Lenten Reflections Based on the Stational Churches

What are the station churches?

After the end of the persecutions the number of Christian-Catholics in the city of Rome swelled. The Pope, who always desired to be a Father to those lambs entrusted to his care, desired to remain close to his lambs, even though the crowds were so large they could never fit into one church. So he started the practice of visiting the various parishes of Rome, so on a regular basis all the Christians of the city would meet their Holy Father. This is the start of the stational churches. Simple. As the liturgies developed, eventually the churches that the Holy Father would visit each day were set, especially during the privileged seasons of Lent and Advent. This was a continual practice in the Roman Church until the Popes moved to Avignon in France.

Since the great renewal of the Church after the Second Vatican Council, this tradition has been re-born with the Lenten Stational Liturgies. This is the primary way that the Pontifical North American College remembers the season of Lent. Each morning of Lent seminarians get up extra-early, and still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes start the procession down the Janiculum Hill toward that days stational church. In this way each day becomes a pilgrimage. Each seminarian becomes a pilgrim.

Theology in Ancient Stone

Many of the station churches are the oldest churches in Rome, and in the whole world. Christian men and women have gathered in many of these sacred spaces for close to two thousand years. These are the first parishes of Rome; these are the chapels built on top of the tombs of the holy martyrs; these are the houses were persecuted Christians gathered for prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist. This is where the Tradition of the Church is encountered and experienced in stone, by encountered those who on earth have worshiped Christ there before, and from heaven continue to worship with us now.