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By:
S. Sheila Browne, RSM, Coordinator of the Office of Worship, Diocese of
Rockville Centre
In
January 2006, I had the opportunity to be in Rome and was able to
participate in the Eucharist at the church of St. Agnes Outside the Walls on her
feast day. What a good experience
it was! This is the church where
the traditional blessing of two lambs takes place.
(Agnes is a derivative of the Latin word “agnus” which means
“lamb”).
Before
Mass began, people gathered in a beautiful anteroom of the church where two
lambs were nestled in baskets. One
had a garland of white roses and the letters AV (Agnes, virgin), the other a
garland of red roses and the letters AM (Agnes, martyr).
As you can see from the pictures below, the lambs were much admired,
especially by the children who were present!
When Mass began, the lambs were borne in the Entrance Procession, placed
upon the altar and blessed by the Cardinal.
There was much snapping of pictures, but I wasn’t quick enough to get a
good picture of this! After the
blessing they were taken out of the church, and mass continued.
The congregation was quite culturally diverse, and they sang very well!
These
two lambs were brought to the Carmelite monastery in Rome, and at Easter time
their wool was shorn. This wool is
used to make the pallium, a
stole-like vestment which is worn by Archbishops.
The
interior of the church is very beautiful and worth a visit if you are in Rome.
There are two websites with more information and pictures of the church of
Sant’Agnese fuori le muri (Saint Agnes Outside the Walls):
An
interesting book is The Geometry of Love
by Margaret Visser, whose website has many pictures of the church.
Go to www.MargaretVisser.com,
click on Writings, scroll down to the book title, and click on “images.”
One
of the many websites with tourist information about the church is www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-st-agnes-outside-walls.htm.
From here you can get to the parish website in Italian.
The
body of Saint Agnes lies in the catacomb beneath St. Agnes Outside the Walls.
Her head is in the Church of St. Agnes in the Piazza Navona in the city
of Rome. The NPM Festival Choir for our diocese sang Vespers at this
Church on November 14, 2007!
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