Honoring St. Charles Borromeo (Italy 2012, Part 2)

One of the Ambrosian Rite Masses I attended in Milan (see previous post) was the celebration at the Duomo in honor of St. Charles Borromeo held on his feast day, 4 November. The presider was Angelo Cardinal Scola, the Archbishop of Milan and so the most recent successor to St. Ambrose and St. Charles in that role. St. Charles's remains are venerated in the Duomo, along with those of many other saints and blesseds from the past, including Bl. Ildefonso Schuster, another former Archbishop of Milan who was beatified in 1996. The Mass was exceptional in every way; the music was beautiful, the homily was encouraging (as far as I could understand it, with my weak Italian), and copious incense was used and hung in the air long after the recessional.

In Rome I visited three churches associated with St. Charles. The first of these, Santa Prassede, is on a side street near the much larger Santa Maria Maggiore. Santa Prassede is usually entered using a side entrance and is not as frequently visited as many other Roman churches, which is a shame given its history and beauty. The church was rebuilt in the ninth century by Pope Paschal I and contains fantastic mosaics. Its namesake, St. Praxides in English, is honored along with her sister St. Pudentiana for preserving the remains of early Christian martyrs before joining their ranks herself. The relics of over 2000 martyrs are said to have been buried or reburied in this church; the names of dozens are listed on monuments there, and many others are anonymous. As Cardinal, Charles Borromeo was titular of this church beginning in 1564. When in Rome he often said mass in a side chapel here, and a newer chapel is dedicated to him and contains some items he used during life.

I also visited two newer Roman churches built to honor St. Charles after his death. One is the Basilica of Saints Ambrose and Charles, a.k.a. San Carlo al Corso, which was built beginning in 1612 largely at the initiative of the Lombards (i.e. northern Italians) in Rome. It has an imposing facade and one of the more impressive domes of any Roman church. One of its several side chapels is dedicated to St. Olaf and serves as the national chapel for Norway. And behind the main altar in the ambulatory is a reliquary containing the heart of St. Charles, which has been there since 1614; each year on June 22 the church observes the Feast of the Heart of St. Charles.

San Carlo al Corso, Rome, facade, November 2012

The third church honoring St. Charles that I visited was San Carlo alle Quattro Fontana. It was busy with tour groups when I visited, most of whom were mainly focused on its remarkable architecture. In addition to honoring St. Charles in its name and some of its artwork, this church is also is the resting place of Bl. Elizabeth Canori Mora, mother, laborer, and member of the Trinitarian Third Order, who died in 1825.

One of my main impressions from this trip is how little-known St. Charles is in the United States compared to his fame in Rome and northern Italy. I've see very few publications on him in English, but in Italian bookstores was able to find several. He is honored in the names of some U.S. churches, and he is a patron saint for many American Catholics, including me, but I believe could be much better known in this country than he is.  

First encounters with the Ambrosian Rite (Italy 2012, part 1)

I'm home from Italy and had a wonderful time. I have a few comments about some liturgical experiences from the beginning of my trip.

Many Catholics, not to mention non-Catholics, forget or never learn that we are not all “Roman” or Western Catholics. More than 20 other Catholic churches exist, such as the Maronite, Ruthenian, and Coptic churches, each with a long history and distinct liturgical rites. We also sometimes forget that within our Western tradition we have distinct rites as well, beyond those known as the “ordinary” (Paul VI, vernacular language) or the “extraordinary” (Tridentine, Latin) forms for Mass in the Roman Catholic Church. It wasn’t until recently that I learned that the Diocese of Milan, in northern Italy, has its own distinctive rite, known as the Ambrosian Rite, that has endured for centuries. On my recent trip to Italy I was fortunate to attend three masses in Milan and experience the Ambrosian Rite for the first time.

Some differences between the Ambrosian Rite and the Roman Rite are obvious to anyone who’s familiar with the Roman Rite and is paying attention, even if you don't speak Italian. In the Liturgy of the Word, for example, each lector requests a blessing from the presider, receives it, and then reads; none simply proceeds to the ambo and starts to read. But most notably to me, in the Ambrosian Rite masses I attended the exchange of peace occurred before the eucharistic prayers were offered. As I participated in this exchange (my Italian does goes as far as “pace!”) I suddenly thought of Matthew 5:24, which reads (in part), “go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” This is literally the sequence in the Ambrosian Rite; first peace is shared, then the gifts are offered. (For readers unfamiliar with the Roman Rite, the sharing of the peace comes later in the Mass.) This makes sense to me, scripturally and sacramentally, and I appreciated this opportunity to pray a different way.

Reference to the liturgical rite of Milan as “Ambrosian” is due to the influence of St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church, defender of Catholic orthodoxy against Arianism, major influence on St. Augustine of Hippo, and Archbishop of Milan in the late fourth century. The adjective “Ambrosian” in still used in many contexts to refer to the life of the Church in Milan, not just strictly liturgical ones. Among the sites I visited on my trip was the Basilica of St. Ambrose, which dates to the fourth century, though it has been damaged and rebuilt many times.

Basilica of St. Ambrose (Sant'Ambrogio), Milan, portico and facade

Italia, again.

I have been blessed to travel to Italy several times in recent years, and I will be going again this weekend. I'll be away for a little more than a week, visiting Milan, Assisi, and Rome. Pray for me as I travel; I will pray for you.

Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi, 2010 - photo copyright C. Michael Stinson

I'm planning more posts for the weeks after I return, but before I leave I wanted to say thank you to those who have read and commented on what's here so far. It's just a start. Please make more comments, here or privately, and if you think what's here is worthwhile, please send more readers this way.