Rome\u2019s Aventine Hill\u2014one of the city\u2019s seven historic hills and a place steeped in early Christian worship\u2014will mark the beginning of Pope Leo XIV\u2019s first Lenten journey as Bishop of Rome.<\/p>\n
On Ash Wednesday, the Holy Father will join cardinals and the Benedictine and Dominican religious communities for one of the most moving traditions of the Roman liturgical year: a penitential procession that begins at the Basilica of Sant\u2019Anselmo and concludes with Mass at the Dominican Basilica of Santa Sabina.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo’s Ash Wednesday<\/p>\n
Fr. Eusebius Martis, a monk of Marmion Abbey, explains that the day begins inside Sant\u2019Anselmo with a brief liturgy before the procession sets out through the neighborhood. \u201cThe procession on Ash Wednesday will start here,\u201d he says. \u201cSo the Pope will come in and he’ll begin there from the chair. The [Benedictine] monks and the Dominican friars will be up in the choir stalls and there\u2019ll be a little prayer service. And then we all gather here in procession and go down the center aisle there, out the door, out through the courtyard, there at the gateway, and on our way to Santa Sabina.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Station Churches: A Pilgrimage Through Lent<\/p>\n
The Ash Wednesday procession is part of the ancient Roman tradition of the \u201cStation Churches,\u201d a Lenten pilgrimage that traces the memory of the early Christian martyrs and prepares the faithful for Easter. Pope John XXIII revived the custom in 1959, restoring a practice that dates back to the fourth century.<\/p>\n
For the Church, the physical act of walking together is never merely symbolic. Fr. Eusebius says the procession itself reflects something sacramental about Christian life. \u201cThe idea of a pilgrimage is kind of sacramentalized in the Church\u2019s use of processions,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo, in the Mass, for example, there are four processions. The Entrance Procession, the Gospel Procession, the Offertory Procession, and the Communion Procession.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each of these movements, he says, carries a deeper meaning. \u201cEvery one of those processions kind of symbolizes our movement from this world closer to the mystery of God\u2026 That becomes a metaphor or symbol for the more global procession of pilgrimage that each one of us has from this world to heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santa Sabina\u2019s Door: The Cross and the Meaning of Lent<\/p>\n
As the procession continues from Sant\u2019Anselmo to Santa Sabina, Pope Leo will pass through one of the oldest church doors in Rome: a large wooden door dating to around 432 A.D., carved with some of the earliest surviving images of Christian faith.<\/p>\n
Dominican Fr. Patrick Briscoe, General Promoter of Social Communication for the Order, points to one panel in particular as an essential Lenten meditation. \u201cOn the door we have a very important Christian symbol,\u201d he says. \u201cIn the upper left-hand corner can be seen the oldest depictions of Jesus Christ Crucified.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Fr. Briscoe, the door becomes a kind of threshold into Lent itself. \u201cIt allows us to think of the meaning of Lent, to embrace the suffering of Christ, especially when we consider it from the historical perspective, the evolution of Christian understanding,\u201d he says. \u201cWe really didn\u2019t know how to handle the Cross. It took us 100 years to depict it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That delay, he suggests, speaks to every believer beginning the penitential season. \u201cWhich says something to each of us entering into Lent \u2014 discovering anew what our sufferings mean and how to have them transformed by Christ\u2019s own sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Signs of Resurrection in Nature\u2014and in Unity<\/p>\n
Beyond the churches and their ancient art, the Aventine itself can become a place of contemplation. Fr. Eusebius points to something as simple as a plant as a reminder of the Resurrection.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an acanthus leaf and it\u2019s growing all across, all along our property here,\u201d he says, noting that the leaf is the familiar design carved atop Corinthian columns. But it also carries a spiritual meaning. \u201cThe acanthus leaf is a symbol of the Resurrection because it gets really vibrant, and then it dies, and it lays against the ground and it\u2019s like completely dead until the Spring.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Lent begins and spring approaches, he says the timing is almost providential. \u201cSo we\u2019re in Spring now and it comes back to life and then, in a couple of weeks, it will start putting up flowers, right? Which represents a bloom around Easter time.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, Ash Wednesday falls on February 18\u2014Pope Leo XIV\u2019s first as pontiff. For Fr. Briscoe, the shared pilgrimage will be a visible sign of what Lent is meant to do interiorly. \u201cTo walk with Pope Leo on this pilgrimage from the nearby Sant\u2019Anselmo church will be a sign, a symbol, for all of us of the spiritual work that’s taking place in our hearts in Lent \u2014 we\u2019ll all be on pilgrimage together.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also sees the day as a clear image of the unity Pope Leo has emphasized since the beginning of his pontificate. \u201cThe Holy Father has made unity a centerpiece of his pontificate and we see a beautiful sign of that on Ash Wednesday,\u201d he says, pointing to the moment when the Pope imposes ashes on the cardinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cardinals stand in for the whole Church,\u201d Fr. Briscoe explains. \u201cThey\u2019re the pope\u2019s key collaborators, and they\u2019re a sign of all of us joining and following the Pope\u2019s lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adapted by Jacob Stein. Produced by Alexey Gotovskiy; Camera by Sergio Natoli; Video edited by Alessio Di Cintio.<\/p>\n