A couple more churches

Well, I'm a couple days behind, but I haven't been to too many new churches since I've had Mass obligations here in the seminary.  This week, I went to the churches of St. Anastasia, St. Lawrence, and the Twelve Apostles.

The church of St. Anastasia is named for the martyr of the early Church who is mentioned in Eucharistic Prayer I ("Cecilia, Anastasia, and all the saints...").  Because she remained true to her faith, she was burned at the stake; her hands and feet were nailed to the ground as a fire kindled around her.  This took place on the Island of Parlarmia, but her remains were eventually brought to Rome.  They are kept in an urn underneath the altar in the church that bears her name.  Here's an outside view, since the inside view is much like all the other churches.

The church of St. Lawrence in Panisperna is built on the site where St. Lawrence is believed to have been martyred.  He was also burned alive, but in his case he was placed on a grate and a fire lit underneath.  St. Lawrence was a deacon who was in charge of administering goods to the poor, sick, elderly, etc.  The Roman prefect demanded that he hand over the treasure of the Church, so St. Lawrence asked if he might have a couple of days to gather together this "treasure."  When the time came, St. Lawrence appeared before the prefect with all the sick, lame, poor, elderly folks to whom he had ministered, and said, "HERE is the treasure of the Church!"  This understandably angered the prefect, who ordered St. Lawrence to be burned to death.  According to the tradition, as the fire burned, St. Lawrence called out to his executors, "You can turn me over now - I'm done on this side!"  The first photo shows the place of his martyrdom (just behind the small grate), and the second photo shows a painting on the ceiling, which depicts St. Lawrence going to his heavenly reward.

The church of the Twelve Apostles is home to the remains of the apostles Philip and James the Lesser.  Their tombs are below the main altar, in the crypt.  This particular church is cared for by the Conventual Franciscans.  It houses the remains of Pope Clement XIV, famous for suppressing the Jesuits, as well as many saints and martyrs whose relics were rescued from outlying cemeteries around the time of the fall of Rome in the fifth century A.D.

Tomorrow's church is St. Peter's basilica.  I won't say much about it because you can find out much more about it on various webpages.  My favorite is www.stpetersbasilica.org.  It's pretty comprehensive.