Feast of St. Cecilia This Saturday

Friends and fellow pilgrims,

You may remember our visit to the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere while we were in Rome. What an amazing church! See my previous blog post about this visit. 

Here is a good article on Saint Cecilia from The Wanderer, a Catholic newspaper. Her feast day is this Saturday.

Catholic Heroes… St. Cecilia

November 18, 2014

By CAROLE BRESLIN

The Catholic Church has thousands of saints. For the last two millennia, people of great holiness, exemplifying heroic virtue, have been honored as saints, members of the Church Triumphant in Heaven giving honor and glory to God. Some have been formally declared saints by the Church, while others have been so honored from the beginnings of the Church, such as Cosmas and Damian, Philomena, and Perpetua and Felicity

Like Saints Cosmas and Damian, and like Perpetua and Felicity, St. Cecilia is remembered in the Roman Canon. In the second half of the First Eucharistic Prayer, she is memorialized along with three other martyred virgins: “Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, and Cecilia.

There is little written historical evidence of Cecilia, about whom some legends have developed. The exact date of her birth is not known, with estimates ranging from the first century to the fourth century.
St. Cecilia was born into a wealthy and noble Roman family, raised in a Christian home. Traditions handed down assert that she lived a holy and virtuous life from her early years. Although she wore finely woven, beautiful garments according to her social rank, underneath she wore course material as an act of penance. She fasted several days a week and vowed to remain a virgin for love of Jesus.
Not surprisingly, her father had other plans for her and arranged a marriage between Cecilia and another patrician, Valerian. Although Valerian was a good man, he did not profess Christianity. While the guests celebrated the wedding, Cecilia sat lost in thought as she listened to the music and sang in her heart for the glory and praise of God

Before her wedding, St. Cecilia prayed to her guardian angel and the saints to protect her virginity. On her wedding night, when her husband came to her, she spoke to him of her vow, saying, “I have a secret to tell you. You must know that I have an angel of God watching over me. If you touch me in the way of marriage, he will be angry and you will suffer; but if you respect my maidenhood, he will love you as he loves me.

Valerian did not react in the way one would expect most pagans to react. Instead, he calmly asked Cecilia to show him this angel, saying, “If he be of God, I will refrain as you wish.”

Cecilia responded that if he believed in the one true God and became a Christian, he would be able to see the angel. She then sent him to Bishop Urban, or some accounts say Pope Urban (reigned 222-230), who received Valerian and joyfully welcomed him into the Church.

Having thus been received into the Church near the Appian Way, Valerian returned to his bride. Just as Cecilia predicted, because he had become a Christian, Valerian saw the angel standing by her side. The angel then placed a wreath of lilies and roses upon the heads of the newlyweds.

Furthermore, some claim that Tiburtius, Valerian’s brother, also saw the angel and witnessed the crowning of Cecilia and Valerian. Then Tiburtius also converted to Christianity. After their conversion, the two brothers spent much of their time performing good works such as the corporal works of mercy.

They spent many hours burying the bodies of the martyrs, earning them the wrath of the prefect, Almachius, who had them arrested. When Tiburtius was brought before the prefect and was cross-examined, he professed his Christianity and explained why he buried the dead. The court set down his answers as those of a crazed maniac.

When Valerius appeared before the same court giving the same testimony, that Christ was the true physician and son of God, they ordered him to sacrifice to the gods. Both Tiburtius and Valerian refused to sacrifice, saying that they would only sacrifice “to the one God to whom we offer sacrifice daily.”

Valerius and Tiburtius were beheaded at Pagus Triopius, four miles outside of Rome. During their brief imprisonment they converted one of the officials by their fortitude and joy for the approaching martyrdom. He also was martyred for declaring his Christianity.

During the time that the brothers were being tried and executed, St. Cecilia had converted 400 more people. When she learned of their deaths, she left her home and retrieved the bodies of Valerian, Tiburtius, and the guard. She gave burial to the three bodies.

Soon Almachius, having learned that she was the wife of Valerian and had converted many, sent for her. However, she turned the tables on Almachius by converting the same people who were to force her to sacrifice to the pagan gods. When Pope Urban came to her home, he celebrated Mass and baptized the converts. Gordian, another wealthy noble, established a church in her house, which was later dedicated in her name.

Almachius persisted in trying to bring her to repudiate her faith. She finally was brought before him, where she proceeded to argue, tripping him up on his own words. He then ordered her to be executed.

The first attempt to kill her failed when the furnace that was made seven times hotter than usual did not even make her perspire. Finally, a soldier was sent to behead St. Cecilia. Three times he struck at her to behead her and failed each time, but he left her so severely wounded that his blows became fatal.

For three days she lingered, singing and praising God, receiving many Christians who came to her side. She left all of her wealth to the Pope, thus donating the church that had been established in her home.

St. Cecilia loved music and singing and thus has become the patron saint of musicians. Though some credit her as the founder of the organ, the instrument can be traced back to Greece in the third century B.C.

Pope St. Paschal I (reigned 817-824) translated the apparent relics of Saints Cecilia, Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus to the Church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere during the early ninth century. In 1599 a sculptor, Stefano Maderno, received permission to look at the body of St. Cecilia in order to make a statue for her tomb. He found the body incorrupt — the first time that the body of a saint was found to be incorrupt.

The Feast of St. Cecilia is celebrated on November 22.

Dear St. Cecilia, music and song brought you so much peace in difficult times. No matter how tragic your circumstances, you remained confident in God’s Providence and mercy. Intercede for us, dear St. Cecilia, that we may also remain confident in times of trial. Amen.

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(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)

http://thewandererpress.com/saints/catholic-heroes-st-cecilia/ 

Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

Greetings friends!

Today is the feast of the dedication of the Basilicas of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and having just returned from Rome (and visited both of these great basilicas), I wanted to write a post commemorating this feast day.

This is one of my photos from the day of the papal audience:

As those who were with me on the pilgrimage know, this is NOT one of my photos because it was pouring down rain the day we visited the Basilica of St. Paul! So I grabbed a nice photo from the Internet!

AS the commemorative feast of the dedication of the Archbasilica of the Lateran is kept by the whole Western church, so also is that of the other greater patriarchal basilicas at Rome, St Mary Major on August 5, and St Peter's and St Paul's together on this day, November 18th. Amongst all the places which the blood of martyrs has rendered illustrious, that part of the Vatican Hill which was consecrated with the blood and enriched with the relics of the Prince of the Apostles has always been the most venerable. "The sepulchres of those who have served Christ crucified", says St John Chrysostom, "surpass the palaces of kings ; not so much in the greatness and beauty of the buildings (though in this also they go beyond them) as in other things of more importance, such as the multitude of those who with devotion and joy repair to them. For the emperor himself, clothed in purple, goes to the tombs of the saints and kisses them ; humbly prostrate on the ground he beseeches the same saints to pray to God for him ; and he who wears a royal crown looks on it as a great privilege from God that a tentmaker and a fisherman,  and these dead, should be his protectors and defenders, and for this he begs with great earnestness." The martyrdom of St Peter took place according to tradition at the circus of Caligula in Nero 's gardens on the Vatican Hill, and he was buried nearby. It is held by some that in the year 258, to avoid desecration during the persecution of Valerian, the relics of St Peter, together with those of St Paul were translated for a time to the obscure catacomb now called St Sebastian's ; but they came back to their original resting-place, and in 323 the Emperor Constantine began the building of the basilica of St Peter over the tomb of the Apostle. For nearly twelve hundred years this magnificent church remained substantially the same, a great papal establishment gradually growing up between it and the Vatican Hill. This was made the permanent residence of the popes on their return from the exile at Avignon, and by the middle of the fifteenth century the old church was found to be inadequate. In 1506, Pope Julius II inaugurated a new building designed by Bramante, whose erection was carried on over a period of a hundred and twenty years, undergoing many alterations, additions and modifications at the hands of various popes and architects, especially Paul V and Michelangelo. The new basilica of St Peter, as we see it today, was consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on November 18, 1626, the day of its original dedication. The high altar was set up over the Apostle's resting-place, which until 1942 had been inaccessible for many centuries. Though St Peter's must always yield in dignity to the cathedral of St John Lateran, it has nevertheless long been the most important church of the world, both in fact and in the hearts of Catholic Christians.

The martyrdom of St Paul took place some seven miles from that of St Peter at Aquae Salviae (now called Tre Fontane) on the Ostian Way. He was buried about two miles therefrom, on the property of a lady named Lucina, in a small vault. Early in the third century, according to Eusebius (Hist. eccl., ii, 25, 7), a Roman priest, Caius, refers to the tombs of SS. Peter and Paul : " I can show you the trophies [tombs] of the apostles. If you go to the Vatican or on the road to Ostia you will see the trophies of those who founded this church." Constantine is said to have begun a basilica here too, but the great church of St Paul Outside-the-Walls was principally the work of the Emperor Theodosius I and Pope St Leo the Great. It remained in its primitive beauty and simplicity till the year 1823, when it was consumed by fire. The whole world contributed to its restoration, non-Christians as well as non-Catholics sending gifts and contributions. During the course of the work the fourth-century tomb was found, with the inscription PAULO APOST MART : To Paul, apostle and martyr ; it was not opened. The new basilica, on the lines of the old one, was consecrated by Pope Pius IX on December 10, 1854, but the annual commemoration was appointed for this day, as the Roman Martyrology records. " We do not," says St Augustine, "build churches or appoint priesthoods, sacred rites and sacrifices to the martyrs, because, not the martyrs, but the God of the martyrs, is our God. Who among the faithful ever heard a priest, standing at the altar set up over the body of a martyr to the honor and worship of God, say in praying : We offer up sacrifices to thee, Peter, or Paul, or Cyprian? We do not build churches to martyrs as to gods, but as memorials to men departed this life, whose souls live with God. Nor do we make altars to sacrifice on them to the martyrs, but to their God and our God." 

Here's the website where I found this information:

http://www.jesus-passion.com/dedication_of_the_basilicas_of_st.%20peter%20&%20st.%20paul.htm 

11 Things to do in St. Peter's Square

Great article for Catholic pilgrims who just returned from Rome!

http://epicpew.com/11-thigns-st-peters-square/

Seminarian Night at Il Cantico!

This past Tuesday night in Rome, our pilgrimage group hosted several seminarians from our two dioceses: Dubuque and Davenport. These young men are studying in Rome -- so it was nice to meet them and learn about their studies! It was a fun evening! Fr. Brian Dellaert was also in attendance.

We had dinner together in the restaurant at Il Cantico Hotel, and it was a very nice evening. I don't know all the names, but if people want to send me the names I'm missing, I'll update the blog post.

Here are some photos of the seminarians intermingled with the pilgrims . . . and later, as a group:

From left to right in the photo below, this is who I know: Brother David Spillane, Scott Foley, Fr. Chris Podhajsky, SIster Susan Rueve, ?, Fr. Brian Dellaert, Dennis Conway (seminarian from All Saints in CR), John Lamansky, and Fr. Mike Phillips.

I think where you see question marks (?), these are seminarians from the diocese of Davenport, so I don't remember their names even though they introduced themselves.

Sunday at Immaculate Conception

Dear Friends,

After all of the amazing Masses that we had in incredibly beautiful churches and basilicas in Italy, it was still nice to return to my home parish, Immaculate Conception for Sunday Mass today!

Here are some pics and vids . . . just an ordinary Sunday!

I think we had about 16 altar boys this morning at 9 a.m. Mass! I took some very short video snippets of the altar boys kneeling facing the altar. The first video shows the boys kneeling (with eight torch bearers) during the Eucharistic Prayer. The second video shows the boys along with Fr. Chris and Deacon Bob kneeling for prayers after Mass.

Then there are a couple of photos, the first showing the boys holding the torches during the Eucharistic Prayer, and the last showing everyone lined up around the altar before Holy Communion.

Catacombs of Priscilla

On Wednesday morning, we visited the Catacombs of Priscilla.

The Catacombs of Priscilla, sits on the Via Salaria, with its entrance in the convent of the Benedictine Sisters of Priscilla. It is mentioned in all of the most ancient documents on Christian topography and liturgy in Rome. Because of the great number of martyrs buried within it, it was called “regina catacumbarum – the queen of the catacombs.”

Originally dug out from the second to fifth centuries, it began as a series of underground burial chambers. The noblewoman Priscilla granted the Church use of the property. Her commemoration is noted on January 16th in the Roman Martyrology, which speaks of her as a benefactor of the Christian community in Rome. This cemetery was lost like all the others after the entrances were blocked to protect it from thievery; however, it was also one of the first to be rediscovered, in the sixteenth-century. A large portion of the funerary inscription, sarcophagi, stone and bodies (presumed to be those of martyrs) were subsequently taken away; nevertheless, the catacomb does preserve some particularly beautiful and important paintings.

A beautiful pink rose . . . in November!

This is the altar above the catacomb where we had Mass.

The Galleries of the Cemetery

Dug into the tufa, a soft volcanic rock used to make bricks and lime, the galleries have a total length of about thirteen kilometers, at various depths. The first level, which is the most ancient, winds along in a series of galleries; the wall are full of “loculi”, the most common kind of tomb. The bodies were laid within them, directly on the dirt, wrapped in a shroud, sprinkled with lime to restrain the normal process of decay, and closed in with pieces of marble, or tiles. Inscriptions were written in Greek or Latin on the tombs, or small objects placed near them to help identify graves with no inscription. Only on this level, where the martyrs were buried, do we find the small rooms known as “cubicula – bed chambers”, which were the tombs of wealthier families or of the martyrs themselves. Likewise, we find here the “arcosolia,” another type of tomb for the upper classes, often decorated with paintings of religious subjects. Most of the stories depicted are Biblical, from both the Old and New Testaments, an expression of faith in the salvation and final resurrection obtained for us by Jesus Christ. The stone inscriptions on the tombs are often marked with symbols whose meaning was known to the Christians, but not to the pagans. The best known of these is the fish, the Greek word for which, ICHTHYS, was read as an acronym for the corresponding Greek words that mean “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”

The Greek Chapel

When this area was found, it was full of dirt that had come down through the light shaft in the ceiling; it is named for the two Greek inscriptions, painted in the right niche, which were the first things seen by its discoverers.

Richly decorated with paintings and stuccos in the Pompeian style, it is formed of three niches for sarcophagi and a long seat for funeral banquets, called “refrigeria” or “agapae”, which were held at the tombs in honor of the dead. The painting in the central arch at the back, on a red background, shows just such a banquet, but with a clear reference to the banquet of the Holy Eucharist, which also was sometimes celebrated by the Christians near venerated tombs. Seven persons are seated at the table, the first of which is breaking the bread as he stretches out his hands; at the sides of the table are seven baskets, a reference to the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes, when Jesus also promised the bread of eternal life.

Several episodes of the Old Testament are also shown: Noah on the ark; Moses making water run from the rock, a prophecy of the saving waters of baptism; the sacrifice of Isaac; and three stories of miraculous deliverance from the book of Daniel (Daniel among the lions, the three children in the furnace, Susanna accused of adultery by the elderly judges in Babylon, and saved by Daniel). Episodes of the New Testament are also depicted, such as the resurrection of Lazarus, and the healing of a paralytic; the former demonstrates Christ’s power over death, the latter His power over sin. The adoration of the Magi is also represented, a very common image in the Christian cemeteries of ancient Rome, symbolizing the universality of salvation, since the Three Kings were the first pagans to adore Christ.

Banquet

Three men in the furnace (book of Daniel)

Three magi (kings) approaching Mary and the Child Jesus

The Cubiculum of the Veiled Woman

This room is named for the picture in the semi-circle on the back wall, in which a young woman, wearing a rich purple garment and a veil on her head, lifts up her arms in prayer. On either side of her are two scenes unlike any others among all of the paintings in the various catacombs, probably episodes of her life. In the middle, the Good Shepherd is painted in the Garden of Paradise, amid peacocks and doves. Before this scene, in the arch above the door, the prophet Jonah is shown emerging from the mouth of a sea-monster, a clear expression of faith in the Resurrection. The semi-circle on the left depicts the Sacrifice of Isaac, while on the right are shown the Three Children in the fiery furnace in Babylon; both of these episodes are expressions of faith in God’s salvation, understood by the first Christians as prophecies of the salvation brought by the coming of Christ. These pictures, which are in a remarkably good state of preservation, date back to the second half of the third century.

The image of the Good Shepherd in stucco, (much of which has unfortunately fallen off,) is found on the upper part of a niche which was later expanded into a gallery, most likely because of the presence of a venerated tomb. He is standing among some trees which are stucco on the bottom, but fresco on the top, where we see leaves and red fruits painted in vivid color. On either side of the trees there were two more images, but the one on the left has completely fallen away. 

The Niche with the oldest image in existence of the Virgin Mary

On the right is preserved an image of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus on her knee; a prophet stands next to her, holding a scroll in his left hand, and pointing to a star with his right. This seems to refer to the prophecy of Balaam, “A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a scepter shall spring up from Israel” (Numbers 24, 15-17). The presence of the prophet indicates that the Child is the Messiah awaited for many ages. This is the first known image of the Virgin Mary (beginning of 3rd century)

Peacock - Catholics adopted the symbol of the peacock to represent resurrection, renewal, and immortality. This came from the ancient legend that the flesh of the peacock did not decay. Thus we find paintings and mosaics with the peacock as early as the 3rd century on the walls of the catacombs of Rome, a symbol of the exchanging of the mortal earthly body for the glorified body and eternal life of the glorified soul in Heaven. 

Castel Sant'Angelo

On Tuesday, we visited the amazing Castel Sant'Angelo!

With its unmistakeable cylindrical contour and particularly scenic position along the shore of the Tiber River, Castel Sant'Angelo is one of the town's most famous landmarks. Its appearance today is the result of a long series of transformations that, in reality, have left no traces of the glorious mausoleum that Emperor Hadrian built for himself and his successors. 

But in medieval times, the mausoleum changed its function as an imperial tomb. Towers and defensive walls were erected during the reign of the Emperor Aurelian and a defensive bastion was built during the barbaric invasions.

By the Middle Ages, Castel Sant'Angelo had been transformed into a practically unassailable fortress in a particularly strategic position that defended the northern entrance of the city.

The popes also commissioned the construction of a covered fortified corridor connected to the Vatican Palaces, which was to be used in the event of danger as an extreme escape route. Castel Sant'Angelo also guarded the riches of the popes: the treasury room in the center of the fort was a kind of safe for Rome during the Renaissance. The castle was also used to store enormous reserves of food, which were to be used in the event of an attack. There were wineskins set in the walls, enormous water tanks, granaries and even a mill.

Today the castle is visited by tourists from all over the world and is home to the National Museum of Castel Sant'Angelo. A very dear landmark of the town is the statue of Archangel St. Michael, high up on the enormous terrace, from which the castle takes its name. It was created in memory of an ancient legend that speaks of the terrible plague that struck Rome in 590 AD, which ended thanks to the apparition of an angel that appeared above the castle and conceded grace to the town when he sheathed his sword.

Here are some photos. Below I'm standing in front of a statue of the great St. Michael the Archangel! This is not the statue on top of the entire Castel Sant'Angelo. See below for photo. 

Here's the Ponte Sant'Angelo (bridge leading up to the castle).

The ten statues of angels that adorn the bridge were designed in 1668 by the great sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, on the order of pope Clement IX and created by Bernini and his students. The angels all hold a symbol of the crucifixion of Jesus, such as a crown of thorns, a whip, and so on. 

Two of the statues were created by Bernini himself: the angel holding the Crown of Thorns and the angel holding the INRI sign. 

At the south end of the bridge stand two more statues, of the apostles Peter and Paul. They were installed here in 1534. The statue of Peter was created by Lorenzetto; the statue of Paul is the work of Paolo Taccone. 

St. Peter:

St. Paul:

 Some of Bernini's Angels:

View from the top: 

Tiber River

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Michael the Archangel on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo

Umbrella pine trees in the distance (they look like umbrellas)!

 Fr. Mike and Brother David

Panorama shot on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo