Lenten Journey Week 5: SS. Annunciata

My journey for the 5th week of Lent took me to the parish of SS. Annunciata, or the Annunciazione della Beata Vergine Maria a Via Ardeatina, about 4km from our home near the Via Appia Antica. I was expecting a 20th century church building because it is in a modern neighborhood of Rome and was surprised to also find a church built in 1220 that has been restored and is still used. This church was along a medieval pilgrimage route between the Basilica of San Sebastiano and the Tre Fontane, the site of St. Paul's martyrdom, and it operated a hospital to care for pilgrims. (Today's parish sponsors a nearby modern hospital called Nuova Clinica Annunziatella that continues the tradtion.)

This was the first church in Rome to be named in honor of the Annunciation and it seems that the custom of distributing food to the poor on the Feast of the Annunciation originated from this church.
There is a 15th century fresco of the Annunciation in the sanctuary as well as in interesting small carved marble plaque with the Angel Gabriel kneeling in front of a standing Virgin Mary.
In 1640 the Annunziatella was entrusted to the Gonfalone Confraternity. The church received it's current baroque appearance during this time. The Gonfalone were disbanded by the Italian government in 1890, and it seems that the church was abandoned.

In the early 1900's Mass was again celebrated in the church and in 1935 it was established as a parish for the Diocese of Rome. In the 1970's a new church building and parish center were built, serving the large Catholic community in the neighborhood.

This is the sanctuary of the new church.

The tabernacle of the new church (above) 

and of the old church (below).

17th century terracotta crucifix in the old church.

An angel from the old church.

The ambo from the new church (above)

and the presider's chair (below).

The area where the church is located was an agricultural and industrial neighborhood of ancient Rome. There are 4th century ruins under the old church, probably a Roman house of an early Chritsian community.

Excavations in front of the new church reveal some of the buildings that were along the Via Ardiatina.

In 2001 SS. Annunciata became a titular church with the appointment of  Mario Francesco Cardinal Pompedda as its first titular. Cardinal Pompedda was born in Sardinia in 1929, became a canon lawyer, was dean of the Roman Rota and became the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. The parish became a vacant titular church when Cardinal Pompedda died October 17, 2006.

Most merciful God,

by the passion of your Son Jesus Christ

you delivered us from the power of darkness;

grant that through faith in him who suffered on the cross

we may be found acceptable in your sight,

through our Savious Jesus Christ.

Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent

A New Zealand Prayer Book

Lenten Journey Week 3: San Pietro in Vincoli

The third week of my Lenten Journey has taken me to the ancient Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli. It was one of Rome's first parish churches, built over the ruins of an imperial villa in the middle of the 5th century to house the chains that had bound St. Peter in prison in Jerusalem.

The nave has 22 columns. Tradition claims that they were taken from the basilica where St. Peter was condemned. (It is interesting that they have Doric capitals, which is rare in Roman churches.)
The chains of Peter are venerated before the main altar. The crypt behind this shrine is said to contain the relics of the Maccabee brothers, seven Jewish heros who died in war to protect the Mosaic Law during the 2nd century BC. The relics were placed here in the middle of the 6th century.

The most famous work of art in this basilica

is the statue of  Moses by Michelangelo.

This is the coat of arms for Pio Cardinal Laghi who was the titular cardinal for this church until his death on January 10, 2009. He was born in Castalignone, Italy, in 1922 and had served as the Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education for Seminaries and Institutes of Sudies. In the 1980's he had been appointed the Apostolic Delegate and the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States.

God of infinate mercy,
grant that we who know your pity
may rejoice in your forgiveness
and gladly forgive others
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior.

Collect for the 3rd Sunday in Lent

A New Zealand Prayer Book

I sat in a pew in the side aisle opposite Michelangelo's sculpture. I read the first verse of Psalm 15, appointed for this week, and gazed at the statue of Moses. 

Lord, who may be a guest in your house:

or who may dwell on your holy mountain.

This statue, so full of energy, is of a man who spent time in the presence of God on the holy mountain. 

Psalm 103 states:

You showed your ways to Moses,

your deeds to the children of Israel.

It is interesting to watch the scores of visitors to this Basilica. A few walk down the several steps to view the chains of Peter, but most just go over to the Moses statue. There is a box for depositing coins to turn on the lights for the statue. You put in 1€ and you get two minutes of illumination. Many people leave after their two minutes. Some stay for a few minutes more. How can you experience the power of this sculpture in two or four minutes? 

I need to nurture and enhance the times I spend in the presence of God. I need to be careful not to fall into the trap of visiting sacred spaces and looking at works of art and beauty for two or four minutes at a time. I need to take time and be still -- and know that God is God! 

Lenten Journey Week 2: San Felice da Cantalice

This week my Lenten Journey took me to the Church of San Felica da Cantalice in the neighborhood of Centocelle which is 11 stops on the train along the Via Casilina, the ancient Roman road that leads from the Porta Maggiore toward Naples. The parish is staffed by the OFM Franciscans.

I found a building built in 1935 that looks like a warehouse. It is next to a playground and the piazza in front of the church is currently taken over by the construction of a new subway line.

It seems that a front porch was added to the structure in the 1960's.
This week's prayer from A New Zealand Prayer Book begins with the words "God of the unexpected..." and it was an unexpected surprise that I discovered inside this church.
When I walked through the graffiti splattered front door a dramatic rectangular interior with an apse presented itself. Tiled columns separate the nave from the side aisles and the flat ceiling rests above a row of small windows that let in interesting patters of light. Above the sanctuary there is a skylight within a concrete half-drum.
San Felice da Cantalice was established as a titular church by Pope Paul VI in 1969 for Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan of South Korea, who served as the archbishop of Seoul for 33 years, retiring in 1998. Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan died in February of this year at the age 86.

Who was San Felice?

San Felice (St. Felix) was a Capuchin friar, born at Cantalice, on the north-western border of Lazio. He died in Rome in 1587. He is sometimes represented in art as holding the Infant Jesus, because of a vision he once had, when the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and placed the Divine Child in his arms.

Detail of Sanctuary fresco painted in 1968 by Friar Ugolino da Belluno.

Felice was a shepherd as a young person and then a farm laborer. A friend read to him the lives of the Desert Fathers, inspiring him to seek the Franciscan way of life. Because of his poor health he was appointed to work as a questor for the community in Rome, begging for alms. Felice's special work while in Rome was with children. He would gather them together in bands and, forming a circle, teach them to sing canticles that he composed. These canticles became popular and frequently, when on his rounds to ask for alms, Felice would be invited into the houses of his benefactors and asked to sing. He was canonized in 1712. 

God of the unexpected,

when we come to our senses like the prodigal son,

give us grace to repent and turn to you again,

for where else can we go?

Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent

A New Zealand Prayer Book

I need to be open to the unexpected!
In the 1st reading of the liturgy for the Second Sunday of Lent, God asked of Abraham the unexpected test for him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. When the Angel of the Lord stopped Abraham from actually killing his son, there was the unexpected ram caught in the bushes. I imagine that the gospel reading of Transfiguration of Jesus and the appearance of Moses and Elijah before the apostles was unexpected.

Abraham obeyed. His descendants became as numerous as the stars in the sky. Peter, James and John left the mount of Transfiguration pondering the meaning of the resurrection of the dead. I left the Church of San Felice da Cantalice with a renewed sense of looking for the unexpected.