For the next-to-last post in this year’s Lenten Roman Pilgrim series, we switch back to the singular, since these all come from Jacob. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel Crux Stationalis, where you can see more about the liturgical traditions of the Eternal City all year round.
Passion Sunday – St Peter’s Basilica
For many centuries, it has been the custom that after Vespers of Passion Sunday at St Peter’s, the Veil of Veronica is shown to the faithful from the balcony of one of the great pillars that holds up the church’s dome, the one seen at the lower left of this first photograph.
Passion Monday – St Chrysogonus
This church was given as massive top-to-bottom renovation in the 1620s; the 12th-century bell-tower is one of the few part of the medieval church that retains its original appearance.
A relic of the church’s titular Saint, a martyr of the persecution of Diocletian at the beginning of the 4th century, is kept in the high altar. Chrysogonus is also named among the martyrs in the Canon of the Mass.
The basilica is under the care of the Trinitarian Order, one of the medieval ransoming orders founded in the later 12th century to rescue Christians who had been captured and held as slaves by Muslims. Here we see a statue of the Lord as a captive, with a Trinitarian scapular around His neck. The red and blue cross is traditionally said to have been divinely revealed to their founders, Ss John of Matha and Felix of Valois, as their distinctive symbol.
The altar of one of the church’s side chapels contains the relics of the Bl. Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837), a Secular Trinitarian.
Passion Tuesday – Santa Maria in Via Lata
The church where this day’s station was originally kept, and which is still listed in the Roman Missal, dedicated to an early Roman martyr named Cyriacus, was demolished in 1491 to make way for the construction of Santa Maria in Via Lata, to which the station was then transferred.
The 13th-century icon over the high altar is known for many miracles.
Reliquaries displayed for the station.
The altar of the cross for daily Masses for the Dead.
Passion Wednesday – St Marcellus al Corso
“Via Lata - Broad Street” is the Latin name for the via del Corso, and the station church for this day sits on it almost directly across from yesterday’s station. It is dedicated to a Pope who was martyred in the early 4th century, Marcellus I, built over the filthy stables where he was condemned to labor by the Emperor Maxentius; his relics are under the high altar. The church burned down in 1519, and was rebuilt in the opposite orientation from that of the original structure.
Passion Thursday – St Apollinaris
