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“I tried to gather the whole Archdiocese into my prayer…”
12th June, 2009 - Posted by Archbishop Mark -
Now that my meetings in Rome are behind me, I can begin focusing on the Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of St Paul. I’m staying at the moment at the Beda College where we have Dominic Byrne studying for the priesthood.
The Rector, Monsignor Rod Strange, is an old mate of mine and I always find the hospitality there first-class. It’s all the more welcome after a few quite gruelling months in the Archdiocese and a couple of fairly intense meetings in the Vatican.
One of the the things I’ve always liked best about the Beda College - dating back to when I taught here - is that it’s just across the road from the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls. It’s one of the great churches of Rome and is built over the tomb of St Paul which is now splendidly on view after excavations beneath the papal altar.
In fact, the whole Basilica looks magnificent after the work that’s been done to prepare for the Year of St Paul. When Paul was beheaded the disciples came and took his body for burial in what was then Lavinia’s Vineyard. Lavinia seems to have been a wealthy Roman matron who owned land and had become Christian. She was happy to have Paul buried in her vineyard. Eventually a small shrine was built over Paul’s grave and it became a place of great devotion. When Emperor Constantine began to shower favour on the Church he built over the grave a magnificent basilica, as he seems to have done everywhere he could.
That was replaced in time by a still larger church very like the one we see now. Much of that church was burned down in 1832, but the decision was taken to rebuild immediately and in the same style. So the Basilica you see now is very like - if not in every detail - the church that went up in flames. Fortunately, some of the great mosaics survived and there are magnificently on show to this day.
To begin focusing on the Pilgrimage, I decided to spend this morning over in the Basilica. I took with me Fr Jerome Murphy-O’Connor’s book, “Paul: A Critical Life“, which I had read years ago but which I thought I would browse through again as a kind of preparation.
I arrived early enough to beat the crowds that came later. I spent some time just sitting in the morning sun in the atrium in front of the church itself. This is a classic element of ancient Roman design. It’s a kind of square garden space (beautifully kept) with a colonnade around it and a large 
statue of St Paul in the middle. Looming over it is the facade of the Basilica covered in mosaic which shone in the morning sun. The whole effect was incredibly soothing, and that was always the point of the atrium.
It took you out of the hustle and bustle and called you into another and calmer psychological space before you entered the church itself. Another depth of calm comes as you enter the Basilica. It has a sense of majesty, but it doesn’t overwhelm. It has a wonderful sense of order, yet it feels anything but cold and mechanical. The morning light was filtered gently through the alabaster windows which create a light that is gentle but clear, soft but strong. Everything visually focuses on the papal altar built over the tomb of St Paul. I walked quietly towards the tomb and then went down the steps to what’s called the Confession.
This is the small space directly in front of the tomb. Now you can look through to the tomb itself which recent excavations have revealed. It really is very moving to see the stone sarcophagus inscribed simply with the Latin words “Sarcophagus Sancti Pauli”. It’s also very touching to see how deeply people are moved by this moment Here you seem to touch the very dawn of Christianity down in this little space in front of the altar. Above looms the grandeur of the mosaics of Christ in majesty; but here it is the simplicity of the tomb which is touching.
I thought of many people as I stood and knelt down there - including the pilgrims I’ll join in Athens next week. I tried to gather the whole Archdiocese into my prayer; I thought of people named Paul; I thought of the many people I’d promised to pray for at the tombs of the Apostles; so many prayers welled up down there. Then I walked up from the Confession and did a lap of the Basilica, trying to allow the building to speak to me. These buildings have great things to say, but you have to give them time to say it.
I strolled out into the cloister of the Benedictine monastery which has been here almost since the time of St Benedict. I’ve long been a fan of St Benedict and the Benedictines, and I love this particular cloister. Again it gives an extraordinary sense of calm and order, to say nothing of beauty as the light streams though the Cosmatesque columns and into the garden with its little fountain playing in the middle. It was here that the great Benedictine pioneer of Australia Dom Rosendo Salvado died, and here too one of the two Indigenous boys Salvado brought to Italy to become monks died and was buried. I said a prayer for both Salvado and the boy. Then I wandered back into the church and simply sat there in the nave for the rest of the morning, reading my book, watching the pilgrims, praying a bit and imagining that Barnabas (whose feast day it is today) was sitting next to me having a chat. Barnabas has always fascinated me. He was one of the true heroes of early Christianity, but he almost gets written out of the story. Once Paul starts up his own mission after disagreeing with Barnabas, Barnabas vanishes into the black hole of history. One thing I wondered (and asked him without getting a reply) was how when and where he died and where he lay buried. Certainly we have no great basilica built over his grave. Pity. He played a huge part in the story of St Paul and he deserves a better press than he gets.
As the morning wore on, more and more pilgrim voices were heard as Mass after Mass was celebrated at or near the tomb. I thought of the Canberra and Gouburn pilgrims who would soon be joining the chorus. The singing wasn’t great, but the voice of faith was moving, as it always is. The procession of pilgrims had a bit of everything - nuns in all kinds of habits, bishops, priests, monks, seminarians, youth groups, old people, little kids, the lot. It was all so very simple and human, and I felt sure that Paul would have understood. He was certainly not simple, but he was intensely human. That’s why he’s such an endlessly fascinating personality. The great church built over his simple tomb may be very grand but it’s also intensely human. The Basilica looks at what was just another gruesome death and sees the grandeur of the witness Paul gave in his martydom and all that led to it. Then it shows that grandeur to the world in stone and metal and glass. At midday I closed my book, left the Basilica (via the souvenir shop) and walked across the street to prepare for lunch. It had been a very good morning; my pilgrimage had begun; I had begun to focus. The next step will be an interview about St Paul and the Pilgrimage for Vatican Radio on Monday morning. Stay tuned for that.
Posted on: June 12, 2009
Filed under: Archbishop Mark's teachings
5 Comments
Loui Seselja
June 13th, 2009 at 1:29 am
Dear Bishop Mark
Nice to hear that you are having some quality time so you can recover from sometimes harsh reality of Canberra. I am sure you will bring back to us lots of deep insights about ST Paul. Looking forward to attend another one of your talks.
Lots of love and good wishes from Seselja family in Canberra.
Loui and Kate
Tim Kirk
June 13th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Can’t say I’m not jealous. I hope you have a great pilgrimage.
A great opportunity, walking in the footsteps of Paul, a theological dynamo and a spiritual genius. I hope you can bring back a spark of the same divine energy that so transformed his life. Love and blessings to all the pilgrims.
Tim Kirk
Matt Casey
June 13th, 2009 at 7:13 am
After this start I am looking forward to looking forward to the rest of the journey.
Footsteps of Saint Paul
June 16th, 2009 at 5:37 am
[...] the first two posts, ” I tried to gather the whole Archdiocese into my prayer…” and “We have the Apostle’s DNA deep inside…”, Bishop Mark invites us to [...]
Anne Gallagher
June 18th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Our best wishes for a wonderful trip. My mother Elizabeth Gallagher, is traveling with the group. She is well prepared, having devoured H.V. Morton’s ‘In the Steps of St Paul’ as part of her comprehensive pre-trip preparation. Take good care of her. She is treasured by many back here.
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