One of the most beautiful things about Holy Week in Rome is the long-standing popular custom of visiting the Sacrament Altars (often called “sepolcri - sepulchers” in Italian) of seven churches on the evening of Holy Thursday, a practice to which is attached a plenary indulgence. Here are some photos of a few of the better ones. (The Italians traditionally put a
lot of lights around the Altars, making things more difficult for a very amateur photographer like myself.) One of the things I like best about this custom is that one also sees a huge number of pilgrims from various nations participating in this; the Italian newspapers say that there are a quarter as many more pilgrims in Rome this year for the first Holy Week of a new Pope. I ran into a group of American students from Notre Dame, and of course heard a great deal more Spanish being spoken than usual. It is a true grace to see the Universal Church keep watch and pray with the Lord on the night of His Last Supper.
 |
| Ss.ma Trinità dei Pellegrini, the Fraternity of St. Peter’s Roman Parish, before the Procession with the Blessed Sacrament. |
 |
| and after |
 |
| San Lorenzo in Damaso |
 |
| Santa Maria Maddalena, the church of the Camillian Fathers (Order of the Ministers of the Sick) |
 |
| Sant’Agostino |
 |
| Santa Maria in Vallicella, popularly known as the “Chiesa Nuova - the New Church”, the Roman Oratory. |
 |
| The Paschal moon competes with the lights of the city to be seen in the piazza outside Chiesa Nuova. |
 |
| Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, the former Carthusian monastery church of Rome, in the Piazza della Repubblica. |
 |
| The same altar seen at a distance from the cavernous nave designed by Michelangelo. |
 |
| San Martino ai Monti, one of the oldest parishes in Rome, originally a house church founded in the third century; now home of the generalate of the Carmelites of the Old Observance. |
 |
| Santa Maria in Domnica, an ancient diaconia, i.e. church originally administered by a deacon as a center for charitable works, first built in the 5th century. |
 |
| The table of the Plashchanitsya in the church of the Pontifical Russian College, or “Russicum”, which is dedicated to Saint Anthony the Abbot. Not of course a Sacrament Altar, but often mistakenly venerated as such by pilgrims unfamiliar with the Byzantine liturgy. |
 |
| The same set up earlier in the day in preparation for the Matins of the Twelve Gospels. |
