With Lent we return to talking and writing about stationary churches.
The conciliar Constitution on the liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium states that during Lent we prepare for Easter with a disposition of “waiting on the way” which invites conversion through vigilance exercised with works of penance, charity and fasting, in order “to reach raised and freed to the joy of resurrection Sunday “(Sacrosanctum Concilium).
The Lenten liturgy also includes the stationary mass, a Eucharistic celebration that belongs to an ancient tradition but still alive today and which receives great impetus from the Pontifical Academy cultorum Martyrum, which has the purpose, according to the statute, to “promote the cult of Saints Martyrs and to increase and deepen the exact history of the Witnesses of the Faith and of the monuments connected to them, since the first centuries of Christianity ».
In our century we refer to a station as a resting place along a route. In the Roman world, the terminology relating to traffic was specialized with specific terms such as mansio, mutatio and, precisely, statio that has persisted up to us. By statio we mostly meant a military guard post, located along the streets and borders of the Empire, but in the sources its use is found to be flexible and also concerns administrative functions or simple rest and refreshments.
It should be noted that in late ancient sources the statio concerns not only a logistical functionality but also a disposition of the soul. Tertullian in Ad uxorem (II, IV, 1) and in De oratione (XIX, 5) gives the etymology: Statio de militare exemplo nomen accipit, nam et militia Dei sumus, “The station derives its name from the military world, since we are army of God ». As the sentry guards the camp, so the believer must always be vigilant, especially during Lent.
Already in the middle of the second century, in the fifth vision of the Shepherd of Hermas (LIV 1, 1) a place is identified in the station, in this case a mountain, where to practice penitential practices.
The important chronograph of 354, the Depositio martyrum, list of Roman martyrs, referring to 336, records a place where the community gathers to pray to the martyr buried there, whose dies natalis is commemorated, the day of his death. for Christians, it becomes the rebirth to true life.
Instead, in the Liber Pontificalis, which collects the biographies of the Popes, some stations are mentioned for the first time in an official form, on the occasion of the gift made to them by Pope Ilaro (461–468) of some vessels useful for the celebration.
The stations are linked to certain liturgical times and to some solemn celebrations dedicated to saints and martyrs and were not found exclusively in Rome but also spread elsewhere, especially in North Africa and Europe, as a sign of fidelity to the city and its imitation. St. Gregory the Great, pope from 590 to 604, reorganizes the station system and establishes its liturgy, inaugurating its tradition.
The holy martyrs represent a link of communication between believers and God, with the example of their giving themselves completely, to the point of extreme sacrifice, in order to declare and defend the faith. The liturgy of the Lenten stations demonstrates precisely this relationship: they accompany the time until Holy Week, giving substance to the words of Tertullian, Christus in martyre est (De pudicitia 22), “Christ is in the martyr”. Through the martyrdom of the saints, the Passion of Christ is re-proposed. The martyrs introduce us to the Mystery and help us in our personal ascent to Calvary, they allow us to elevate ourselves spiritually, to convert.
The celebrations begin on Ash Wednesday and end on the Sunday of the Octave of Easter. Presiding over the celebrations was the bishop and then the Pope in Rome, who met in a nearby church with the large retinue of bishops, presbyters, deacons, sub-deacons, acolytes and faithful with whom he recited the “collection” and then moved in procession towards the stationary seat intoning litanies.
Historical events give or take away from this tradition. For example, it was suspended during the Avignonese captivity (1309–1377) and disappeared after the breach of Porta Pia (1870), when processions were forbidden for reasons of public order. It was reintroduced after the Lateran Pacts, thanks to the commitment of the then magister of the Pontifical Academy “Cultorum Martyrum”, Monsignor Carlo Respighi.
The list of stationary churches in Rome has been formed and increased over time and includes first of all the great basilicas of San Pietro, San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore and San Paolo fuori le Mura. These are joined by other basilicas and churches which have not remained unchanging over time but which have also been modified to meet contingent needs.
The sources do not help us understand the reasons for the list, nor the order of succession, starting with the first
Translated from the La Croce article by Raffaele Dicembrino
http://www.lacrocequotidiano.it/articolo/2021/02/22/chiesa/la-quaresima-e-le-chiese-stazionali
