Happy Easter

The Paschal Candle at the Basilica San Clemente:

Feast of San Clemente

For the last several decades, our Basilica of San Clemente in Rome has organized a procession with the relics of St. Clement through the neighborhood--complete with fireworks and a band.  Unfortunately, we were rained out, so the procession stayed indoors and the fireworks were cancelled.

But the Band still came:

The celebrant for the Mass was H.E. Matteo Maria Zuppi, an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rome.

Pictures from the Basilica and the Mass are below:

Vacancy Signs

Like most churches, here at the ancient Papal Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, we keep a prominent portrait of the Roman Pontiff.  Right around 8:00pm, when there See of Peter was vacated, we took down the portrait.  We are a sacramental Church, we live and breath signs and symbols. The vacancy of the office of Pope is reflected in various ways, large and small.  The empty space on the wall is a visible reminder in the church of the empty chair in the Church:

San Clemente Christmas

Below are some pictures of San Clemente decorated for Christmas.  As I was concelebrating Midnight Mass, I couldn't take too many pictures of the Mass itself, but it was very nice.  Many of the pictures below are from the praesepio (creche) from the parish.  This is a story in itself.  The creche is made by Patrizio, who mostly serves as our cook.  He's the third generation of his family to have worked for the Irish fathers.  His father was also a cook, and his father's uncle before him.

For many years now Patrizio has been putting together the creche.  Now, this is not simply a matter of getting pieces up from storage and assembling them.  No, Patrizio creates a new scene every year.  He covers up the St. Dominic altar, and we are not allowed to see it until it is finished.  The brothers tell me that it is different every year.  In 2001, for example, he included a small tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack in New York.

Knowing all this, I was still not prepared for how amazingly good his creche scene would be.  He truly is an artist.  Unfortunately, the camera does not do it justice.  He has it lit for midnight, with a red light on much of the scene, and a blue light highlighting the angel.  The flash of the camera makes everything a bit too bright.

Oh, and then there are the sound effects.  He has added some sound recordings of animals.  He says it's in response to the press reports (which were, unfortunately, the typical errors of an anti-Catholic press) of Pope Benedict saying that there shouldn't be (or weren't) animals at the crib.  So, you can hear chickens, cows, and even a rooster.

There's also running water in the background of the scene.

Of course, the neatest touches are the parts you really can't see unless you get very close up (or take pictures with a zoom lens).  Patrizio has added some signs to the streets, like an ancient Italian village.  In fact, he has even named one of the streets:  "Largo Patrizio", translated somewhat loosely as Patrizio Street.  A wonderful touch on an amazing work of art:

The Patronal Feast of the Basilica of San Clemente

By tradition, ordained by St. Peter himself, Flavius Clemens of Rome is generally reckoned the 3rd Pope after Peter, although some ancient lists of Popes have a different order.  The house on the site of the Basilica here is associated with the family of Clemens, although there is some dispute as to whether it is the same Clement.  Some ancient historians of the Church (e.g., Eusebius), thought he was the co-worker of Paul mentioned in Paul's letter to the Phillipians.  Of the writings attributed to Pope Clement I, scholars today are confident of only one having been written by Clement, his Epistle to the Corinthians.

Pope Clement was a first century Christian, and likely died before the year 100.  He is a great source of the faith and practice of the early Church in Rome, and his Epistle is definitely worth reading.  An interesting aspect of the letter is that it reveals a Bishop who is not an Apostle involving himself in the business of another Church.  This is often seen as an early sign of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome.