The Lenten Station Churches of Rome inspire
courage
By
Cardinal Justin Rigali
One of the principal themes of the Lenten season is sincere self-examination.
More than ever in this season, our goal as Christians is to look at
our own lives and our relationships with God and with others and see
them in the light of what they really are. Saint Augustine prayed: “Lord,
let me know myself, so that I may know you.” The three themes
that we have treated in these last few weeks all aid us in that sincere
self-examination: prayer, almsgiving and fasting. This self-examination,
enlightened by prayer, made less selfish by almsgiving and purified
by fasting assists us in seeing not a false image of ourselves that
we create but who we are in God’s sight.
However, there is a form of introspection which is not good. A constant
obsession with ourselves, to the neglect of the needs and interests
of others, is always a danger. This characteristic has been a particular
danger in our own times. The effects of what was called the “me
generation” can result in selfishness and in seeing ourselves
in a vacuum and not as part of a greater reality within the human community
and as a part of human and Christian history. This is one of the reasons
why Pope Benedict XVI has taken as one of his recurring themes something
he wrote and spoke about often when he was Cardinal Ratzinger: a hermeneutic
of continuity. Very simply explained, this refers to an awareness that,
as Catholics, we are part of a greater reality than ourselves and our
own moment in time. The Church does not begin or end at a particular
moment in her own history but continues as an ongoing living community
guided by the Holy Spirit. The Second Vatican Council teaches in the
Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: “What was handed on
by the apostles comprises everything that serves to make the people
of God live their lives in holiness and increase their faith. In this
way the Church, in its doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits
to every generation all that it itself is, all that it believes”
(Dei Verbum, 8).
The early Church
The Church already possessed a strong notion of this continuity in the
first centuries of her existence. This was expressed in the great honor
that was paid to the remains of the martyrs, who had died for the faith.
Saint Jerome (340-420) wrote: “We honor the relics of the martyrs
because in doing so we give honor to Him whose witnesses they are: we
honor the servants, that the honor shown to them may reflect glory on
their Master.” We know that, during the persecutions that raged
against the Church during her first centuries, the Christians worshiped
secretly in the catacombs. These were the places where they reverently
entombed the human remains of those who had died for their faith. The
Eucharist was celebrated over these stone tombs as the first altars
of Christianity.
When the Church was freed by the Edict of the Emperor Constantine in
313, the honor paid to the early martyrs and the celebration of the
Liturgy were able to take place in a public setting. This resulted in
the construction of the first churches in the city of Rome. Some
were constructed over the actual sites of the death of these early martyrs.
Others were constructed on the sites of the houses of early Christians
who belonged to noble families. In this way, we have the beginnings
of the earliest places of public worship in all of Christian history.
Many of these first sites of public worship developed into beautiful
churches, built and rebuilt over the centuries. The most well-known,
of course, is what we are familiar with as the Basilica of Saint Peter,
which began as a church built over the place of Peter’s martyrdom,
and eventually developed into the magnificent structure famous throughout
the world. The places of worship which had originally been private homes
were often referred to as bearing the title of the owner. These churches,
many of which date to the earliest Christian centuries, came to be called
titular churches.
Fasting and pilgrimage
In order to unite themselves with the sacrifices of the early martyrs,
the Christians of Rome began to go in pilgrimage from one site of martyrdom
to another on days of fast. This took place especially during the fasts
of the Lenten season. At each of these sites, they would stand, as a
mark of penance and recite prayers associated with penitential themes.
Saint Ambrose wrote of this practice: “Our fasts are our encampments
against the attacks of the devil; they are called stationes (stations)
because we remain standing (stantes)” (Sermon 25).
These times of fast seem to have been accompanied by processions in
or around the churches. These sacred places became destinations of local
pilgrimage, to which the faithful walked in penitential processions.
They then celebrated the Liturgy in the church, often over the place
of martyrdom of the saint whose name was given to the church or station.
These pilgrimage destinations were also extended to the great churches
that came to be built in Rome in honor of our Lord and our Lady. The
clergy, bishops and sometimes the Pope himself would lead the people
in their processions to the sacred place and these eventually became
the first parish churches of the city of Rome.
The office of Cardinal originated from the pastors of these parish churches
of Rome. To this day, every Cardinal is assigned a titular church in
the city of Rome. My own titular church, Santa Prisca, whose foundation
dates from the year 112, was one of the original titular churches granted
to Cardinals in later centuries. Many of the station churches are also
titular churches, as is the case with Santa Prisca.
Although the custom of the station churches began as early as the third
century, it was in the sixth century that Pope Saint Gregory the Great
(540-604) designated it as a daily Lenten practice. Later, forty Roman
churches were designated as official station churches for each of the
forty days of Lent. The idea of making a pilgrimage, especially if it
can be done on foot, to each of the station churches during Lent unites
the penance of walking with the awareness of the heroic acts of martyrdom
commemorated at so many of the station churches. It certainly takes
us out of ourselves and beyond our own small moment in time, to think
of the witness of those early Christian martyrs whose blood, as the
Roman writer Tertullian stated, was: “the seed of Christians.”
Some of the station churches and their significance
As we already mentioned, there is a station church assigned to each
of the forty days of Lent. Many of these churches are very beautiful,
many have been rebuilt a number of times over the centuries and some
are small but they all inspire us with devotion and courage. Here are
a few interesting facts about just a few of the station churches and
the spiritual treasures they contain.
It is at the station church of Saint Sabina that the Pope himself begins
the Lenten season on Ash Wednesday each year. In this church, he receives
ashes, like any Christian beginning this time of penance and reflection.
Ashes are administered to him by the titular cardinal of Saint Sabina.
The station church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem was consecrated in
the year 325 and its floor was packed with soil from the Holy Land.
It was built to house the relics of the passion of Jesus, which had
been brought to Rome by Saint Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine.
The station church of Saint Agnes Outside the Walls (of the city of
Rome), which honors one of the most venerated of the early virgin martyrs,
is built over her tomb.
The Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a station church dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, contains what is said to be a relic of the manger
in which our Lord was laid in Bethlehem. It also contains a very ancient
image of our Lady, called the “Salvation of the Roman People.”
After the departure of the Nazi occupying forces from the city of Rome
and its being saved from major damage during World War II, the image
was processed through the streets of Rome in thanksgiving and Pope Pius
XII paid public tribute to it and to the intercession of our Lady in
saving Rome from destruction.
Bay leaves are traditionally scattered on the floors of the station
churches of Saint Sabina and Saint Lawrence in Damaso on the station
days assigned to them. This is meant as a symbol of the sweet fragrance
of prayer rising before God.
This coming Tuesday, the Tuesday of Holy Week, is the day assigned to
my own titular church of Saint Prisca as a station church and place
of pilgrimage. Pray for me, as we all journey to our eternal home in
Heaven, as pilgrim members of the Church founded by Christ and watered
by the blood of the martyrs.
March 13, 2008
Cardinal
Rigali's Lenten Letter 2008