The Roman station church tradition has experienced something of an Anglophonic revival in the last three decades, spearheaded by the Pontifical North American College, which in recent years has offered a 7 a.m. Mass in English at the station churches each day of Lent.
Stein, however, has been attending the Italian Masses in the evening organized by the Pontifical Academy of Martyrs for the Diocese of Rome. He said that he likes to be connected with the local church.
And as an added bonus, the Italian Masses often begin with a procession with a relic of the true cross as the congregation sings the Litany of the Saints.
“With this Roman Station Church tour, you see the devotion of Rome,” he told CNA. “It’s going from the tomb of a martyr to another tomb of a martyr, and that really allows the communion of saints to be felt in a way that is just so tangible.”
“Tertullian said that ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,’ and you feel that with the Romans, they know that.”
In its modern form, the station church itinerary brings pilgrims to just over 40 churches between Ash Wednesday and the end of the Easter Octave, with repeated visits to some of the major and minor basilicas.
By participating in the pilgrimage, Stein has learned many things about the history of the Church in Rome, including the strong devotion to St. Lawrence in the Eternal City.
“We go to his churches everywhere during Lent. And [St. Lawrence] has more churches than Sts. Peter and Paul in his devotion here in Rome. In fact, the only one who has more churches devoted to her is Our Lady,” he said.
One of Stein’s favorite churches that he has come to know through the pilgrimage is the Basilica of Santa Pudenziana, which was built upon the second-century house of Roman senator St. Pudens, who allowed St. Peter to live in his house for at least six years.
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According to tradition, the house was the site of the first Eucharist offered by St. Peter in Rome.
Stein pointed out that the basilica contains a fifth-century apse mosaic, “one of the oldest apse mosaics in Christendom.”
“St. Gregory of Nyssa says that the mosaic is an analogy for the Mystical Body of Christ, that each tessera [tile] is necessary,” he added.
Stein often goes live on Instagram and YouTube when he arrives at each church to give viewers an idea of the history of that day’s station church before the procession and Mass begins.
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