ST PUDENTIANA, VIRGIN - 19 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 19th of May

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST PUDENTIANA, VIRGIN 

Saint Pudentiana was sister of St Praxedes, and daughter of Pudens a Roman senator, who was converted to the faith by the apostles SS. Peter and Paul. 

Her festival is mentioned in the Sacramentary of St Gregory. Her church in Rome is esteemed the most ancient that is known in the world. 

It was in the first ages called the church of the Pastor, and is said to have been the palace of Pudens, in which St Peter lodged and celebrated the divine mysteries. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints - 🎨 1. Santa Pudenziana, exterior; 2. St Pudentiana in the mosaic of the apse of the Santa Pudenziana, 3. interior view of Santa Pudenziana)

THE BASILICA OF SANTA PUDENZIANA

The Basilica of Santa Pudenziana is recognised as the oldest place of Christian worship in Rome. It was erected over a 2nd-century house, probably during the pontificate of Pius I in A.D. 140–55, re-using part of a Roman bath facility, still visible in the structure of the apse. 

The structure was the residence of the pope until, in 313, Emperor Constantine I offered the Lateran Palace in its stead. In the 4th century, during the pontificate of Siricius, the building was transformed into a basilica. In the acts of the synod of 499, the building bore the titulus Pudentis, indicating that the administration of the Sacraments was permitted there.

The basilica is situated below the modern street level. Entrance is through wrought-iron gates. Steps that were added in the 19th century descend to a square courtyard from both sides of the entrance.

(Source:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Pudenziana)

➡️ Saint Pudentiana's entry in the Roman Martyrology