Processionals for the Roman Pilgrimage Basilicas

Honoring the Jubilee Holy Year 2000

Part III: Descriptions of the Seven Basilicas (cont.)

V. San Lorenzo-fuori-le-Mura (Saint Lawrence-outside-the-Walls)

Serve God in Love [catalog #3076]

with texts from the Mass for the Feast of Saint Lawrence, Psalm 112 and the chant Ubi caritas.

Over the resting-place of the body of the martyr Saint Lawrence, the Emperor Constantine built a shrine which was reconstructed in the sixth century by Pope Pelagius II. A church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built adjacent to it by Pope Sixtus III. Subsequently, these two churches were joined and a stately portico was added in the thirteenth century. The present basilica maintains the two distinct floor levels of the original churches. Saint Lawrence was a Roman deacon who was martyred by burning. His basilica was severely damaged in Allied bombing attacks during World War II. Campo Verano, Rome's largest cemetery, adjoins this basilica.

VI. Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem)

We Should Glory in the Cross [catalog #3077]

with texts from the Mass for the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, Revelation 1 & 5, and the prayer Agnus Dei.

The earliest records of this church date from a basilica built by Constantine in the Sessorian Palace where a golden reliquary held pieces of the True Cross brought back from Jerusalem by the emperor's mother, Helena. The present basilica is a Baroque building dating from the 1700s. The Chapel of the Relics contains not only pieces of the Cross, but also the inscription placed thereupon by Pilate and a nail and two thorns from Christ's crown. The Chapel of Saint Helena is said to rest on soil recovered by the Empress from the Holy Land. Thus Rome claims a church labeled, "Holy Cross in Jerusalem."

VII. San Sebastiano (Saint Sebastian)

Spirit of Strength and Courage [catalog # 3078]

with texts from the Mass of the Memorial of Saint Sebastian, Psalm 19 and the chant Veni Creator Spiritus.

The Emperor Constantine had a church constructed on a site along the Appian Way where tradition maintains that the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul were secretly placed in catacombs for safety during the early Roman persecutions. This church was later dedicated to Saint Sebastian, a Roman soldier and a Christian, who was shot with arrows, nursed back to health, resentenced, and beaten to death. His body was recovered by a Roman noblewoman and buried in her crypt along the Appian Way. The present basilica of Saint Sebastian was built in the 17th century by Cardinal Scipio Borghese. The fine catacombs of Saint Sebastian are noted for their graffiti, offering prayers to Saints Peter and Paul, and utilizing the cryptic Greek word icthus (fish) as a covert symbol for Christ.

Churches looking for an effective way to unite their liturgies with those of the Millennium celebrations in Rome will find here abundant opportunities for music that links the American congregation with the pilgrims in the Eternal City.