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OMALLEY-CHURCH Oct-2-2006 (820 words) With photos. xxxi
Boston cardinal takes possession of titular church in Rome
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- Taking symbolic possession of a Rome church that attracts tourists on "Angels and Demons" tours, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston said visitors should discover something deeper -- the church's connection to two female saints.
Cardinal O'Malley celebrated Mass Oct. 1 at the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, which he was assigned last March when he was made a cardinal. All cardinals are given titular churches in Rome, to underline their ties with the Diocese of Rome and the ministry of the pope.
The baroque church is where a particularly grisly scene unfolds in Dan Brown's fictional best-seller, "Angels and Demons." The book's popularity has prompted a huge increase in visitors.
In his sermon, Cardinal O'Malley focused instead on the church's connection with St. Teresa of Avila, whose likeness Gian Lorenzo Bernini sculpted for a chapel of the church, and in particular with St. Therese of Lisieux, known as the "Little Flower of Jesus," who prayed in the church as a young woman.
"How many people come to this church to follow the route of 'Angels and Demons' of Dan Brown, to see where fictitious cardinals were killed," Cardinal O'Malley said.
"The life and teachings of the Little Flower are the real road map and sure compass on our journey toward God," he said.
The Mass was celebrated on the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, who lived in France in the late 1800s and visited Rome when she was 15. Cardinal O'Malley recounted how she came to the church to pray and saw the statue that depicted her patron saint, St. Teresa of Avila, in mystical ecstasy.
Soon afterward, St. Therese entered a cloistered Carmelite convent, spending 10 years in prayer before her death in 1897. Her spiritual autobiography, published two years later, has inspired many people.
Cardinal O'Malley pointed out that, like her patroness, St. Therese was eventually named a doctor of the church. The reason, he said, was that her simple spiritual life also had a deep theological mission, using a modern form of asceticism to turn even the simplest acts into an expression of love.
St. Teresa of Avila, he said, was another one of the church's great women. Although primarily known for her mystical theology, she was also a key figure in the 16th-century reform of the church in Spain.
The cardinal said the two saints are linked in his mind with a third woman of the same name, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was named after the Little Flower. All three made an incredible impact on their contemporaries and highlighted the contributions of women to the life of the church, he said.
"Anyone who doubts the important role of women in the church is not looking carefully at what the reality is. The church could never function without women and their leadership, works and efforts," the cardinal said in a blog, or Web log, he was hosting during his 10-day trip to Italy.
The Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, which holds only about 150 people, was packed for the evening liturgy. Most were local parishioners, and Cardinal O'Malley delivered his sermon in Italian.
"We see this ceremony as an opportunity to connect with the local community here," he told Catholic News Service before the Mass. He said only a few people had come from Boston; one other cardinal was in attendance: Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who recently retired as the Vatican secretary of state.
The church stands directly across the street from the Church of Santa Susanna, which is the titular church of the retired archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard F. Law.
Cardinal O'Malley told CNS that his blogging debut had gone extremely well, drawing more than 3 million hits.
"We wanted to do something to reach out to the young people in the diocese. It's really been very successful, and has reached a lot of people," he said.
The cardinal also said blogging was time-consuming. Some have encouraged him to continue it after his return to Boston, but he said with a laugh: "We won't be able to do it with the same intensity that we've done it this last week."
In his blog posting for Oct. 1, Cardinal O'Malley described the "interesting adventure" of being driven to the Mass behind a police escort, with the passenger-side officer brandishing his red "stop wand" at cars, scooters and pedestrians to clear them from the path.
"It was quite a scene as he waved the wand at everyone he passed, nearly actually striking cars and pedestrians alike," he wrote.
Earlier in the week, he described similar treatment when he came into St. Peter's Basilica in his cardinal robes.
"It was a bit embarrassing and a bit amusing to see the ushers 'parting the Red Sea' through the crowd ... lol," he wrote. "Lol" stands for "laughing out loud."
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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