In celebration of the upcoming feast of the protomartyrs of Rome, a Eucharistic procession was held on June 27, 2024, through the streets of Vatican City. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 28, 2024 / 17:10 pm (CNA).
On the occasion of the feast of the holy protomartyrs of Rome, which the Church celebrates every June 30, the traditional Mass and Eucharistic procession took place in Vatican City.
In celebration of the upcoming feast of the protomartyrs of Rome, a Eucharistic procession was held on June 27, 2024, through the streets of Vatican City. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
The Pontifical Music Band plays during the Eucharistic procession in honor of the protomartyrs of Rome at the Vatican on June 27, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/ EWTN News
The Eucharist is held in a monstrance by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi during a Eucharistic procession in honor of the protomartyrs of Rome on June 27, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/ EWTN NewsHoly Mass, celebrated on June 27 in the Church of Our Lady of Mercy at the Teutonic Cemetery, was offered by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi presides at the Mass in honor of the holy protomartyrs of Rome on June 27, 2024, at the Church of Our Lady of Mercy of the Teutonic Cemetery in Rome. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
At the end, a solemn Eucharistic procession took place, with the accompaniment of the Pontifical Musical Band along the avenues of Vatican City.
Members of the Pontifical Academy Cultorum Martyrum, numerous faithful, representatives of the Swiss Guard, and the gendarmerie as well as members of the Association of Sts. Peter and Paul participated in this traditional procession.
Lay faithful precede the Eucharist during a procession in honor of the protomartyrs of Rome on June 27, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi holds the monstrance during a Eucharistic procession in honor of the protomartyrs of Rome on June 27, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
The Eucharistic procession in honor of the protomartyrs of Rome goes around St. Peter’s Basilica on June 27, 2024 at the Vatican. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN NewsCardinal Gianfranco Ravasi incenses the Eucharist during a procession in honor of the protomartyrs of Rome on June 27, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
Members of the faithful follow the Eucharistic procession honoring the protomartyrs of Rome on June 27, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
Swiss Guard accompany the Eucharist under the baldacchino during a Eucharistic procession in honor of the protomartyrs of Rome on June 27, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
Who were the holy protomartyrs of Rome?
On June 30, the Church commemorates the holy protomartyrs of Rome, who died during the first persecution against the Catholic Church, which was unleashed in the second half of the first century.
They suffered terrible torments and gave their lives just to call themselves “Christians,” followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
Consequently, they were granted the title of “protomartyrs” — a term from ancient Greek — which means “first martyrs” or “first witnesses.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Rome Newsroom, Aug 10, 2021 / 06:59 am (CNA).
Cardinal Joseph Zen said Monday he thinks Traditionis custodes may not have a disastrous effect on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, even if he doubt… […]
Pope Francis greets families in St. Peter’s Square before Mass for the World Meeting of Families 2022 on June 25, 2022 / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Jun 25, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
Christ, through his passion and death, has set us free from the slavery of self-centeredness, so that we can better love others, Pope Francis said at Mass for the World Meeting of Families on Saturday.
“Freedom is something we receive. All of us are born with many forms of interior and exterior conditioning, and especially with a tendency to selfishness, to making ourselves the center of everything and being concerned only with our own interests,” the pope said on June 25. “This is the slavery from which Christ has set us free.”
Pope Francis delivered the homily at a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, the Vatican office which co-organized the 10th edition of the World Meeting of Families with the Diocese of Rome.
Mass for the World Meeting of Families 2022 on June 25, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
The gathering, attended by around 2,000 families, had the theme: “Family Love: A Vocation and a Path to Holiness.”
In his homily, Francis reflected on a passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: “Brothers and sisters: For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.”
“Freedom,” the pope said, “is one of the most cherished ideals and goals of the people of our time. Everyone wants to be free, free of conditioning and limitations, free of every kind of ‘prison,’ cultural prison, social or economic. Yet, how many people lack the greatest freedom of all, which is interior freedom.”
He also noted that the freedom given by God, as St. Paul says, is not the self-indulgent freedom of the world, but freedom “directed to love, so that — as the Apostle tells us again today — ‘through love you may become slaves of one another.’”
Pope Francis kisses a baby before Mass for the World Meeting of Families 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
“All of you married couples, in building your family, made, with the help of Christ’s grace, a courageous decision: to use freedom not for yourselves, but to love the persons that God has put at your side,” Pope Francis said.
He advised parents “not to shield our children from the slightest hardship and suffering, but to try to communicate to them a passion for life, the passion to arouse in them the desire to discover their vocation and embrace the great mission that God has in mind for them.”
“Nothing,” he said, “can be more encouraging for children than to see their parents experiencing marriage and family life as a mission, demonstrating fidelity and patience despite difficulties, moments of sadness and times of trial.
“Don’t ever forget this: the family is the first place where you learn to love,” he emphasized.
“In praising the beauty of the family, we also feel compelled, today more than ever, to defend the family,” Pope Francis said. “Let us not allow the family to be poisoned by the toxins of selfishness, individualism, today’s culture of indifference and culture of waste, and as a result lose its very DNA, which is the spirit of acceptance and service.”
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