Papal message for the reopening
of the Cathedral of Pavia
after 16 years of renovation
Translated from the 10/22-10/23/12 issue of
On Sunday afternoon, October 21, thousands of faithful attended a solemn Pontifical Mass, presided by Bishop Giovanni Giudici and concelebrated with Mons. Paolo Magnani, emeritus Bishop of Treviso but a native of Pavia, that marked the full reopening of the city's Cathedral of the Assumption and St. Stephen after 16 years of restoration.
A letter was read to the faithful from Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in behalf of Benedict XVI:
The Holy Father keeps a vivid memory of his visit to this diocese in 2007 during which he could only see the exterior of the Cathedral, which has been closed for almost two decades following the collapse of its main tower. Today, he joins you spiritually in this sacred edifice, participating with his heart and prayers at the solemn re-opening of the Cathedral.
He cannot do other than dedicate special attention to this monument that now reaffirms itself as an eloquent sign of the historical value and beauty of the Italian Renaissance. The Cathedral of Pavia, dedicated to the Blessed Mary of the Assumption and to the protomartyr St. Stephen, with its majestic dome that is one of the largest in Italy, rises above the city but is also its heart.
The community of Pavia, in fact, developed around this religious symbol, whose construction began in the 15th century and lasted all the way to the 20th century. The city and its cathedral grew together for more than six centuries of political, social and religious history.
As we are reminded in a recent article by Mons. Vittorio Lanzani of the Fabbrica di San Pietro at the Vatican, whoever approaches the city of Pavia - whether it is from the river that laps its walls and which gave its ancient Roman name of Ticinum to the settlement, or from the surrounding green fields - can only be stunned by the sight of the great cathedral with its majestic dome rising to the sky above the city like the sacred tent over a shrine in Biblical references.
It is an exaltation and an elevation of the house of God, as intended by the original plans - "this imposing Cathedral, a miracle born in the mind of Bramante" (Cesare Angelini, 'Viaggio in Pavia'). The third largest of Italy's Renaissance domes [after St. Peter's and the Florence Cathedral], it elicited these words in 1888 from Mons. Agostino Riboldi, the courageous bishop who was the true mover behind its completion: "How high is this monument to faith! It is altitude par excellence - the altitude of the temple. How high it is for its divine origin, which is God's gift, his Word! How ardently it rises towards the clouds as it overlooks the highest products of God's creation! How it presides majestically over earthly things,
inaccessible to base human passions! This temple is vast - but so are the reasons for our faith that all of us accept and each of us employs according to our needs".
April 22, 2007: Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Augustine in Pavia at the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/10/2012 16:11]