On the occasion of the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, as Bishop of Rome Pope Francis will preside over the Mass in that Basilica on Saturday, November 9, 2019, at 5:30 pm., announced the Vicariate of Rome, in a press release last October 31.
The Holy Father will concelebrate the Eucharist with the Cardinal Vicar of Rome Angelo De Donatis and the Diocese’s Auxiliary Bishops.
Chasuble, Pulpit, and Cross
For the celebration, the Pontiff will use a chasuble sewed for the occasion by a Roman Monastery, decorated with the cross of the Lateran’s apse.
A new pulpit will be installed in the Basilica for the occasion. “The pulpit is a liturgical place of the Word of God,” explained Father Giuseppe Midili, Director of the Diocesan Liturgical Office. The Pontiff “will bless the pulpit with the handing of the Lectionary to the lectors because what the pulpit blesses is the proclamation of the Word,” he said.
Made of marble, reusing an ancient pluteus (marble slab) of Constantine’s Basilica, the pulpit has the typical shape of a Roman pulpit and was made by the Arte Poli artisans of Verona.
Visible also for the first time during the celebration will be a golden crucifix, work of Maestro Stefano Lazzari of Perugia. “It is a suspended cross that reproduces the processional cross of Nicola di Guardiagrele (1385-1462, Italian sculptor and goldsmith), cast in 1451 and kept at present in the Lateran Museum,” added Father Midili.
New Prayers and Melodies
“The prayers the Pope will use during the celebration have been newly composed, namely, the Collect, the Prayer over the Offerings, the Preface and the Post-Communion Prayer. In essence, a new formulary has been composed proper of the Mass on the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran,” he explained.
The sung texts of the Mass (Lord have mercy, Gloria, Sanctus, Lamb of God) will also have a new melody. The songs will be performed by a choir of seminarians of the Pontifical Major Roman Seminary, of the Almo Collegio Capranica and the Redemptoris Mater Diocesan College, directed by Maestro Nikolay Bogatzky.
The liturgical service will be entrusted to the Seminary of Our Lady of Divine Love.
Before the end of the Mass, Poe Francis will confer the mandate to the Diocese’s pastoral teams. This Eucharist is the “last stage of a” pastoral “journey, begun with the presence of Pope Francis in the Cathedral on May 9, for the Diocesan Assembly,” specified the press release.
With Marina Droujinina
