The Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls part 1
A Marytyred Apostle’s Shrine – The basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls was built over the tomb of the missionary Apostle Paul, founder – along with St. Peter – of the Roman Church. His memory has been honoured in this basilica as St. Peter’s in his – throughout two millennia of Christian history. THE […]
The Basilica of St. Mary Major part 3
Honouring the Mother of God – San Maria Maggiore is widely believed to be the most important church dedicated to Mary in Western Christendom. This explains the basilica’s name – St. Mary Major. THE PRESEPIO ORATORY A precious wooden relic, believed to be part of the Sacred Crib (presepio) and allegedly brought from Bethlehem by […]
The Basilica of St. Mary Major part 2
Honouring the Mother of God – San Maria Maggiore is widely believed to be the most important church dedicated to Mary in Western Christendom. This explains the basilica’s name – St. Mary Major. A CHURCH FOR THE MOTHER OF GOD Pope Liberius’ basilica fell into ruin and disappeared. The St. Mary Major we see today […]
The Basilica of St. John Lateran part 3
A VISIT TO ST JOHN LATERAN St. John Lateran retains, internally at least, its original Constantinian arrangement: a large rectangular hall with an impressive nave, flanked by double aisles and terminating in an apse. The Emperor seems to have conceived an edifice to rival the Roman basilicae, or monumental public meeting-halls of the imperial city. […]
The Basilica of St. John Lateran part 4
A VISIT TO ST JOHN LATERAN (continued) Beneath the triumphal arch in the middle of the transept stands the Gothic Papal altar, which contains a wooden altar where the earliest Popes, from St. Peter to St. Sylvester, supposedly celebrated the Mass, and silver busts with alleged relics from the heads of St. Peter and St. […]
The Basilica of St. Mary Major part 1
Honouring the Mother of God – San Maria Maggiore is widely believed to be the most important church dedicated to Mary in Western Christendom. This explains the basilica’s name – St. Mary Major. MARY’S GREATEST CHURCH St. Mary Major stands on the highest point of one of ancient Rome’s ‘seven hills’, the Esquiline, and in […]
St. Josaphat
Born in the early 1580s as part of the Eastern Orthodox Church, St. Josaphat was still a young lad during the time of the Synod of Brest Litovsk, better known as the Union of Brest, in 1595-96. Communion with Rome was such a controversial topic at this time that violence often broke out and martyrs […]
The Basilica of St. John Lateran part 1
SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERANO Christianity’s First Cathedral St. John Lateran was Christendom’s mother basilica and home of the Popes for 1,000 years. CATHEDRAL OF THE POPES San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran) was Christendom’s earliest Papal basilica. Commissioned by Rome’s first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, it became the Popes’ official residence and cathedral […]
The Basilica of St. John Lateran part 2
HISTORICAL ITINERARY It was to Pope Melchiades (311-14) that Constantine gave his Lateran Palace, so-called because it had earlier been the property of the patrician Laterani family, which his second wife Fausta (Maxentius’ sister) had brought to the marriage. Soon after, the Emperor razed the adjoining imperial horseguards’ barracks (allegedly the equites singulares had supported […]
St. Martin de Porres
St. Martin de Porres was born December 9, 1579 in Lima, Peru. He was the son of a nobleman and a slave. After his father abandoned Martin, his mother and younger sister, St. Martin’s mother sent him to a barber, who was also a surgeon, to learn hair cutting and medicine. Martin, having spent long […]