Rome's Station Churches Revive Ancient Tradition

AP ^ | 4/14/11 | Nicole Winfield

[marshmallow]

ROME – Every morning during the 40 days of Lent, a band of worshippers walk literally in the footsteps of early, persecuted Christians, visiting some of the world's oldest churches in preparation for the most solemn week on the church calendar.

On Thursday as the sun rose over the cupolas and rooftops of Rome, fresh-faced American seminarians made their pilgrimage over the Tiber river and through the alleyways of Rome's historic center to revive this ancient tradition that today draws ambassadors, college kids and ordinary folk alike.

They were heading to Sant'Apollinare, one of the "station churches" of Rome, the nearly 40 ancient churches that centuries ago were designated to hold a rotating daily Mass during Lent, the period leading to Holy Week and Easter when the faithful mark the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The dawn processions take place every morning, a different church slated for worship each day.

At a time when most churches in Italy are empty — evidence of the dwindling Catholic faith in much of Europe — the seminarians of the Pontifical North American College pack these 7 a.m. English services on a regular basis.

Starting in the mid-1970s, they began reviving the tradition and making a daily pilgrimage to each church on the Lenten circuit, paying tribute to early Christians who risked their lives to worship.

The tradition caught on with a wider group. And today, the Masses are often standing room only events.

"You think: 'on this day for 1,300 years Christians have been going to this church on this day,'" said Deacon Riley Williams, of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who is in his fourth year at the North American College. "Going to this place where the saints died, it joins us to Christ."

[GCC Catholic]

Being able to attend Mass at the Station Churches is an immense blessing. When Rev. Mr. Williams said that we often are going to the places where the Saints died, he means it - a great number of the sites are at the places of their martyrdom (or in the case of the church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina, attempted martyrdom).

In future years, I highly recommend them to anyone who happens to be in Rome during Lent.

The North American College maintains a webpage that gives a short description of each of the churches, as well as provides a link to a map:

http://www.pnac.org/station-churches/the-roman-station-liturgy/

Also, George Weigel and his son have been accompanying us to every church throughout Lent, in order to take photos and gather information for a book that they are working on which should appear sometime next year.