Posted earlier in the BENEDICT XVI NEWS thread;
Viterbo ready for the Pope
by AUGUSTO CINELLI
Translated from
August 21, 2009
Fifteen days away from the pastoral visit of Benedict XVI to Viterbo and Bagnoregio on Sunday, Sept. 6, there is great ferment in the diocese of Viterbo and in all of the territory of Tuscia.
[Tuscia is the term for what was the heartland of Etruscan culture in Italy, a region bordering Tuscany, Umbria and the Rome metropolitan region, with Viterbo as its center. Present-day Tuscia occupies the northern part of the region of Lazio which includes the province and city of Rome.]
Organizers are placing the finishing touches to the preparations for the visit which is a collaboration between the Diocese and local institutions.
It will be the first papal visit to Viterbo since the creation in 1986 of the present Diocese of Viterbo from the reunification of five ancient dioceses - Viterbo, Tuscania, Motnefiascone, Bagnoregio and Acquapendente.
And it will be the second papal visit to the medieval City of the Popes since John Paul II visited in 1984; for Bagnoregio, hometown of St. Bonaventure, the first by a Pope.
Perhaps the choice of Viterbo for a papal visit was also dictated by Pope Benedict's personal connection to St. Bonaventure, a Doctor of the Church ('the Seraphic Doctor') and contemporary of St. Thomas Aquinas, who was born Giovanni Fidenza in Bagnoregio around 1217. [He was renamed Bonaventura (good fortune) after he was miraculously healed of a childhood illness by St. Francis of Assisi.
Bonaventure's theology of history was the subject of Fr. Joseph Ratzinger's dissertation in 1957 to qualify for his Habilitation as a German university professor. First published two years later in the original German under the title
St. Bonaventure: The theology of history, it was recently re-published in Italy.
Thus, in the afternoon of his visit to Viterbo, the Pope will fly by helicopter to Bagnoregio and venerate the only relic of the saint in Italy, the 'holy arm' kept in the co-cathedral of San Nicola. {The rest of his body is in Lyon, where he died in 1284.)
The high point of the visit will be the Eucharistic celebration to start around 10:15 at the Valle Faul, the plain below the elevation on which the Palazzo dei Papi and the Cathedral of San Lorenzo are located.
The organizers said that the plain has been prepared to accommodate the altar-stage for the Mass and a crowd of at least 10,000 who can be accommodated for the Mass adn the Angelus.
There will be jumbo TV screens at certain points of the city for those who have not tickets to the Mass.
Concelebrating with the Pope will be Cardinal Agostino Valli, the Pope's Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, 30 bishops from teh Lazio region adn at least 200 diocesan priests.
The Pope will also be paying homage to the other patron saints of the diocese - St. Rosa, co-patron of the city, and the Madonna della Quercia, a miraculous image of Mary venerated in a shrine outside Viterbo. (The shrine includes a monastery where the Pope will have lunch and his customary post-luncheon rest before undertaking his afternoon program.)
Since the day the pastoral visit was officially announced last December 8, the church community in Viterbo embarked on an intense program of spiritual preparation, with periodic interventions by the Bishop of Viterbo, Mons. Lorenzo Chiarinelli, who has said in his welcoming message: "The Church of Viterbo which has always been linked to Peter's Chair, welcomes the Successor of Peter to be confirmed in the faith,and with confidence in the future, cultivating among so many local examples of holiness, the fascinating message of St. Nonaventure of Bagnoregio".
The bishop has met with representatives of the various parishes and local church associations to give pointers on what must be emphasized to the faithful in their spiritual preparation.
He also appeared before the communal councils of both Viterbo adn Bagnoregio, meeting in extraordinary session, to describe the preparations for the visit. Last Wednesday, he met with the youth volunteers who will be assisting the faithful on the day of the visit.
Viterbo, where the Papal Conclave was born
Translated from
August 21, 2009
Benedict XVI will be the 55th Pontiff to visit Viterbo, which prides itself as the medieval City of the Popes.
Five Popes were elected here, and four of them are buried here.
In fact, from 1227-1281, Viterbo was the seat of the Papacy for political and military reasons, not to mention the therapeutic properties of its thermal springs, for which the city was known before then.
The papal residence was established in the Bishop's palace which was enlarged and renovated to the magnificence befitting a papal residence.
Front and rear views of the Palazzo dei Papi.
The complex - a symbol of medieval Viterbo - is known today as the Palazzo dei Papi, best known for its Conclave Hall.
The term 'conclave' from the Latin
cum clave (under lock and key) was coined here on tehe occasion of the longest papal election in history: 36 months and a day.
In 127q1, the Viterbans, tried of three years of indecisions by the cardinals meeting to elect a success for Urban IV, locked them in the Great Hall of the apostolic palace, opening a part of the roof to give them air while they decided. And they did, within one day, electing Gregory V.
A new book,
Viterbo e i Papi, prepared for the occasion of the papal visit, reconstructs after careful research the story of the presence of Popes in Viterbo up to the visits by Pius IX in 1857 and by John Paul II in 1984.
The book, written by Mons. Salvatore Del Ciuco, will be presented in a special edition to Benedict XVI, as well as to civilian authorities.
It contains previously unpublished accounts of the first Conclave of Viterbo, particularly the role played by St. Bonvaneture in appealing to the cardinals to come to an agreement on their choice for Pope.
In this context, Benedict XVI's visit is seen as a splendid seal for the new millennium nine centuries after the Popes first came to Viterbo.