MASS CELEBRATED BY ARCHBISHOP DENIS HART
AT THE BASILICA OF SAINT PAUL OUTSIDE THE WALLS, ROME,
ON WEDNESDAY, 12TH OCTOBER 2011 AT 4.00 P.M.
DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
THANK YOU FOR JOINING THE AUSTRALIAN BISHOPS ON OUR PILGRIMAGE TO THIS HOLY PLACE DEDICATED TO SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES, WHOSE DYNAMIC MISSIONARY ENTHUSIASM INSPIRES OUR EFFORTS TO BRING OUR PEOPLE TO A DEEPER KNOWLEDGE AND LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST.
WE RECALL WITH AFFECTION THE MASS OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE CANONISATION OF ST MARY OF THE CROSS, THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF WHICH WE WILL CELEBRATE ON 18 OCTOBER. THAT MEMORABLE MASS, WITH MANY AUSTRALIAN PILGRIMS, WAS OFFERED BY CARDINAL PELL IN THIS BASILICA.
IN THIS VOTIVE MASS OF SAINT PAUL WE ASK THAT THE SPIRIT MAY FILL US WITH THE LIGHT OF FAITH, WHICH BELONGED TO THE BLESSED APOSTLE PAUL, WHOSE INTERCESSION ACCOMPANIES US NOW AND IN THE FUTURE.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS, LET US ACKNOWLEDGE OUR SINS AND SO PREPARE OURSELVES TO CELEBRATE THE SACRED MYSTERIES.
HOMILY
OUR PILGRIMAGE TO THE TOMB OF SAINT PAUL HAS A PARTICULAR SIGNIFICANCE AT THIS TIME AND WE COMMEND OUR WORK AS BISHOPS AND OUR DIOCESAN CHURCHES OVER WHICH WE PRESIDE IN COMMUNION WITH THE SEE OF PETER TO THE INTERCESSION OF SAINT PAUL.
THE BASILICA WAS FOUNDED BY THE ROMAN EMPEROR, CONSTANTINE THE FIRST, OVER THE BURIAL PLACE OF SAINT PAUL. FURTHER EXPANSION TOOK PLACE AT THE END OF THE FOURTH CENTURY, IN THE FIFTH AND AT THE END OF THE SIXTH CENTURY WHEN THERE WERE TWO MONASTERIES NEAR THE BASILICA. AFTER DAMAGE BY THE SARACENS IN THE NINTH CENTURY, POPE JOHN VII FORTIFIED THE BASILICA, THE MONASTERY AND THE SURROUNDING DWELLINGS. IN 1937 SAINT ODO OF CLUNY CAME TO ROME AND THE BASILICA WAS ENTRUSTED TO THE BENEDICTINES AND POPE GREGORY VII WAS ABBOT OF THE MONASTERY.
DESPITE THE DISASTROUS FIRE ON 15TH JULY 1823, THE BASILICA WAS REOPENED IN 1840 AND RECONSECRATED FIFTEEN YEARS LATER. IN THE PRESENT PONTIFICATE ON 31ST MAY 2005 POPE BENEDICT XVI PLACED THE BASILICA UNDER THE CONTROL OF AN ARCHPRIEST. AT THE END OF THE FOURTH CENTURY PAUL’S REMAINS WERE MOVED INTO A SARCOPHAGUS, EXCEPT FOR THE HEAD WHICH ACCORDING TO CHURCH TRADITION RESTS IN THE LATERAN. PAUL’S TOMB IS BELOW A MARBLE TOMBSTONE IN THE BASILICA’S CRYPT. ON 6TH DECEMBER 2006 VATICAN ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAD CONFIRMED THE PRESENCE OF THE WHITE MARBLE SARCOPHAGUS AT THE CONCLUSION OF INVESTIGATIONS, WHICH HAD TAKEN PLACE FOR THE PRECEDING SIX YEARS. TWO YEARS AGO ON THE FEAST OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL POPE BENEDICT XVI ANNOUNCED THAT CARBON FOURTEEN DATING OF BONE FRAGMENTS IN THE SARCOPHAGUS CONFIRMED A DATE IN THE FIRST OR SECOND CENTURY, WHICH SEEMS TO CONFIRM THE UNANIMOUS AND UNCONTESTED TRADITION THAT THEY ARE THE MORTAL REMAINS OF THE APOSTLE, PAUL.
OUR CELEBRATION TODAY IS AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT THAT THE FAITH WE SHARE WITH SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL IS STRENGTHENED BY OUR UNITY IN THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST. IN SAINT PAUL IT WAS PERSONALLY DYNAMIC AND TRANSFORMING. THE DRAMATIC STORY OF HIS OWN CONVERSION IS A REMINDER TO US OF THE POWER OF GOD AND THE INTERCESSION OF SAINT PAUL IN OUR HUMAN LIVES.
TODAY WITH FAITH AND HOPE WE REACH OUT TO THE POWER OF CHRIST IN SAINT PAUL’S LIFE THAT WE MAY BE TRANSFORMED, OUR EFFORTS FOR THE GOSPEL MAY BE GIVEN NEW DYNAMISM AND HOPE, AND THAT AS BISHOPS, WHILE WE SEEK TO ARTICULATE THE FAITH THAT WE ALL SHARE IN A WAY WHICH IS COMPELLING AND INVITING TO THE PEOPLE OF OUR TIME, WE MAY ALL REMEMBER THAT OUR FAITH RESTS ON JESUS CHRIST AND OUR WITNESS IS CLEARLY OF HIM WHO DIED AND ROSE THAT WE MIGHT HAVE LIFE.
INSPIRED BY THE FERVOUR, LOVE AND DYNAMISM OF SAINT PAUL, MAY WE ALLOW THE WORD OF GOD TO NOURISH OUR LIVES ON THIS PRECIOUS MOMENT OF PILGRIMAGE. SAINT PAUL, FEARLESS PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL, PRAY FOR US.
+ DENIS J. HART,
ARCHBISHOP OF MELBOURNE.