persons and scenes shown are for the most part ordinary folks going about their ordinary lives, a theological declaration that the sanctifying grace of Christ, which begins to come to us in the Incarnation, is available to all in whatever station of life they find themselves. Very frequently, the Holy Family are shown within a ruined temple, or some other ancient Roman building, representing the world which suffers from the ruin of sin, and longs for renewal in the coming of the Savior.

This year, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, the Fraternity of St Peter’s parish in Rome, set up a new Nativity scene in the finest Neapolitan tradition, with many of the sections made to look like the streets of the neighborhood, and as you can see below, even includes a scene with the church’s founder, St Philip Neri. The figures are clothed in a manner more in keeping with the traditions of Rome and environs, as seen, for example, in the flat headdresses of the women, and the costumes of the shepherds. The first twelve photos were taken on Christmas night before the Midnight Mass; some photos with brighter light are seen below.

St Philip hanging out in the neighborhood.

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A Sermon on the Death of a Poor Man

Just under two weeks ago, a Sicilian man by the name of Gaetano Tinnirello, who had long lived homeless on the streets of Rome, passed away in hospital about a month after his 33rd birthday. He had long struggled with addiction; this was not the immediate cause of his death, which was brought on by a pulmonary infection, but had certainly weakened him. In recent years, he had taken to spending much of his time on the steps of the FSSP church in Rome, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, and as he himself stated, “Since I have come close to this church, I feel better. I feel changed.” (This is written on the back of his funeral card.) Despite the many serious adversities of his life, he was always a cheerful man. After his death, the parish celebrated his funerary rites, and arranged for his body to be returned to his family in Sicily for burial.

The following sermon was preached at his funeral Mass by Fr Vilmar Pavesi, who had attended Gaetano in the hospital; it is, I think, one of the most beautiful sermons I have ever read. Particularly in the winter, and in the holiday seasons, let us not forget that all thanksgiving belongs above all to One who was born in the poverty of a stable, and that we are charged by Him to care for the least of His brethren. And please offer a prayer for the repose of the poor man Gaetano. (Our thanks to Fr Pavesi and Fr Brice Messonier, the pastor of Santissima Trinità, for permission to reprint the sermon, and to Mr Jacob Stein, author of the blog PassioXpi, for the pictures. The text has appeared elsewhere; I have here corrected it against the original Italian.)

“I am thirsty”. On the Cross, in his agony, Jesus was thirsty. It was an immense thirst, caused by his wounds. But it was above all a spiritual thirst. Jesus was thirsty, and He still thirsts for souls, because He seeks souls to save them, without despising any of them.

Gaetano also felt thirsty. When I met him in the hospital, his mouth was dry. “Father, I’m thirsty, give me something to drink”, was the first thing he asked me. After asking if I could do this, I started giving him a drink using a syringe and a straw. He couldn’t move. After he drank half a bottle of water, I told him, “Gaetano, think of Jesus Christ on the Cross. He too was thirsty, but no one gave Him anything to drink. Now you can understand it better.” He nodded his head. Then I asked him if he wanted to confess. He said yes. He was perfectly lucid. He didn’t get tired. He confessed with the best dispositions of the soul, with humility and sincerity. And then we prayed his penance together. Afterwards, seeing signs of suffering in his face, for his pains, I advised him to offer everything up for the love of God: “Jesus, I offer this up for love of you.” And he repeated with me, like a child, “Jesus, I offer this up for love of you.”

Then I told him that I also wanted to give him Extreme Unction, and he agreed. After the Extreme Unction he asked me for more water, because he was still thirsty. Our poor Gaetano, who was still thirsty, with his Confession and with the Extreme Unction had instead eased the thirst which God felt in His soul. Before leaving him, we talked about various things and his life after the hospital. So he asked me to find him a place to live, and I promised him I would.

Then he asked me where he was at that moment. “At the San Camillo hospital”, I replied. “How far is it from the parish?” “10 minutes by tram,” I told him. “When will I take the tram again?” “When God wills, you don’t have to worry about the future. Lord, your will be done.” And he once again, like a child, repeated: “Lord, your will be done.”

I brought to Gaetano the greetings of all the priests of the parish, especially the parish priest, and of the people who cherished affection and pity for him. At some point I had to leave. “Ah, you have to go. So, please give me some more water and then you can leave.” After the last blessing and greeting, he said to me, “Father, thank you. You made me very happy.”

The first time I went to see him in the hospital was on Saturday, after the first surgery. He was in a coma and in grave danger of death. Normally, I always carry the oil of the sick with me, but that day, by chance, I didn’t have it. And since it was too late, they didn’t let me see him. So I returned on Monday, this time with the holy oil. Gaetano was perfectly lucid. The next day he would go back into a coma, undergo another operation, and remain in a coma until the day of his death. He would seem to have returned to a state of lucidity only for a few hours, like that child who was resurrected at the time of San Filippo Neri, only to be able to confess and receive the Extreme Unction, and then die again.

Speaking of St. Philip Neri, without knowing it, Gaetano lived one of his counsels. In fact, every day he entered the church, greeted all the saints, and then when he approached the main altar, he prostrated himself on the ground, kissed the floor and prayed. This was exactly what St. Philip Neri taught: “When you have little time or can’t pray well, go into a church and greet the saints. You will have said an excellent prayer.” I always thought that the Lord would save him for this act of piety, done with such sincerity, and also for the rosary and the Miraculous Medal that he wore around his neck.

Once I found him in the church fixing the floor. Do you remember when the marbles in the back were moved out of place? Without saying anything to anyone, he began to arrange the marble plaques, which more than one person had tripped on. “Gaetano, what are you doing?” “I’m fixing the marbles! It’s dangerous as it is. I’m not doing it for money. I’m doing it because it is God’s house and God’s house is mine too.”

He wanted to work. He wanted to be helpful. He cleaned the street because he said he lived there, and therefore he wanted it clean. He also cleaned the church’s staircase. I have seen him more than once spontaneously helping the garbagemen to collect the garbage. He did it without any self-interest, just to help out.

When he got here, he wore earrings. I can’t stand men with earrings, so one day I asked him to sell me his earrings. When Gaetano understood the reason why I wanted to buy them, he took them off, went to throw them in the sewer, and promised me that he would no longer wear them, and did not want the money. And so it was.

Gaetano’s death at the age of 33 is a great grief for all of us. His presence gave a picturesque face to the parish. His was a good presence. He knew how to make everyone love him. Even his dog looked so good together with him. The death of Gaetano is a great grief for everyone, because in the depths of our soul, we all feel a little responsible. He was one of those littlest brothers of Christ, because he had an immense need to be helped in his body and in his soul. More than money, he needed sincere affection and opportunity.

How many times did we repay his spontaneous “Good evening” with indifference, coldness or haste? How many times did we pass by him, without even looking at him, when he was not well? “Whenever you have done these things to one of these least of my brothers, you will have done it to me.” (Matt. 25)

Lord, before this body we ask your forgiveness for all the good we could have done for Gaetano, and did not do. Lord, before this body, we promise you to receive with generosity and love the poor whom your Providence will deign to send us.

However, I would be unjust if I only had reproaches before this body. Gaetano’s death has already begun to bear fruit. Many felt touched in their hearts and opened themselves more to charity. Very edifying is the number of people who continually ask for Masses for his soul. This is a great charity. Others offered to give him a decent burial. This too is a work of mercy, pleasing to the Lord. Some young people took care of Gaetano with true love during his last weeks. They are the ones who took brought and accompanied me to the hospital. May the Lord bless you.

Gaetano still has a great mission among us. Indeed, his mission has just begun. He, poor, but blessed by the Lord, must teach us to be charitable. He must teach us to have great hope in God. The Lord brought him close to this parish. He caused him to find the Christian affection of His faithful and priests, because He wanted to give him the eternal happiness of Heaven. Gaetano also has the mission of giving to the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Trinity a new impetus in its works of spiritual and corporal charity.

Saint Philip Neri, pray for him.
Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, pray for him.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for him.

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All Saints and All Souls 2021 Photopost (Part 3)

Our final photopost for All Saints and All Souls of this year begins with something very interesting from a church which has and deserves a world-wide reputation for celebrating the traditional rite particularly well, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, the FSSP church in Rome. For the feast of All Saints, all of the churches relics were displayed on the various altars.

On the high altar, the reliquaries in the upper rank are (from left to right) St Augustine, St Gregory the Great, St Pius V, and St Charles Borromeo; these were made for the celebration of St Charles’s canonization in 1610. The busts on the lower rank are a Saint from the catacombs whose name I forget, and St Philip Neri, the founder of the church’s confraternity, set between statues of the Apostles John, Peter, Paul and Matthew.

Relics of various Saints, mostly martyrs, on the altar of the right transept, which is dedicated to the Apostle St Matthew.

Images from the sacristy on the altar of the right transept: left, St Giovanni Battista de’ Rossi, who lived at the church in the mid-18th century, and was a member of its confraternity; center, the archangel Raphael, patron of medicine and healing, since the confraternity ran a pilgrim hospice which was also used to care for the sick; and right, St Benedict Joseph Labré.

On the evening of November 1st, before 2nd Vespers of All Saints, each reliquary was displayed to the faithful by the parish priest, as one of his confreres read out the names of the Saints whose relics are contained within them. 

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A Baptism of a Bell in Rome

Last week, His Eminence Franc Card. Rodé, former archbishop of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Religious, blessed a bell for Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, the FSSP church in Rome. This ceremony has some features which are broadly analogous to some of the ceremonies of baptism, including the naming of the bell (this is one is named in honor of the Holy Trinity, the titular dedication of the church, and of St Lucy), and has therefore been long been referred to popularly as “the baptism of the bells.” Further explanation is given in a post which I wrote as part of my series on the reform of the Roman Pontifical in 2013. A description of the ceremony is given in this post of the same series; the text can be read in Latin here, and in English in this book on archive.org.

The bell is washed and anointed on the inside and outside, and later on, has a brazier full of burning incense put under it, as will be seen further down. For this reason, it is set up suspended in this fashion, so that the inside can be reached.

The various accoutrements needed for the ceremony, clockwise from the lower left: a salver with a towel for wiping oil; a bunch of hyssop for sprinkling the outside of the bell with holy water; more towels, and a hammer for ringing the bell after the blessing (not a formal part of the ceremony); the oils for anointing the bell (in the silver box); cotton for wiping the oil off the bell; a card with the formula which is said at the anointings; the incense which is burned in the brazier; lemons for washing oil off the finger; the ewer and basin; the bugia and the book.

Pontifical vestments set up on the altar of the right transept, since the celebrant vests at a faldstool set up in front of the bell. A lectionary is also on the altar, since the ceremony concludes with the singing of a Gospel.

The ceremony begins with a recitation of seven Psalms, which as a group are unique to this blessing (50, 53, 56, 66, 69, 85 and 129), ...

after which the bishop blesses holy water in the normal fashion, but with the addition of a special prayer. “Bless, O Lord, this water with a heavenly benediction, and may the power of the Holy Ghost come upon it, so that when this vessel, prepared to call together the children of the Holy Church, has been washed with it, there may be kept far away from wheresoever this bell may sound, the power of those lying in wait, the shadow of spectres, the ravages of whirlwinds, the stroke of lightning, the damage of thunder, the disaster of tempests, and every breath of storm; and when the sons of Christians shall hear its ringing, may their devotion increase, so that hastening to the bosom of their loving mother the Church, they may sing to Thee, in the Church of the Saints, a new canticle, bringing therein to play the proud sounding of the trumpet, the melody of the harp, the sweetness of the organ, the joyous exultation of the drum, and the rejoicing of the cymbal; and so, in the holy temple of Thy glory by their service and their prayers, may they bid come the multitude of the angelic hosts. Through our Lord...”

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