medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
It can be helpful, when we try to make sense of the liturgy of the
Roman Missal, that it is precisely that: the Roman Missal. Although it
came to be used throughout the west, it was designed in the first place
for use in the churches of the City of Rome.
Now in the City of Rome, there was in ancient times the custom of what
are called ‘Station Masses.’ On each day in Advent and Lent, the Pope
would celebrate Mass in a different church. The faithful would gather
in one church, there would be a procession with litanies to the station
church, and there the Pope would say Mass, assisted by the clergy of
the city. On the second Sunday of Advent (that is, yesterday), the
Station Church was that of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. This is a
church in the southern part of the city, very near St John Lateran. It
gets its name because, in the fourth century, St Helena, the mother of
Constantine, travelled to the Holy Land and there dug up the site of
Calvary, discovering what she believed to be the true cross on which
Christ was crucified. This she brought back to Rome, and installed in
one of her son’s palaces, which she converted into a church. Not only
that, but she brought back as ballast in her ships, a quantity of soil
from Jerusalem, which she packed into the floor of her new church. She
therefore created a little piece of Jerusalem in Rome, and on the
Second Sunday of Advent, the people of Rome were accustomed to make, as
it were, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, as represented by St Helena’s
church of Santa Croce, the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.
The Mass for that day in the Roman Missal was therefore designed to be
used in a church representing Jerusalem. This is apparent from the
texts selected. Notice how many references there are to Jerusalem, or
to the synonym Zion. The Introit, or Entrance Antiphon, is ‘Populus
Sion, ecce Dominus veniet ad salvandas gentes: et auditam faciet
Dominus gloriam vocis in laetitia cordis vestri’: ‘People of Zion, the
Lord will come to save the nations, and the Lord will make his glory
heard in the joy of your heart (Isaiah 30:30).’ The prophet addresses
the people of Jerusalem, encouraging them to rejoice because the Lord
is coming. The Communion Antiphon is to the same effect: ‘Jerusalem,
surge, et sta in excelso, et vide jucunditatem, quae veniet tibi a Deo
tuo’: ‘Rise up, Jerusalem, stand on the heights, and see the joy that
is coming to you from God’ (Baruch 5:5, 4:36). The Gradual is ‘Ex Sion
species decoris ejus: Deus manifeste veniet’ ‘Out of Zion the
appearance of his beauty: God is coming openly.’ The Mass-texts provide
for a pilgrimage to the city of Jerusalem, transposed to a church in
the city of Rome.
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