Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
Celebrated today is the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. It's one of the four papal basilicas, and according to Wikipedia, Saint Ignatius of Loyola presided over his first mass as a priest at this church on December 25, 1538. It contains both an impressive amount of art and of famous buried bodies. Also according to Wikipedia ... The current archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is Cardinal Bernard Francis Law (which spoils it for me a bit). For those interested, the Vatican has a very nice website for the church here. Here are some photos ....
- the Holy Door, blessed by John Paul II on December 8, 2001 and donated to the basilica by the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
- the tabernacle in the church's Sistine Chapel
- columns in the nave
posted by crystal | 10:52 AM
3 Comments:
It's a great church. It's cool because despite all the later (especially Baroque) additions, it's still in the form of a fifth-century basilica (which you can see in that last picture on your post).
Law isn't fit to be the archpriest of the Vatican outhouse, let alone the great church of the Theotokos.
Hi Liam,
Heh - for a minute I thought you meant it wasn't adequately heated :) I wish I would have visited it that one time I was in Rome - it looks so beautiful.
I lived there almost a year and a half and there was still so much I didn't see... the city's chock full o' groovy stuff.
Post a Comment
<< Home