Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Holy Saturday

Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno

(St. John Lateran)

"The Cathedral of Rome and of the World"

Dedicated to both St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, the Basilica of St. John Lateran is the first among the four major basilicas of Rome, but receives its august title because it is also the cathedral of the bishop of Rome, the Pope.

Built by Constantine the Great in the 4th century, San Giovanni in Laterano was the first Christian church built in Rome. It was embellished with beautiful decorations given by Constantine, including seven silver altars with seven gilded candlesticks inlaid with images of prophets; 111 chandeliers; and gold voil for the apse vault.


There were seven oratories surrounding the basilica dating back to the fifth century that were eventually incorporated into the church. The devotion of visiting the oratories of this basilica, led to the devotion of the seven altars, still common in many churches of Rome and elsewhere.

For more history and tons of pictures go here.  For the very complete history, go to the Catholic Encyclopedia, here.
For a little more information, you can go back a couple days to the post from Holy Thursday, which was also stationed at St. John Lateran.

Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Good Friday

S. Croce in Gerusalemme

(Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem)

One of the seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, the Basilica of the Holy Cross was built in the fourth century specifically to house the relics of the Passion discovered by St. Helen in the holy land.  When it was first constructed, the floor of the church was literally covered with soil from Jerusalem -- thus the title which refers to the fact that the church of the Holy Cross was "in" Jerusalem.

Enshrined for devotion within the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem are: a part of the panel which was hung on Christ's Cross; two thorns of the crown; an incomplete nail and three small wooden pieces of the True Cross itself; a large fragment of the Good Thief's cross; the bone of an index finger, said to be the finger that St. Thomas placed in thewounds of the Risen Christ; a single reliquary containing small pieces of: the Scourging Pillar (the larger part which is in the Church of St. Praxedes), the Holy Sepulchre (Christ's tomb), and the crib of Jesus, as well as some fragments of the grotto of Bethlehem.

Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Thursday of Holy Week

The Basilica of St. John Lateran

The oldest and the first of the great Patriarchal Churches of Rome, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, rests on the site of the home of one of the first Christian families, the Lateranis.  In the days of the earliest Christians, the church, dedicated to Our Saviour, was known as"Basilica Salvatoris"  and was only later dedicated to St. John.  Being adjoined to the earliest and the most splendid of the early basilicas, the magnificent Palace of the Lateran, the home of the second wife of Constantine and donated by by that royal couple in the fourth century, was the residence of the popes for a thousand years of the history of the Church.  Unfortunately, due to the destruction done by a series of fires and the the confusion of the abandonment of Rome during the Babylonian Captivity, the popes moved away from St. John Lateran, changing their residence first to Santa Maria in Trastevere, then to Santa Maria Maggiore, and then, finally and permanently to  current home at the Vatican.

Of the many masterpieces and relics of note within the basilica, the most awe inspiring has to be the Scala Sancta (Holy Stairs), the marble staircase leading to the praetorium of Pilate in Jerusalem.  Moved from Jerusalem to Rome by St. Helen, these steps were sanctified by the footsteps of Jesus during His Passion. The marble stairs are accessed through openings in the wooden risers which are built around it to protect the precious relic from the thousands of pilgrims who come annually.  

For the complete history of the basilica, you can go here.  And, following is a short video documentary of St. John Lateran:

Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Wednesday, the last week in Lent

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

( Basilica of St. Mary Major)

One of the four Papal Basilicas in Rome,  St. Mary Major is the Church of Our Lady of the Snow in Rome.  Our Lady appeared in a dream to a local patrician and his wife, as well as Pope Liberius, directing that a church be built on the summit of the Equiline Hill in Rome -- and that it be placed precisely within the boundaries of the snowthat would fall on that hill on the night of August 4th, 352.   The pope, himself, marked the outline the next morning and immediately commisioned construction.  The basilica that we see today was completed with the commissions of Pope Sixtus III  in the middle of the fifth century.  It is the oldest, largest, and most important of the churches  dedicated to the Blessed Mother in Rome.

There are numerous ancient mosaics throughout the basilica decorating floors, walls, and ceilings.  Most notable is the relic of the Holy Crib preserved for veneration in the in the Sistine Chapel below the sanctuary  of the main church, as well as the relics of the True Cross  which are also displayed within St. Mary's.

For more history, go here or you can click here to see the white rose petals flutter down from the dome of the St. Mary's Basilica on the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows. 

Or visit the basilica right now in the following short video documentary:

(Please forgive the improper alignment of text. It appears that Blogger is Conservative, as it will not allow me to align left...)

Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Tuesday, last week in Lent
S. Prisca all'Aventino
(St. Priscilla of the Aventine Hill)

Built over an ancient temple of Mithras, this church is dedicated to a member of the earliest Christian family we know by name, Sts Prisca and Aquila.  As the Bible introduces them to us:

'[In Corinth, Paul] found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who arrived shortly before from Italy with his wife Priscilla, following the order of Claudius, who departed from Rome all the Jews.  (Acts 18:2-3)

"Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus to save my life they have risked their head, to whom not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles; greet also the community that meets in their house" .

(Paul's Letter to the Romans 16,3-5)

A convert and student of St. Paul's, Priscilla, who with her husband, Aquila, was a tent maker, was eventually martyred and is believed to be the same "Prisca" whose tomb can be found in the catacombs.

St. Prisca's is recorded as having been a titular church by the end of the fifth century, but was destroyed and rebuilt several times before it maintained the seventeenth century restoration we see today.  Of note is  a baptismal font preserved here that St. Peter is believed to have used.

You can find a gallery of pictures here and a short history here.

Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Monday, last week of Lent

St. Prassede all'Esquilino
(St. Praxedes of Esquillino)

This Church is named for the early Christian martyr, St. Praxedes, who is believed to have been one of two holy daughters of the Roman Senator, Pudens, who had been converted by St. Peter.  The two sisters, Praxedes and Prudentia, aided and encouraged the early Christian martyrs, sometimes hiding them within the walls of their sumptuous Roman villa, until their Christianity was discovered and they were both martyred.  This minor basilica is built upon the site of the sisters' villa in Rome.  St. Praxedes' relics lie within, and -- most noteworty -- it houses a segment of the pillar upon which Our Lord was scourged.  The church of St. Praxedes is also known for its beautiful and extensive interior mosaic work.


A great blog post (with pictures) by an American student in Rome about this stational church can be found here. A history of the church is here.  An aerial map of its location in Rome can be found here. A street view can be found here.

A history, list, and map of all the Lenten Stational Churches can be found here.

Lenten Stational Church in Rome

Saturday, Fifth Week in Lent

S. Giovanni a Porta Latina

(St. John at the Latin Gate) 

This church, built in the 490s, is near the spot that St. John the Beloved miraculously survived being boiled in oil. The history of this church can be found here.  More pictures of the church, the Latin Gate itself, and the Chapel of San Giovanni in Oleo (oil!) can be found here.  For a description of ancient Jerusalem in the words of Anne Catherine Emmerich, go here.

The following video, filmed in San Giovanni, doesn't show much of the church, but I couldn't resist Palestrina...