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SPECIAL
REPORT
OUR HOLY YEAR PILGRIMAGE TO ROME
"Hail,
hail O Rome, eternal homeland,
Rome of the Apostles,
Mother and guide of the ransomed,
Rome, light of nations…"
Father
Hugues Bergez
These lines, taken
from the Pontifical Hymn of the Vatican, perfectly express the sentiments
that were ours as we had the pleasure of treading the sacred grounds of
Rome, penetrated with the blood of our Fathers in the faith, Saints Peter
and Paul.
 A few months previously, Bishop Fellay, the Superior General
of the Society of St. Pius X, had summoned all of those faithful to tradition
to a pilgrimage in the Holy City. We were about 6000 who responded to
his call: from Italy, of course, from France, Spain, Portugal, Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, England, Poland (guided by Fr. Karl Stehlin),
from Brazil (with the good Fr. Rifan), from the United States, from the
Philippines, from Singapore (led by our dear Fr. Couture), from Martinique,
... and of course from Canada (for this occasion under the doubly-efficient
direction of Fathers Violette and Emily). We assembled together at Rome
on the morning of the 8th of August, and since every year is
not a Jubilee Year we even benefited by the presence of those from the
seminaries of Ecône, Winona, Zaitzkofen, and Flavigny. What a consolation
to see all those religious habits in the Eternal City! There were some
of every colour: black for the Society and other secular orders, for the
Redemptorists and those from the Eastern rites (for example, from the
Ukraine), brown for the Capuchins, white for the missionaries of Asia
and of Martinique, for the Dominican fathers and also their sisters, black
with blue for the Redemptorist sisters, dark gray for the sisters from
the area of Rome, and finally black with violet for the bishops faithful
to the grace of their consecration.
1.
Tuesday morning, August 8th: Saint Paul outside the Walls
On the 8th
of August we all assembled at about 10 a.m. in front of the basilica of
Saint Paul outside the Walls. It seemed to us that we went back to the
year 64. After Saint Paul had impregnated Rome with his blood by being
beheaded at the place called "aquas salvias", his body was taken up by
Lucina, wife of a Roman citizen, who buried it at her home outside the
walls of Rome, on the Via Ostiensis, the Roman road leading to
Ostia. The Christians adorned the tomb and built above it a memoria
apostoli (a chapel in honour of the Apostle). The Emperor Constantine
erected a basilica there and Pope Saint Sylvester consecrated it in 324.
After numerous calamities the most recent renovations were completed in
the beginning of the 20th century.
What an impression
we had as we entered the sacred church together in procession, in a line
of religious, clergy, bishops, sisters, and laymen. We sang the Credo
which Saint Paul had preached up until his death; we recited the rosary
and listened to beautiful sermons in two or three languages; there we
also received the blessing of the bishops present, worthy successors of
the Apostles: and it was with reluctance that we departed from this blessed
site, ablaze with the flame that burned in the heart of the Apostle 1966
years before.
2.
Tuesday afternoon, August 8th: Saint Peter
After each group
had taken their lunch in the place of their choice, we crossed Rome from
the southwest to the northwest to meet together on the Via della conciliazione
in front of the basilica of Saint Peter. To express what transpired in
the depths of our hearts as the procession set off, with the singing of
the Litany of the Saints, is utterly impossible. Two by two in a line
several hundred meters long, followed by a dense group of the faithful,
which extended even a greater distance, it took us more than an hour to
enter the Vatican basilica.
It was here (under
what is presently the papal altar) that in the year 64 or 67 the Prince
of the Apostles was buried after having, as the Master had prophesied,
followed Him to the glorious death of the cross in the Vatican arena only
a few meters away. Soon after a small monument was constructed to honour
the place of his burial (the famous trophy of Gaius). Then, in 324, the
emperor Constantine had an immense mausoleum constructed of extraordinary
splendor, to enclose the tomb and its trophy, which Pope Saint Sylvester
consecrated in 326.
It is there, near
the body of the fisherman of Galilee, that the Popes receive their orthodoxy,
their strength and their zeal. It is there that they meditate the sacred
promise of the Son of God: "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build
My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It is
there also that take place the most solemn ceremonies of the church: canonizations,
crownings of emperors and kings (the first being that of Charlemagne);
definitions of dogmas (as the Immaculate Conception, the Infallibility
of the Pope, or the Assumption, ... and finally, it is there where rest
the majority of the sovereign pontiffs, very close to their first predecessor.
As in the morning
at Saint Paul outside the Walls, we recited the rosary, and then listened
to a sermon from Bishop Fellay, who stood in front of the papal altar
(with the permission of the authorities from the basilica). There was,
as well, the Credo which resounded in the domes of the sanctuary.
The clergy then proceeded to the miraculously intact corpse of the last
canonized Pope, our patron Saint Pius X, in a side chapel (the faithful
remained in the nave) and we all sang at the top of our voices the Sancte
Pie Decime: even to the farthest corners of heaven we must have been
heard by all. Lastly, Father Schmidberger closed the visit by giving a
small sermon, with his ardent fervor for which he is known; and in departing
from the basilica we felt strengthened by an extraordinary force; it was
Peter who had received us; it was close to Peter that we had prayed; it
is Peter, the Rock of the Church, who will always support us in the combat
for Truth.
After having separated,
towards the end of the afternoon, many of us walked around in the city,
going here and there, visiting this sanctuary, that basilica, venerating
the different saints, becoming absorbed in that atmosphere which is unique
to the world, breathing the perfume of Rome. And "this perfume", says
Louis Veuillot, "is the garment of God, in which at the same time God
hides Himself and makes Himself felt."
3.
Wednesday morning, August 9th: Saint John Lateran
On Wednesday morning
of August 9th we met in front of the cathedral of Saint John
Lateran. So great is the majesty of this church that we must speak of
it only while kneeling. In its origin it was a civil tribunal incorporated
within the palace of the noble family of Laterani. The ensemble was offered
by the emperor Constantine (his spouse Fausta was of the family Laterani)
to Pope Saint Milthiade in 314. This Pope converted the palace into the
Palace of the Pope, and the popes lived there a thousand years, from 314
until their departure for Avignon in 1309. Saint Milthiade made the tribunal
into a basilica, which his successor Saint Sylvester consecrated in 324.
Five ecumenical councils
took place in those premises, and it was from there that Alexander III
summoned Christendom to the Crusades against the Cathars in 1179. One
may venerate in this Church, among other marvels, the holy table from
the Last Supper of Holy Thursday. As to the papal altar, it encloses what
has been preserved of the wooden altar in which Saint Peter himself formerly
celebrated the Mass, as well as his successors, up until Saint Sylvester.
It was within this temple that we meditated this phrase engraved on the
entranceway:
ECCLESIA
OMNIVM VRBIS ET ORBIS ECCLESIARVM
MATER ET CAPVT
-Behold the Mother Church and the Head of all the churches of the City
and of the world-
On this
occasion our Credo and our rosary, as well as the sermons that
succeeded them in those moments, took on a solemnity which was divine:
we were at the centre of the world, at the heart of Catholicism, witnesses
of our faith and of our love for the Church, in spite of the unceasing
calumnies that sullied our honour as Catholics.
4.
Wednesday morning (continued): Saint Mary Major
After having drank
long draughts from the waters of divine grace, we departed from the cathedral,
still in procession, to make our way immediately to Saint Mary Major.
Singing several times all the verses of Lauda Sion (and there are
a lot of them) we processed behind a huge wooden cross, born by a Capuchin
father, taking turns with a brother of the same order. The seraphic father
Saint Francis, marked in his flesh with the stigmata of the Passion of
our Saviour, must have looked on with emotion and pride at his two sons
displaying the cross.
Finally we arrived
at the basilica of Saint Mary Major to sing the glories of Mary, Mother
of the Church. This basilica was constructed in 356 by Pope Liberius after
a miracle of the Virgin Mary, who indicated the site by covering it with
snow on the fifth of August of this same year. The day following the closure
of the Council of Ephesus (431), which had solemnly defined the Theotocos
(Mary Mother of God) against the scandal of Nestorius, Pope Sixtus III
embellished the basilica. In the 7th century the relics of
the manger were transferred there, under the main altar, as well as the
body of Saint Jerome. In the 16th century the ceiling was lined
with the first gold from the Americas, offered by the extremely Catholic
king and queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella. We had no gold to offer
our Lady, but we remembered the words of Peter in Jerusalem in 33: "I
have neither money, nor gold, but what I have I give you: in the name
of Jesus Christ..." It is for the honour of this Holy Name that we fight
in the modern crisis. It was thus our love for the name of Jesus that
we had come to offer to our Lady; could she refuse to listen to our rosary
and our Credo? Besides, there were offered there two rosaries,
two Credos and two series of sermons since we had to divide into
two groups in order to enter the basilica, which was small for us. After
the ceremonies we gathered in a garden close by to take a well-deserved
meal.
5.
Wednesday afternoon, August 9th: the Pontifical Mass
Towards 4 p.m. under
a blazing sun the pontifical cortege started off. In the very front, the
cross advanced, supported by a subdeacon and perfumed with incense. Behind
it marched two by two dozens of brothers, seminarians and priests, while
a greater number of priests heard confessions all around the garden; finally,
after the bishops and surrounded by his ministers, Bishop Fellay advanced,
mitre on his head and robed with pontifical vestments. It was the summit
of the pilgrimage since the Eucharist offered in sacrifice is the source
of all the graces which we came to draw from Rome.
 In his sermon, which he gave himself in five languages,
the Bishop made an excellent parallel between the sentiments that were
ours here in the city and those of our Lord on the cross. On the cross
the Son of God was at one and the same time filled with the beatific vision
and overladen with the most profound sadness. As for us, we felt an extraordinary
happiness. But this happiness was mixed with a great sorrow: We could,
it is true, pray in the basilicas, our pilgrimage was even recognized
by the Vatican authorities, but the Mass was forbidden to us in these
same places. We were obliged to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice outside in
a garden, while we were in the city of Rome, our home!
The Bishop continued
his homily by speaking on Fatima: the revelation of the third secret should
have given the impetus for a tremendous Marian enthusiasm in the world.
Instead one could say it has been the signal for its burial. In fact,
Rome has spoken out to say that everything is finished: the message of
our Lady concerns the past! Now everything is going well in the best of
worlds! Thus, no longer is there need of conversion under the threat of
punishment! And behold how no one any longer, because of Rome, feels like
taking the maternal warnings of the Blessed Virgin seriously.
Finally, Bishop Fellay
concluded with a stirring appeal to the Holy Father in the name of all
the bishops, priests and faithful there present:
"Most
Holy Father, give us back the Mass!
Most Holy Father,
You have revealed (?) the third secret of Fatima and you have convoked
all the bishops to Rome this October in order to consecrate the world
to the Immaculate Heart.
It is the moment to obey our Lady to the utmost: consecrate Russia especially!"
After the Mass we dispersed as on the previous day.
6.
Thursday, August 10th: The Pilgrimage of the Seven Basilicas
We were told to meet
the following day at around 9 a.m. for the Pilgrimage of the Seven Basilicas.
The origin of this pilgrimage is obscure and surely dates back at least
to the end of the 7th century. Its great expansion is due to
Saint Philip Neri and after him to Saint Joseph Calasanctius, Roman priests
of the 16th century. It consists of visiting in one day the
four basilicas already mentioned to which we added three others, which
are also ancient but of lesser dignity: Holy Cross in Jerusalem, Saint
Sebastian, and Saint Lawrence outside the Walls. The journey is of about
25 kilometers and is accomplished in six or seven hours of walking in
Rome. Of course not everyone was able to do it walking. Some went part
of the way by bus or in metro.
Apart from the basilicas
already visited, we were thus able to pray in the basilica of Holy Cross
in Jerusalem, a basilica erected (towards 330-340) by Constantine (in
the Sessorien palace where his mother Saint Helena lived) to place and
venerate there the holy Cross of our Lord. The largest relic of this Cross
is still conserved there, as well as the holy nails, two thorns of the
holy crown, a finger of Saint Thomas and portions of the column of the
flagellation and of the Holy Sepulchre. It was a stirring moment when
Bishop Fellay blessed those faithful present with the relic of the true
Cross.
There was also the
visit to the basilica of Saint Sebastian, built in the 4th
century over a collection of funeral monuments and in which was later
placed Saint Sebastian, martyr. In the crypt (because the Church had not
yet ownership of all the buildings) had been hidden the relics of the
holy Apostles Peter and Paul in 258 at the time of the violent persecution
of Valerian, until 336.
And finally, we must
not forget the visit to the basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls,
a basilica which was erected in 330 along the Via Tiburtina over
the body of the holy Roman deacon Lawrence, martyr of his charity towards
the poor and of his faithfulness to the Church. After the beheading of
his Pope Saint Sixtus II in 258, he was commanded to hand over to the
emperor the riches of the Church, which were in his charge as he was at
the head of the deacons of the Holy Roman Church. Having requested a delay
of three days in order to gather up everything, he distributed it all
to the poor and on the third day presented himself with the poor in front
of the emperor. Lawrence was ordered to render to him, finally, all the
money... He then presented the poor while saying, "behold the riches of
the Church of God." Because of this he was burned on the grill. During
his martyrdom he appeared not to suffer and he even addressed his torturers,
saying: "You can turn me over because I’m done on this side!" His body,
as well as the concrete stone on which the grill rested, are now in this
basilica. There we could humble ourselves in prayer, without forgetting
to pray to Saint Stephen, one of the seven first deacons and the first
martyr, who is found in the same tomb as Saint Lawrence, as well as Blessed
Pius IX, who rests opposite Saint Lawrence, and who had the sorrow of
seeing the end of the Pontifical States in 1870.
In the late afternoon,
our pilgrimage was reaching its end. We would have to leave the city.
Only those who have been there sometime can understand what is meant by
"leaving Rome." Truly we had to force ourselves, to tear ourselves away.
This royal city, rich in its literary, architectural and military history,
yet infinitely richer by the presence of the Apostles, of the Martyrs,
and of the Pope; this city — the light of nations, consolation in
our earthly exile, image of the celestial city; it is this city that we
were leaving. Many of us had not known it three days before; but this
evening all of us felt "at home".
Whether
we were Italians, Canadians, Spanish...
we were all more than ever Roman Catholics.
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