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Nativity of the Lord: Christmas Mass at Midnight
Preparing for Jill's Feast: AJ, Greg, Karina, Jill, Natalie
Nancy and I, and a small group from the Lay Centre started Christmas Eve with a traditional Italian dinner hosted by Jill, another Domer I discovered at the Angelicum. It was incredible! Antipasti and prosecco to start the night off, followed by soup, pasta, fish… and each prepared and served in proper order, it was almost a pity we had to leave for the mass! Seriously, aside from theology, ministry, and guiding tours of Rome she could open her own trattoria. Not only was it all delicious, it was presented so beautifully, it really made a special evening even more delightful.
Standing on the confessionals at St. Peter's, Midnight Mass 1944
It is from Jill that I learned that Midnight Mass at St. Peter’s is actually a relatively new phenomenon. Until 1944, the last time the bishop of Rome had celebrated Christmas midnight mass at St. Peter’s is believed to be for the coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD. Otherwise, the traditional location in Rome had been Santa Maria Maggiore – which makes a lot more sense given the indispensible role Mary played in the Nativity, and the location there of the relics of the Nativity including what was believed to be the manger in which the Christ child was laid. Since Pius XII’s celebration just after the liberation of Italy during WWII, the popes have celebrated midnight mass at St. Peter’s; but the Romans still go to Mary Major while the Americans and other pilgrims go pray with the pope – though we were not standing on the confessionals this time.
The line begins outside the Basilica of St. Peter
Jill’s place being mere minutes from Piazza San Pietro, we took some liberty with our arrival time. For the first time, what has traditionally been a Midnight Mass was moved up to 10:00pm so we were advised to arrive three hours early – we got there at 7:30 and got into a line that already wrapped around the entire Piazza and had started doubling up on itself. Waiting just ahead of us in line was an American, a theatre professor from Miami, who was hoping against hope to find a ticket to get into the papal mass. (His name is James Brown. No, really – you can look him up.) As it happens, I had had a friend arrange to get four tickets for us before we knew we would be getting enough through the Lay Centre, so Natalie had borrowed three for friends, and there was just one left over – the Spirit works in small ways too! Unfortunately, we lost Jim in the mass crush when our part of the line finally got inside the Basilica, but in a couple hours of waiting in line at least got to make a new friend.
View from our seats, taken after the liturgy
Once inside, we found the massive line had filled the seats in the nave and it looked as if we might have to stand – until they opened the transepts. We got the leftover seats from the “reserved” section in the south transept, directly to the side of the altar. We couldn’t see the pope as he sat in the presiders chair, but had a great view of the liturgy of the Eucharist.
We were placed directly between two of the massive pillars supporting Michelangelo’s Dome, looked over by Sts. John of God and Mary Euphrasia Pellettier on one side and Sts. Juliana Falconieri and Angela Merici on the other. Because of this we could not see very far down the nave toward the main doors. About the time we thought the music was changing from prelude to procession, we heard something like screams, a pause long enough to ask each other what that was about, then cheering. “Ah, they were cheering for the pope like a rock star!” We did not realize that Benedict had been knocked down until after the liturgy and we met up with some students who had been in that part of the Basilica. We did see Cardinal Etchegaray being wheeled out on a gurney behind us, and thought perhaps he had fallen or something. His Holiness did not mention it, and did not even seem fazed by the time we saw him.
Presepe at Piazza San Pietro
The liturgy was beautiful. Last time I was in Rome, for the close of the Jubilee, midnight mass had been held outside, in the Piazza. This was my second papal Eucharist inside St. Peter’s this year, and both times there has really been a sense of reverence and participation in the liturgy, even despite the size of the church and the numbers of people celebrating. The mass parts were in Latin, the readings in Spanish and English, the gospel sung in Latin and the pope’s homily delivered in Italian, the prayers of the faithful in Russian, French, Tagalog, Portugese, and German. The music is increadible, of course: the only places outside Rome I have seen compare for quality liturgy and liturgical music is the Basilica of Sacred Heart at Notre Dame and St. James Cathedral in Seattle. (The National Shrine in D.C. sometimes makes the cut, too…) Nancy was tempted to record the entire liturgy, but we settled for trying to get some of the music.
Afterwards we stood in front of the presepe (crèche, Nativity scene) at the foot of the obelisk in the middle of Bernini’s piazza, listening to a group of sisters singing carols. After an hour of trying to hail a taxi, we got a couple to take us back to the Lay Centre without trying to rip us off (Thank you, Karina!!)
On returning to the Lay Centre, Donna had prepared for us an “American breakfast” – pancakes with Canadian maple syrup, eggs, bacon, and orange juice – the most proper way to celebrate the birth of Jesus at 2:00am! And, to be honest, I do not think I have ever appreciated American fare so much!
Scavi San Pietro
If you ever come to Rome, go on the “Scavi” tour of the excavations under St. Peter’s. You may have to reserve a spot several weeks or months in advance, but it is well worth it.
St. Peter's on Christmas Eve
Rome is history built upon layers of older history. It is easy to forget that much of the great sites, churches especially, have been built or entirely reconstructed as recently as the renaissance and baroque periods. The massive St. Peter’s Basilica that we see now was built over a 120 year period, throughout the 16th and early 17th centuries.
Like the Lateran palace of the popes and a number of other buildings in Rome, the original Basilica of St. Peter had been left largely in neglect during the Avignon papacy and the papal schisms of the 14th and 15th century, and was in need of repair and restoration. Pope Julius II ordered the demolition of the Basilica, which had been built by Constantine more than a millennium before. The new would be built on the site of the old, with the altar as the center point and locus of continuity.
[For a great read on the history and the personalities of popes and architects involved in the building of the new St. Peter’s, I highly recommend R. A. Scotti’s Basilica: Splendor and the Scandal – Building St. Peter’s . It was given to me as a gift from a good friend, a priest with whom I worked closely while we were planning to build a church for the parish we were serving.]
Baldachino and high altar
Visitors to the Basilica today can tour the main level, designed largely by Michaelangelo, Raphael, Bramante and others, and then can go down to the “Tomb of the Popes” on the level of the old, Constantinian basilica for free and without tickets. If you did not know about the Scavi, you might think this level of the Vatican Grottoes was the lowest. But even Constantine built upon an older layer of history.
Before Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman empire and began to build imperial unity by building churches, the Vatican was a hill, on the slopes of which was a Necropolis – a city of the dead. Mausoleums constructed literally as houses for the dead, pagan and Christian side by side (or on top of each other) in family plots clustered around the area. In order to build his massive basilica, Constanitne ordered the hill leveled and the slopes filled in, up to about the roofline of many of the houses of the dead, which were then filled with rubble and debris to make room for the basilica platform.
Vatican Necropolis under St. Peter's
It was in the midst of this necropolis that a small shrine was built up against a red wall. Over the few hundred years between the construction of the shrine and its being covered by Constantines basilica, more and more Christians were found to be buried as close as possible to the shrine, often without care for previous graves so that several layers of graves were found right on top of one another radiationg out fromthis shrine. But the shrine itself remained undisturbed.
It was this Necropolis that was excavated under the orders of Pius XII between 1939-1949. The remnants of the shrine was found, as described by ancient sources (in 160 AD, Gaius described the Trophy of St. Peter) – the tomb of Peter had been discovered!
Unfortunately, it was discovered to be empty.
During the course of excavations, other graves were found, and in one of the walls adjacent to the tomb, some human remains were discovered. In 1942 the rector of the basilica took it upon himself to move these without going through the archaeologists working in the area, to preserve these possible relics of some unknown saint. Years later they were “rediscovered” by one of those working on the excavations, and testing confirmed they fit the demographic profile of St. Peter at the time of his death and are presumed to be his remains, moved from the original grave to the adjacent ossuary in the wall for veneration, perhaps.
The various altars of St. Peter's
Talk about innovation and continuity, the story of the Church! Consider the layers built one on top of another to mark the apostle’s martyrdom:
- A first century grave (c.70AD)
- A second century shrine, the “Trophy” of St. Peter (before c. 160AD)
- Constantine’s monument then basilica (c.315)
- The altar of Gregory the Great (c.600)
- The altar of Callistus II (c.1120)
- The altar of Clement VIII (c.1600) – the current high altar
- Bernini’s Baldachino
- Michaelangelo’s Dome
Nancy and i were fortunate enough to find space on a tour just a few days ahead, and joined two families (one from Portland!) who had reserved their tours weeks in advance.
Via Merulana Pilgrimge
- Basilica San Clemente
There are four major basilicas in the world, all located here in Rome. Two of the four, the Archbasilica of San Giovanni in Laterano and Santa Maria Maggiore, are just 1.5 km (almost a mile) apart and linked by a straight road, Via Merulana.
Nancy enjoying a cappuccino
We started by heading for San Giovanni and the Christmas market set up out front. Before getting there, though, we made an obligatory stop to tour the three levels of the Basilica of San Clemente. The current basilica, which you have to climb down a flight of stairs from street level to entre, is a 12th century basilica built upon the ruins of a 4th century basilica, which is itself built over two structures including a Mithraeum – a temple to the Roman god Mithras, popular with the Legions.
Then we stopped by a caffe bar popular with the Lay Centre residents, L’800, and had an obligatory cappuccino and cornetto.
'Holy of Holies' atop the Santa Scala
The Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Sts. John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran, as it is formally named is the Cathedral of Rome, housing the cathedra of the bishop of Rome. Of all churches in Christendom, it holds a place of precedence for this reason. It was dedicated in 324 and for centuries was the primary church associated with the pope, who resided in the attached Lateran Palance. It is only relatively recently that the Vatican, with its “new” St. Peter’s Basilica and apostolic palace that the focus of the Petrine ministry has shifted across town.
Christmas market at S. Giovanni
Across the street is the Santa Scala (the Holy Stairs) which, according to pious legend, were brought to Rome by St. Helen in the early 4th century from the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem where Jesus stood in trial before the Roman authority that condemned him to death. They were originally placed of the Lateran palace, but moved to the current site in the late 17th century. Here they ascend to the Sancta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies), once the private chapel of popes and so-called because of the extent of the reliquary contained therein. The inscription above the chapel at the top of the holy stairs even reads non est in toto sanctior orbe locus (Nowhere in all the world is holier than this place).
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
On our way northwest to Mary Major, we stopped in at the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, titular of Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and then in the church of St. Alfonsus Liguori, a parish church of Rome staffed by the Redemptorists and home of the original icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (14th cent). While in the neighborhood we also stopped at the Basilica of Santa Prassede, but it was closed for pranzo.
St. Mary Major
The Basilica of St. Mary Major is major both because of its status as one of the papal/patriarchal basilicas, and as the largest Marian church in Rome (out of 26!). During the messy period after the Avignon papacy, it served as the papal headquarters before the Vatican became the new site. Apparently, until the post-WWII years, the papal midnight mass was always held at Santa Maria Maggiore, and only with Pius XII was it moved to St. Peter’s in 1944. This makes sense given that the relics of the manger are kept at Mary Major, and has been associated with the Nativity for centuries.
Reliquary of the "crib" of Christ's Nativity
According to pious legend, a dream of Mary appearing on the Esquiline hill prompted Pope Liberius (352-356) to trace the outline of the proposed church in the miraculous snowfall of August 5, 352 predicted in his dream – the origin of the Marian title “Our Lady of the Snows”. More likely, and consonant with archeological research at the basilica, it was built and dedicated shortly after the Council of Ephesus in 431 and its confirmation of what we now consider orthodox Christology by acknowledging Mary as Theotokos (God-bearer, Mother of God).
Providentially, the bookstore at the Pontifical Oriental Institute across the piazza opened just as we were leaving, so I was able to duck in and get a copy of the new 7th edition of Fr. Ron Roberson’s essential book, The Eastern Christian Churches, which has unfortunately not been available through Amazon.com or other online sources since it came out last year.
Fourth Sunday of Advent
St. Francis Xavier del Caravita
So much for a day of rest! After a couple of those, it was time to spend Sunday on passagata – walking around the major piazzas and sites at the heart of Rome. We started with the celebration of the Eucharist at the Oratory of St. Francis Xavier, on the Via del Caravita. The road is fairly short, but if you asked most Romans about the Oratory of St. Francis Xavier, they would have no idea what you were talking about. Tell them it’s the church “del Caravita” and then, everyone knows where it is.
[An oratory, by the way, is the name for a church which is semi-private in nature, similar to a chapel. It is the place of worship of a specific community, like a religious order, but can be opened for public worship at the discretion of the order.]
The oratory is staffed by priests from four different religious orders (Jesuits, Montfort Missionaries, Crosiers, Viatorians) and offered as “An International Catholic Community in Rome”. It is not a parish church, but serves as a community especially targeting sojourners, many o its members have spent their lives travelling internationally, and the typical Sunday Eucharist includes people from as many as 20 countries. The liturgy is in English, with a Spanish mass offered monthly.
Pantheon
I was introduced to del Caravita during the vespers service with Cardinal Kasper and Archbishop Rowan Williams in late November. (In fact, if you go to the Caravita website http://caravita.org/ and look at the pictures, you can see Stian and I sitting behind Archbishop Williams while he is preaching). After mass, we met the academic director of Notre Dame’s Rome program for the Architecture school, Steven Semes.
Then time for the touring! The Pantheon, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, and Piazza Navona are not far, and it was a pleasure to introduce Nancy to these sites at the heart of Rome. There’s often a street performer of some kind at the Pantheon busking for tips, but this was the first time i had seen a whole flock of art students with their pads out sketching the place.
Christmas Bazaar at Piazza Navona
The Christmas bazaar at the Piazza Navona gives the place a different feel – its packed! We stopped in a the famous Tre Scalini on Piazza Navona for cappuccino and their Tartufo gelato – at €5, a treat I had been saving for a special occasion! After picnicking at the foot of Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, we decided to head back to the Lay Centre briefly, then were off again to All Saints for Lessons and Carols. From there we walked through the Spanish Steps and to Piazza del Popolo looking for the display of Nativity scenes, but to no avail (I found out later they were located above the Piazza, not in it).
A long day, and there’s still so much to see!
Nancy’s Roman Holiday
Nancy arrived for her three-week visit on Thursday, and after a 24-hour transit seem ready and raring to go – until about 2pm when she fell asleep and only woke up briefly for dinner before sleeping through the night until about 8am Friday morning!
Nancy on the monastery Gardens, Colosseo beyond
For her first real day in Rome, we did some initial planning and I showed her around the Lay Centre and the monastery grounds. Then, we set off across town for an initial visit to St. Peter’s – just a quick couple of hours since I had an evening class. We actually started at the Tomb of the Popes, on the level of the old Constantinan Basilica, and then went up to the Renaissance level. I realized I have not been over there as often as I would like to be these last couple months, and it is a real treat to show the place to someone on their first visit!
St. Peter's interior, upper level
Nancy’s real intro to Rome came Friday night when she got to sit in on my 5:30-7:15pm class on Methodism and its Dialogue with the Catholic Church! OK, so maybe she’s not as enthused as I am about the topic, but the lecturer, Rev. Trevor Hoggard (the Methodist Delegate to the Holy See) is engaging and it really is a good course. And it is nice to share a taste of “real life” here as well, beyond the touristy and the pilgrimage sites.
Cathedral of Rome, Archbasilica San Giovanni in Laterno
Saturday we took a leisurely stroll over to the Cathedral of Rome, the Archbasilica of San Giovanni Laterno. The nice thing about an extended visit is there is no pressure to see so much in each day. The down side is that by the time you sleep in, have a caffe, make plans, and decide to go out, everything closes for pranzo and you’ve lost almost all the daylight by the time they open again!
Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, M.Afr.
Most Rev. Michael L. Fitzgerald, M. Afr.
Papal Nuncio to Egypt and the Arab League since 2006, Archbishop Fitzgerald had succeeded Cardinal Francis Arinze as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in 2002 and has served as secretary of the same Council since 1987. A graduate student in Rome during the Second Vatican Council, he was a student of Bernard Lonergan and had the privilege of attending lectures by Council peritii Karl Rahner, Yves Congar, and others. A student of Arabic and Islam since those early days, he returned to Rome in 1971 as director of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies and as a consultor to the Council he would later lead. He was ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II on the feast of the Epiphany, 1992.
He returned to Rome this week at the invitation of the Centro Pro Unione to deliver a lecture on the role of religious communities in Interreligious Dialogue. The evening before the lecture, he joined us at the Lay Centre to preside at our Eucharistic celebration, and offer a few thoughts about his ministry.
Vespers and hot chocolate
Student mixer, monastic style
- Practicing my Italian (note the hand motions)
Friday, we met with the Father General of the Passionists and his General Council. Tonight we had the privilege to pray with the Passionist students and invite them over for Italian cioccolate caldo – something more akin to hot chocolate pudding than the kind of drinking hot chocolate I’m used to in the states.
About twenty of their students, most Italians, joined about half the Lay Centre residents in the evening after to get to know one another. It was our first opportunity to put names to the faces we’ve seen here and in the universities. It was also a test of my very minimal Italian, as the brothers I spent most of the night speaking with had virtually no English!
Superior conversation
Donna’s Birthday
13 December is the feast of Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy), which always reminds me of my good friend Colleen, in part because of her devotion to her confirmation patron and in part because one of my favorite pictures we took during our ND graduation festivities is Colleen with a garland tiara reminiscent of those worn with candles on St. Lucy’s feast. Pity it’s in a box at home somewhere, or I’d post it up here for you to see!
In Rome, we also celebrated Donna’s birthday (which one, we don’t know, but we celebrated anyway). Professora Donna Orsuto founded the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas more than 20 years ago to begin to meet the obvious need for a house of formation for all the non-ordained, non-religious studying at the Pontifical universities in Rome. Sunday lunch, a few friends and visitors, and a couple surprise gifts to honor our founder all came together beautifully.
A small group of us, lead by our resident Renaissance man David, wanted to serenade the birthday girl, but realized that several would not be present due to previous commitments. After two or three horus of plotting, practicing, and dragooning volunteers from their bedrooms the night before the party, we put together a little video that we played for Donna just before lunch.
To get out of singing (or pretending to sing) I volunteered to film the song using my built-in webcam and laptop for recording and special effects – so forgive the sound quality:
Padre Generale di Passionisti
The Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas is no longer at Foyer Unitas in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj on Piazza Navonna. I have mentioned before that the lay Centre moved just this summer to the Passionist Monastery of Sts. John and Paul on Monte Celio, just south of the coliseum, on the site of what once served as the Temple of Claudius, Nero’s Nymphaeum, and childhood playground for Pope Gregory I the Great.
Father Ottaviani D'Egidio and the General Council of the Passionist Fathers
We met tonight with the men who made such a move possible, Father General Ottaviano D’Egidio and his general council – four Passionist priests who advise the Father General and represent different quarters of the world’s 2200 passionisiti: Fathers Denis Travers (Australia), Clemente Barrón (Texas), Luis Alberto Cano (Spain) and Luigi Vaninetti (Italy). It all started a little over two years ago with an email from Passionist Father and renowned Scripture scholar Donald Senior to members of the General Council suggesting such a move. From there, Fr. Denis met with Donna and conversation commenced. Two years later, we were able to welcome the Passionist general council to dinner as a small sign of thanks to our landlords, and to get to know the community a little better.
Passionists take the traditional three solemn vows of any monastic community – Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience – then add a fourth: to spend his energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, to keep deep in our hearts the memory of the cross and to do what is in our power to remind others of it. This vow defines the purpose of the Passionist community, and the ubiquitous “Sign” of the order, designed by founder Paul of the Cross, reminds them at every moment of this vow. Likewise, the black habit, which is worn in mourning for the passion and death of Christ on the cross.
The Passionist Sign
Though not the original house of the order, the monastery that the Lay Centre now calls home is the ‘mother house’, and several other groups are present: the Father General and his general curia, the students of the order studying at the Pontifical universities in Rome, the staff of the retreat house and of the Basilica of John and Paul, and sisters who serve as the cooks for the monks – about 80 people in all.
The Father General’s opening remarks noted that at first, some of the order were unsure about admitting a lay community into the monastic grounds – and a coeducational, ecumenical, and interreligious community at that! But after a few weeks, he began to wonder if we had indeed moved in – barely seen or heard, we were like ghosts! I think that’s a compliment coming from someone whose day begins in the early hours before God Himself is stirring from slumber!
For our part, I think we were just grateful for the opportunity to express gratitude at living in the most beautiful compound in the City, second only to the Vatican Gardens themselves.
Carmelite General
Father Fernando Millan Romeral, Prior General of the Carmelites
Father Fernando Millán Romeral is the Prior General of the Ordo Fratrum Beatissimae Virginis Mariae de Monte Carmelo, better known as the Carmelites. He is an expert on reconciliation, both in its sacramental form and its theological context, and was a professor of sacramental theology. He is also involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue, and has published half dozen books and numerous articles, mostly in his native Spanish. He was elected superior of the order in September 2007, and was the Lay Centre’s guest presider and presenter this evening.
The Carmelites ‘boast’ 17 Saints, 45 Blessed, and over 100 others whose causes have been started and are classed as Venerable or Servants of God. Some of the most well known include St. John of the Cross, and Doctors of the Church St. Therésè of Liseux and St. Teresa of Avila. Carmelite spirituality is one of the most widely practiced and deeply respected in the Church. Unlike so many religious orders which owe their charism and founding to the vision of a saintly founder, the Carmelites have their origin with a community of pilgrim-penitents who lived as hermits near the “spring of Elijah” on Mount Carmel, in Palestine near the end of the 12th century. Their charism is fraternity, service, and contemplation.
Father Fernando’s comments during and after dinner focused on the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the need for its renewal in the life of the church. Just the name itself, he said, is one indicator of the challenges facing the sacrament. Four different variations are common, each with their own emphasis and champions: Reconciliation, Penance, Confession, and the sacrament of Forgiveness. Though the theology of Vatican II documents clearly prefers Reconciliation, post-Conciliar texts such as the Code of Canon Law use other names. Pope John Paul II was always careful to use the four terms equitably so as not to give favor for one over the other.
One of the first aspects to know with regard to the sacrament is that in response to the call of Sacrosanctum Concilium for the renewal of the liturgy and the revision of the sacramental texts, the work on the sacrament of Reconciliation took the longest. When it was finally completed, in 1984, the most common response was, “well, what changed”? With some exceptions, this sacrament is celebrated in essentially the same form as it was before the revisions (numbers of penitents notwithstanding). Perhaps this indicates that the real renewal of the sacrament has yet to take place.
In anticipation of that renewal, the Carmelite General made several observations. It is a sacrament, therefore it is a liturgy, and should always be celebrated as a liturgy – in community. It should always be celebrated with the Liturgy of the Word. The current Form II – Communal celebration with individual absolution – is really the normative form, the others being exceptions as necessary (either completely individual, or completely communal).
Typical "open" confessional in Rome
Even in Rome, though, it is hard to change the momentum. The prior general told us of how, in his first year as bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI intended to have the sacrament celebrated according to Form II in St. Peters; he ‘was not allowed’ (“Perhaps this is not the best way to say it, but basically, that is what happened!”). The logistics of the normative form were too overwhelming in a culture where you can still find (very beautiful) 18th century wooden confessionals scattered throughout the papal basilicas for penitents to confess their sins to waiting priests in a variety of languages – in some places even while the Eucharist is being celebrated.
The Ecumenism Blog 