La Navicella
27 March, 2006 by PF
This photograph and the one which follows are from Zadok the Roman's two fine posts on the Church of Santa Maria in Domnica and its new titular, Cardinal Levada, who took possession of his church yesterday. Known to the locals as "la Navicella", because of the fountain in the middle of the road outside the church, it is the parish church of the Passionist generalate at Saints John and Paul. Most Sundays, one of the Passionists walks along the Via San Paolo della Croce to the Navicella to assist the pastor by celebrating one of the Sunday Masses. When I lived in Rome, during the Easter season a number of people from our community would be engaged in going round the streets of the Navicella parish blessing families and their homes on behalf of the pastor. I often walked past the church in the mornings going to celebrate Mass for the English-speaking sisters of the Little Company of Mary at Calvary Hospital on the other side of the road. One of Cardinal Levada's "titolare neighbours" at Saints John and Paul is his fellow American, Cardinal Egan of New York. His neighbour on the other side is Cardinal Wetter of Munich at San Stefano Rotondo.
Santa Maria in Domnica is significant for Passionists for another reason. It was here that Saint Paul of the Cross and his brother (and first companion), Venerable John Baptist Danei, asked the pope for permission to gather companions and form a community which would contemplate and proclaim the mystery of the Passion of Jesus. Pope Benedict XIII, a Dominican, was on his way to inspect restoration work which had been undertaken by an earlier titolare, Cardinal Corradini. The Cardinal, who had met Paul and John Baptist through a mutual friend, Monsignor (later Cardinal) Marcello Crescenzi, had told the two brothers to wait in the entrance for the Pope to arrive. The encounter, which is commemorated by a Latin inscription inside the church, took place just at the spot where Zadok has photographed Cardinal Levada. Paul and John Baptist fell to their knees and asked the Pope for permission to found what would later be called the Passionists. Pope Benedict gave his consent vivae vocis oraculo, and proceeded on into the church. They would meet again two years later, in 1727, when Benedict ordained the two brothers to the priesthood. It was sixteen years after the encounter at the Navicella before the next Pope Benedict, within months of his election, gave a written approval to the Rule of Saint Paul of the Cross in 1741, but Paul always looked on this brief conversation as being the first approval given to his community by the Church.
I’m sorry now that we didn’t stop in at Navicella, though we walked past the church. We happened onto the Coelian hill by serendipity kind of wending our way from the Colosseum to Caracalla. Fr. J. told us to stop in at Ss. Giovanni e Paolo and at the monastery, which we did. Michael, who greeted us at the door, showed us round and took us to the Reliquary. After the monastery, we walked down the hill and walked up Aradam to the Lateran where we attended an ordination mass with Cdl. Ruini.
I’m glad that we walked most of Rome…it kind of stamped the city in our minds and hearts. Our feet were happy to get home, though. Cobblestones lose their charm after about the third day.
William Levada’s first assignment as an archbishop was in my hometown of Portland, Oregon; he came not too long after I was received by the Church. It probably was not the place he would have preferred to have been assigned, but he made a good job of it and, although he is a real introvert, gained a good deal of affection before he moved on to San Francisco. If memory serves, one of his “avocations” during his years with us was work on the new Catechism, maybe the English translation.
All the archbishops of Portland in Oregon before him (he was only the 8th) died in Portland, I think. The one who came after him, Francis George, was transferred to Chicago. Portland might be one of only a few US cities served by consecutive bishops who went on to receive red hats in relatively short order; I’ve no idea what other American cities might be similarly distinguished
The current AB of Portland, John Vlazny, has a well-deserved reputation as a wise and holy leader — and a really nice guy. He came to Portland at an age greater than his immediate predecessors, so I expect he might stay long enough to join his ecclesiastical ancestors on the pretty hill that overlooks the city.
Appropos nothing sensible, I’ll mention that there is a Red Hat Society in the United States — for ladies, specifically for ladies d’un âge certain.