Processionals for the Roman Pilgrimage Basilicas

Honoring the Jubilee Holy Year 2000

Part I - Introduction

With the establishment of the Jubilee Year by Pope Boniface VIII in AD 1300, Rome became a spiritual pilgrimage center for Western civilization. Seven churches (later proclaimed basilicas) developed as particular sites for pilgrims' visits, and neighborhoods - veritable townships - sprang up around them to provide food, housing, shopping and protection for the travelers to Rome.

Tradition holds the following basilicas to be the sites of special devotion. Heading the list would be the major basilicas, including the tombs of Saint Peter at the Vatican and of Saint Paul-outside-the-Walls, as well as Rome's cathedral, Saint John at the Lateran, and the largest Marian church in the city, Saint Mary Major. Three minor basilicas are also included: Saint Lawrence-outside-the-Walls, Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and Saint Sebastian.

CanticaNOVA Publications presents this series of processionals inspired by the Roman Pilgrimage Churches, each with appropriate texts in English, Italian and Latin.