Trastevere Redux

We were back in the Trastevere district this morning for 'the queen of the trasteverine churches.' Santa Maria definitely takes the cake (what do churches do with cake anyways?) when it comes to age: Pope Saint Callistus I built a house-church here about 220 (With 20-20 foresight--or is that hindsight?) before Christianity was even legal. There had been a dispute with some tavern keepers, and the Emperor Severus gave the land to the Christians, saying, "I prefer that it should belong to those who honor God, whatever be their form of worship."

In 340 Pope Julius I ('would you like an orange, Julius?' . . . this comment for my California readers) rebuilt it as one of the original 25 parishes of Rome--in fact, it might be the first church in Rome where Mass was celebrated openly: Mass Initiative.

Cardinal Stafford gave an outstanding homily today; I wish you could have heard it. He said afterward he'd try to get the text written up, and if I get a copy I'll be sure to pass it along, because it was a piercing commentary on our culture--and the counter-culture that Christianity is called to be.

Anyways, Santa Maria is known as the queen of the neighborhood because it's really pretty: you won't see any cool photos of the interior on this blog though . . . dilly-dallying after Mass (well, things like praying, greeting people) I stepped into the nave and the lights powered down ('What knave has done this?' I asked), so I only have these two photos:




















Another one of those cool chairs.






And close enough so I could use my flash:

























I'm glad to see my patron saint is as behind on his paperwork as I am . . .