Ancient Rome & the Bible

The Bible records a number of ancient civilizations. Perhaps the most famous of these is ancient Rome.

By the time of the New Testament, Rome was the major world power, and it was in control of the Holy Land during the entire earthly life of Jesus and during the lives of his immediate followers.

Jesus was born during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus. He was crucified during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius. The book of Acts records the Roman emperor Claudius by name. And both St. Peter and St. Paul were martyred at Rome by the Emperor Nero.

It is clear that the Romans were extraordinarily important to the world in which the New Testament was written.

All that makes it worth asking: Who were the Romans, and where did their civilization come from?

Read on here.

 

Changes in the Curia

Levada is to resign from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, leaving Müller in pole position to substitute him. Meanwhile, the Vatican library is getting a new librarian and Bertone’s substitution appears imminent

Vatican Insider La Stampa reports:

Two important (cardinal) appointments are expected in the Vatican before the beginning of the summer holidays. The most significant one is the nomination of Joseph Ratzinger’s second successor as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This is a delicate and crucial role not only because faith is at the heart of Benedict XVI’s pontificate, but also because this is the dicastery that deals with scorching dossiers on cases of sex abuse against minors and it also manages the dialogue process with the Society of St. Pius X. Seventy six year old American cardinal, William Levada, intends to retire to the U.S. After months of deliberation, the Pope is likely to choose the 64 year old Bishop of Regensburg, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, for the post of Prefect of the Congregation. Unless there are any last minute surprises (other candidates considered include an American prelate and a French cardinal) he is expected to take over from Levada in the next few months.

Another expected appointment  is that of the Librarian of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. The post has been vacant since outgoing librarian Cardinal Raffaele Farina (who will turn 79 next September) presented his resignation recently. The man that seems tipped to win the post is 68 year old French archbishop, Jean-LouisBruguès, a Dominican. But even in this case there could be last minute surprises as the Pope could choose a cardinal from the Roman Curia who is nearing the end of his mandate. Vatican Librarians traditionally keep their role well beyond the age of 75.

Next 2 December the Vatican Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, will turn 78. When Bertone reached resignation age three years ago, Benedict XVI sent him an affectionate letter asking him to stay on. In an interview with Italian daily newspaper La Stampa last March Bertone stated: “Serving the Holy Father is always a strong experience of pastoral charity because of the way he leads the Church with clear judgement and moderate firmness. Obviously, however, whether my service continues or ends depends on Benedict XVI’s decision.” Many believe that the Pope wants to keep Bertone by his side for at least another two years, that is, until Cardinal Bertone turns 80. The Pope chose him for the role of Secretary of State shortly after his appointment as Pope in 2005 – although the nomination was announced in June 2006 and the installation the following September.

According to other observers, in recent days, Benedict XVI has allegedly been considering the possibility of changing the Holy See’s “prime minister”. The Pope did reiterate the complete trust he had in his collaborators in light of the confidential document leak scandal that has been rattling the Vatican in recent weeks. And it is true that in cases such as this, the Pope tends to seek to strengthen his entourage rather than weaken it. However, it is also true that were a new Secretary of State to be appointed, this appointment would not be a result of the Vatileaks scandal – the leak of confidential documents that were published in Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi’s book Sua Santità (His Holiness). The documents mentioned Bertone as a target amongst others – but for age reasons. As the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, stressed recently in an interview: “Cardinal Bertone is 78 years old. It is no secret that his departure from the Secretariat of State is imminent.”

Bertone had no background in papal diplomacy but was chosen for the bond of collaboration and trust which he had established with Ratzinger between 1995 and 2002 when he was Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith led by the future Pope. A bond which remains strong. The fact that the Pope knows him personally and that he collaborated directly with him before and after his election as Pope, are criteria to bear in mind when predicting who Bertone’s successor will be. That is, if the Pope, who is the only one who can decide on the replacement, really intends to go down this route after considering all potential candidates and choosing one individual in whom he places his complete trust. Another question to be resolved is the candidate’s nationality: the fact that the Pope is not Italian himself, leads one to assume he will opt for an Italian right hand man.

John Paul II, who was elected in 1978, kept French cardinal, Jean Villot, in the role but said that the accession of a non Italian Pope to the throne of Peter would have led to an Italian being chosen as Secretary of State. Indeed, after Villot’s unexpected death the following March, Agostino Casaroli was nominated to the post and Angelo Sodano in 1991. Benedict XVI could, however, decide differently. Finally, another question which needs to be resolved is whether or not to choose a prelate with previous diplomatic experience.

 

San Gregorio Magno al Celio

Since a lot of people have come to the blog today searching for San Gregorio Magno al Celio (though I suspect they’re actually after yesterday’s events), here is Wikipedia:

San Gregorio Magno al Celio, also known as San Gregorio al Celio or simply San Gregorio, is a church in Rome, Italy, which is part of a monastery. It is located on the Caelian Hill, in front of the Palatine.

The church had its beginning as a simple oratory added to a family villa suburbana of Pope Gregory I, who converted the villa into a monastery, ca 575-80, before his election as pope (590). Saint Augustine of Canterbury was prior of the monastery before leading the Gregorian mission to the Anglo-Saxons seven years later. The community was dedicated to the Apostle Andrew. It retained its original dedication in early medieval documents, then was normally recorded after 1000 as dedicated to St. Gregory in Clivo Scauri. The term in Clivo Scauri reflected its site along the principal access road, which ran up the ancient slope (Latin: clivus) that rose from the valley between the Palatine Hill and the Caelian.

The decayed church and the small monastery attached to it on the now-isolated hill passed to the Camaldolese monks in 1573. This Order still occupies the monastery. The archives of the monastery were published by the Camaldolese abbot, Gian Benedetto Mittarelli, in his monumental history, the Annales Camaldulenses ordini S. Benedicti ab anno 970 ad anno 1770 (published 1755-1773).

The current edifice was rebuilt on the old site to designs by Giovanni Battista Soria in 1629-1633, commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese; work was suspended with his death, and taken up again in in 1642. Francesco Ferrari (1725–1734) designed the interior.

The church is preceded by a wide staircase rising from the via di San Gregorio, the street separating the Caelian hill from the Palatine. The façade, the most prominent and artistically successful work of Giovanni Battista Soria (1629–33), resembles in its style and material (travertine), that of San Luigi dei Francesi; it is not the façade of the church however, but instead leads into a forecourt or peristyle, at the rear of which the church itself can be reached through a portico that contains some tombs: these once included that of the famous courtesan Imperia, lover of the rich banker Agostino Chigi (1511), but later it was adapted to serve as the tomb of a 17th-century prelate. A Latin inscription commemorating Sir Edward Carne, the ambassador of Queen Mary I of England and a noted scholar of ancient Greek language and culture, can be made out.

The marble cathedra associated with Gregory the Great is preserved in the stanza di S. Gregorio in the church; a shrewd and accurate reconstruction of its ancient appearance was illustrated as Gregory’s throne by Raphael in the Disputà. The lion-griffin protomes that form its front and appear in Raphael’s fresco are continued on the sides in an acanthus scroll. Three more marble thrones of precisely the same model may be seen in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, in Berlin and in the Acropolis Museum. Gisela Richter has suggested that all are replicas of a lost, late Hellenistic original; none of the replicas has preserved the separately-carved base that would have continued the lions’ legs, very much as Raphael surmised.

The church follows the typical basilican plan, a nave divided from two lateral aisles, in this case by sixteen antique columns with pilasters. Other antique columns have been reused: four support the portico on the left of the nave that leads into the former Benedictine burial ground, planted with ancient cypresses, and four more have been reused by Flaminio Ponzio (1607) to support the porch of the central oratory facing into the burial ground on the far side, which is still dedicated to Saint Andrew.

In the 1970s, the Camaldolese monks allowed the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, M.C., to set up a food kitchen for the poor of the city in a building attached to the monastery. It is still maintained by her religious congregation, the Missionaries of Charity…

More here.

It has a stunning interior:

 

Pope: Allocution to New Cardinals

Venerable Brothers, Dear Brothers and Sisters,

With these words the entrance hymn has led us into the solemn and evocative ritual of the ordinary public Consistory for the creation of new Cardinals, with the placing of the biretta, the handing over of the ring and the assigning of a titular church. They are the efficacious words with which Jesus constituted Peter as the solid foundation of the Church. On such a foundation the faith represents the qualitative factor: Simon becomes Peter – the Rock – in as much as he professed his faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God. In the proclamation of Christ the Church is bound to Peter and Peter is placed in the Church as a rock; although it is Christ himself who builds up the Church, Peter must always be a constitutive element of that upbuilding. He will always be such through faithfulness to his confession made at Caesarea Philippi, in virtue of the affirmation, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

The words Jesus addressed to Peter highlight well the ecclesial character of today’s event. The new Cardinals, in receiving the title of a church in this city or of a suburban Diocese, are fully inserted in the Church of Rome led by the Successor of Peter, in order to cooperate closely with him in governing the universal Church. These beloved Brothers, who in a few minutes’ time will enter and become part of the College of Cardinals, will be united with new and stronger bonds not only to the Roman Pontiff but also to the entire community of the faithful spread throughout the world. In carrying out their particular service in support of the Petrine ministry, the new Cardinals will be called to consider and evaluate the events, the problems and the pastoral criteria which concern the mission of the entire Church. In this delicate task, the life and the death of the Prince of the Apostles, who for love of Christ gave himself even unto the ultimate sacrifice, will be an example and a helpful witness of faith for the new Cardinals.

It is with this meaning that the placing of the red biretta is also to be understood. The new Cardinals are entrusted with the service of love: love for God, love for his Church, an absolute and unconditional love for his brothers and sisters, even unto shedding their blood, if necessary, as expressed in the words of placing the biretta and as indicated by the colour of their robes. Furthermore, they are asked to serve the Church with love and vigour, with the transparency and wisdom of teachers, with the energy and strength of shepherds, with the fidelity and courage of martyrs. They are to be eminent servants of the Church that finds in Peter the visible foundation of unity.

In the Gospel we have just heard proclaimed there is offered a model to imitate and to follow. Against the background of the third prediction of the Passion, death and resurrection of the Son of Man, and in profound contrast to it, is placed the scene of the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, who are still pursuing dreams of glory beside Jesus. They ask him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mk 10:37). The response of Jesus is striking, and he asks an unexpected question: “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?” (Mk 10:38). The allusion is crystal clear: the chalice is that of the Passion, which Jesus accepts as the will of God. Serving God and others, self-giving: this is the logic which authentic faith imparts and develops in our daily lives and which is not the type of power and glory which belongs to this world.

By their request, James and John demonstrate that they do not understand the logic of the life to which Jesus witnesses, that logic which – according to the Master – must characterize the disciple in his spirit and in his actions. The erroneous logic is not the sole preserve of the two sons of Zebedee because, as the evangelist narrates, it also spreads to “the other ten” apostles who “began to be indignant at James and John” (Mk 10:41). They were indignant, because it is not easy to enter into the logic of the Gospel and to let go of power and glory. Saint John Chrysostom affirms that all of the apostles were imperfect, whether it was the two who wished to lift themselves above the other ten, or whether it was the ten who were jealous of them (“Commentary on Matthew”, 65, 4: PG 58, 619-622). Commenting on the parallel passages in the Gospel of Luke, Saint Cyril of Alexandria adds, “The disciples had fallen into human weakness and were discussing among themselves which one would be the leader and superior to the others… This happened and is recounted for our advantage… What happened to the holy Apostles can be understood by us as an incentive to humility” (“Commentary on Luke”, 12, 5, 24: PG 72, 912). This episode gives Jesus a way to address each of the disciples and “to call them to himself”, almost to pull them in, to form them into one indivisible body with him, and to indicate which is the path to real glory, that of God: “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mk 10:42-44).

Dominion and service, egoism and altruism, possession and gift, self-interest and gratuitousness: these profoundly contrasting approaches confront each other in every age and place. There is no doubt about the path chosen by Jesus: he does not merely indicate it with words to the disciples of then and of today, but he lives it in his own flesh. He explains, in fact, “For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). These words shed light upon today’s public Consistory with a particular intensity. They resound in the depths of the soul and represent an invitation and a reminder, a commission and an encouragement especially for you, dear and venerable Brothers who are about to be enrolled in the College of Cardinals.

According to biblical tradition, the Son of man is the one who receives power and dominion from God (cf. Dan 7:13f). Jesus interprets his mission on earth by combining the figure of the Son of man with that of the suffering Servant, described in Isaiah (cf. 53:1-12). He receives power and the glory only inasmuch as he is “servant”; but he is servant inasmuch as he welcomes within himself the fate of the suffering and the sin of all humanity. His service is realized in total faithfulness and complete responsibility towards mankind. In this way the free acceptance of his violent death becomes the price of freedom for many, it becomes the beginning and the foundation of the redemption of each person and of the entire human race.

Dear Brothers who are to be enrolled in the College of Cardinals, may Christ’s total gift of self on the Cross be for you the foundation, stimulus and strength of a faith operative in charity. May your mission in the Church and the world always be “in Christ” alone, responding to his logic and not that of the world, and may it be illumined by faith and animated by charity which comes to us from the glorious Cross of the Lord. On the ring which I will soon place on your finger, are represented Saints Peter and Paul, and in the middle a star which evokes the Mother of God. Wearing this ring, you are reminded each day to remember the witness which these two Apostles gave to Christ even unto martyrdom here in Rome, their blood making the Church fruitful. The example of the Virgin Mother will always be for you an invitation to follow her who was strong in faith and a humble servant of the Lord.

As I bring these brief reflections to a close, I would like to extend warm greetings and thanks to all present, especially to the official Delegations from various countries and to the various diocesan groups. The new Cardinals, in their service, are called to remain faithful to Christ at all times, letting themselves be guided only by his Gospel. Dear brothers and sisters, pray that their lives will always reflect the Lord Jesus, our sole shepherd and teacher, source of every hope, who points out the path to everyone. And pray also for me, that I may continually offer to the People of God the witness of sound doctrine and guide holy Church with a firm and humble hand.

Source:  Vatican Radio

 

Cardinal-to-be Dolan (and others)

Speaks of going to confession in Rome. Powerful.

Archbishop Dolan’s message about confession the other day was a fine example of simple pastoral care for his people.

Love, Prayers, and Best Wishes from Rome

Well, I did it again…

It’s usually one of the very first things I do on my first full day back in Rome…

Early in the morning, I walk down the Janiculum  Hill – where I stay at the North American College – to Saint Peter’s Basilica, there to go to confession and then to celebrate Mass.

Two powerful sacraments, Eucharist and Reconciliation, constants of our spiritual life, at the heart of the church, near the tomb of Saint Peter.

I don’t want you to think that I only approach confession when I’m in Rome!

At home with you in New York I try to go every two weeks, because I need it.

But it does have a special urgency and meaning here in Rome.

Near the tomb of Saint Peter, I can hear Jesus ask Him three times: “Simon, do you love me?” and then examine my conscience to see how I have failed to love the Lord and take care of his sheep.

Near his tomb, I picture myself, like Saint Peter, doubting Jesus and sinking in the waters of the storm.

Adjacent to his burial place, I even admit that, like Peter, I have, in my thoughts, words, and actions, denied Jesus.

So my contrition is strong, my purpose of amendment firm, and I approach one of the Franciscans for confession in the corner of the massive basilica.

Then I say my penance before the tomb of Peter, under the high altar, and go to vest for the greatest prayer of all, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

And then I go for pasta….

Lent begins next Wednesday.  I’ll be back to start it with you.

Sometime over those forty days leading up to Easter, take a cue from your archbishop: get back to confession!

My love, prayers, and best wishes from Rome.

BTW. Eminences, It’s Time:

… everything’s ready.

To the crowd in Rome, TO, Gotham, Charm City, and beyond, a Good and Happy Consistory Morning to one and all. As ever, it’s an emotional day ’round here, yet even moreso in the wake of the last couple weeks.

If the most recent editions of this moment are any indicator, there’ll be near-riots for spots in St Peter’s — and it’s very likely that some pilgrims who’ve traveled so far will, indeed, be shut out of the basilica — but luckily, you lot have the best seat in the house.

Ergo, for those who could use it, webstreams for today’s freshly-revised Rites of Creation bestowing the “Red Hat” and ring on 22 new cardinals — set to begin at 10.30 Vatican time (4.30am Eastern, 0930GMT) — are available through the Vatican player and EWTN, among others.

More as the big day progresses…

Rocco Palmo will keep you thus well informed on his blog here or on twitter here.

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Snow Blankets Rome

 

 

Protesters Attempt to Occupy St Peter’s Square

Italian police keep protesters out of the Vatican:

‘Occupy the Vatican’?! How silly…

 

The Story Behind the Mosaic in St Peter’s Square

Rome Reports has it:

Vatican Gives iPods to Pilgrims

On loan that is. The Huffington Post reports:

Rome – The Vatican is lending iPods to pilgrims in a pilot program aimed at coupling ancient basilicas with modern technology to lower the noise level from tour guide chatter.

From a tiny booth in the back of St. John in Lateran, the Vatican has been quietly asking tourists if they want to tour Rome’s oldest basilica with an iPod in hand loaded with an app to make accessing the place’s art, architecture and Christian history user friendly.

The Vatican will formally unveil the experiment on Wednesday. Tourists from around the world were exploring the cavernous basilica with specially adapted iPods in hand Tuesday. There’s no charge, although users must leave a document as security.

The experiment runs through December.

Vatican Archaeologists Reveal Paintings Hidden Beneath Rome

Dating to the 3rd century:

The Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology is the Vatican body responsible for the care of ancient cemeteries and other artifacts from the early Christian centuries. They recently unveiled this 3rd century hypogeum, or underground burial chamber…

Interesting stuff!