Processionals for the Roman Pilgrimage Basilicas

Honoring the Jubilee Holy Year 2000

Part II: Descriptions of the Seven Basilicas

I. San Pietro in Vaticano (Saint Peter's at the Vatican)

The Loyal Sheep [catalog #3072]

with texts from the Votive Mass of Saint Peter, Psalm 23 and the chant Tu es Petrus.

The present basilica (begun in 1506 by Pope Julius II) was constructed over many layers of history. A magnificent structure, including a beautiful atrium, was built by the first Christian emperor, Constantine, in the fourth century. This structure itself was erected over a simple mausoleum holding the venerable bones of Saint Peter himself. This original structure, part of an early burial site on the Vatican hill, may still be seen by present-day pilgrims who venture well beneath Michelangelo's dome on a very worthwhile "Scavi Tour." From 1506 when the cornerstone was laid for Bramante's original design until 1657 when Bernini began the glorious colonnade of the piazza, the "new" Saint Peter's is a treasury of the work of many Renaissance popes and artists.

II. San Paolo-fuori-le-Mura (Saint Paul's-outside-the-Walls)

May Christ Be Our Life [catalog #3073]

with texts from the Votive Mass of Saint Paul, Psalms 117 and 19, and the chant Exsultet orbis gaudiis.

Outside the southern walls of the city along the Ostian Way, Constantine built a tribute to the Apostle Paul, a fellow Roman citizen and convert to the tumultuous Christianity of his time. Constantine's basilica survived earthquakes, invasions and neglect for fifteen centuries, only to be destroyed by a careless fire on July 15, 1823. Funded by donations from around the world, Saint Paul's was completely restored and was reconsecrated in December 1854. Between the gold and mosaics of the ceiling and the intricate marble floor pattern lie the unique circular medallions depicting each of the popes from Saint Peter to John Paul II.

III. San Giovanni in Laterano (Saint John's at the Lateran)

Blessed Be the Lord [catalog #3074]

with texts from the Masses for the Solemnity of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist and the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist, John 1, and the chant Verbum supernum.

While the Vatican (and Saint Peter's) is now the center of most papal influence and ceremony, this was not always so. The seat of the pope as "Bishop of Rome" has long been associated (and still is today) with the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. This is the true cathedral for the Diocese of Rome. The Lateran Basilica, built with funds and ground donated by the Laterani family, was originally dedicated to our Lord as the Basilica of the Most Holy Savior. It later gained the titles of the two pre-eminent saints named John - the Baptist and the Evangelist. Their statues flank the central one of Christ on the magnificent facade of the present cathedral/basilica. The original structure was the first church to be publicly consecrated and thus gained the title "Omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput" (Mother and Head of All the Churches of the City and the World).

IV. Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major)

Hail, Holy Mother! [catalog #3075]

with texts from Common Mass I of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Zechariah 2 and the prayer Ave Maria.

Called both the Liberian Basilica and Santa Maria della Neve (Our Lady of the Snow), Saint Mary Major has the distinction of being the oldest and largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Liberius built a church on the spot of a miraculous August snowfall, owing to a simultaneous dream that he and a childless Roman couple had of Mary requesting such a building by such a sign. The present church, replacing the original, is a treasury of glimmering mosaics, marble flooring, magnificent side chapels and a coffered ceiling leafed with the first gold brought back by Christopher Columbus from the New World.