Monday, March 14, 2011

Visit to St. John Lateran, the Pope's Cathedral

After a relaxing weekend in Bologna, it was back to the program at ICTE. Today included visits to two very important churches: Santa Croce in Gerusalem, and St. John Lateran.

The facade of Santa Croce in Gerusalem. (Latin Spelling). I was happy to return to this church. I had not visited it in the past three trips to Rome. Today a saw an entirely renovated church, cleaned, and made to look like new. This was the first church in which I ever celebrated Mass in Rome. When I landed in Rome with a group of parishioners about 20 years ago, we came to this church right from the airport. It happened to be Sunday morning. We landed in Rome at the usual 7:30AM and our hotel would not receive us until 11. So we made arrangements to come to this church for Mass. It is significant because in this church are the relics of the cross of Jesus. To celebrate Mass at this place was an honor and a thrill. Today we came here to spend some time in prayer and reflection before continuing on to St. John Lateran.
The chapel of the relics of the cross of Jesus at Santa Croce in Gerusalem.
Example of the beautiful marble work we have been seeing. Here is a panel in the relic chapel depicting a candle entirely of inlaid marbles of various colors.
The mosaic ceiling of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Santa Croce in Gerusalem.
The facade of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. This church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and where the Pope presides when he is functioning as the bishop of his Diocese. The full name of the church is: The Basilica of Jesus the Savior, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. The facade is a 16th Century addition to a front that had been only brick for centuries. This church, like many other early churches has been rebuilt a few times. This one is important because it is the very first builsing to be built specifically for the worship by the Christians. Built by the emperor Constantine in the 4th Century, the church that we see today stands on the exact spot and with the exact dimensions of Constantine's first basilica.
Our first part of the visit was to the Baptistry which is a detached building, as are a great many baptistries in Europe. This Baptistry was built on the sight of a praetorium of the Roman army. You may recognize that word from the reading of the passion of Jesus in the Gospels on Palm Sunday. The praetorium was essentially the baracks of the soldiers. Part of the baracks usually included a bath house so the soldiers would not be with the general public in the many baths around the city. The Baptistry of the cathedral is built directly over the soldier's bathouse - most likely because it had a readily available source of water.

The baptistry is and octagonal building which became the model for many of the baptistries built all around Europe. The bronze basin in the center is actually a recycled sarcophagus taken from a Roman house. It was a later addition.
My brother priests and I are processing into the baptistry for the beginning of Mass when we renewed our Baptismal Promises. We are standing on the floor of the baptistry which originally was filled with water for the immersion of catechumens. The basin was added later as the practice of immersion became less prevalent and even disappeared entirely.
The baptistry has a separate little chapel which was recently renovated by the late Pope Paul VI. He died in 1978, which in our church is practically yesterday. After our renewal of Baptismal promises in the baptistry, we contionued with our celebration of the Mass in the chapel.
Above the altar of the Baptistry chapel is this very important mosaic dating back to the 11th Century.




A view down the nave of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. There are 5 aisles, two on each side of the main nave. The interior was redone by Borromini in the 16th Century to cover up the structure of the Medeival church, whose style had fallen out of favor. The baroque style was the prefered style at that time. It was considered very modern and even avant-guarde at the time.

The mosaid above the apse of St. John Lateran
The Pope's Cathedra - his chair hwere he presides as the Bishop of the Diocese of Rome.
One of the three organ cases in the basilica.
Statues of the Apostles which line the sides of the main nave.
After our visit to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, we crossed the street to the chapel of the Holy Stairs. St. Helena, Constantine's mother returned from the Holy Land with many important relics. Among them were the stairs of the palace of Pontius Pilate. It is understood that these are the stairs Jesus would have walked up as he was going to be tried by Pilate. The stairs are placed in the center of the building and may only be climbed on one's knees. There are two other stairways one on each side where one can walk up to the chapel which was the Pope's private chapel when popes lived at the Lateran Palace before moving to the Vatican hill. 


The Holy Stairs. The steps are covered with wood to protect them against wear by the millions who climb them every year.
Two statues - one on each side of the bottom of the Holy Stairs. This one is the Kiss of Judas.
The statue "Ecce Homo" (Look at the Man), the words of Pontius Pilate as he tried to convince the People that he could find nothing to convict Jesus with.
This was another wonderful morning of prayers, Mass, reflection, and looking at art that speaks of our faith and the faith of the church for many generations. There really is a great connection with the ages when we can place ourselves in places where the faith has been celebrated for 1700 years. There is a sign placed at the door in one small church in Bologna - "Dear tourists. This is NOT a museum. This is a sacred place of prayer and reflection." We have been fortunate to have some of the best tour guides available in Rome. They have been people of great knowledge and great faith. They know when to reverence an altar because of what it is, as well as teach the details about what makes them great works of art for the glory of God.

We returned to the NAC for Pranzo. After lunch, I took the opportunity to hear a presentation given by Mrs. Vicki Thorn, from the Project Rachel, the post-abortion healing and reconciliation ministry which is promoted by our own Fall River Diocesan Pro-Life office. A wonderful presentation on the science of relationship, procreation, birthing, and parenting. She spoke directly and firmly to the seminarians. "NEVER talk about abortion as murder", she said. That kind of rhetoric will only alienate because it is accusatory. The mercy and compassion of God must be at the center of the pro-life message. I was thrilled to hear that message.

After the pro-life presentation, I returned to my room. Monday is change the linens and the beds day. I also had a bit of homework to do for my Italian class tonight. I'm starting to pick it up a bit faster now.

Tomorrow morning will bring another stational church. I did not go to the one today because Mass ws scheduled at the St. John Lateran Basilica. Tomorrow we are off to for the St. Anastasia Church for the 7:00AM Mass. When we return, to the Casa O'Toole, we begin a series of lectures in Moral Theology, Tuesday through Friday.

Buona notte, a tutti.