LITURGICAL STATION. - A church in which, on certain occasions, the liturgical functions are celebrated.
I. GENERAL NOTIONS
Originally statio means the act of stopping, the place where one stops, and finally the persons who stop at the appointed point. In these three fundamental acceptations, the word had the most varied meanings: sojourn, post station for horses, quarter, squad of military guard, roadstead or harbor in nautical language. There is, for example, the "statio aquarum, annonae, municipiorum," etc., as the seat of particular magistrates or of offices. The same word naturally entered Christian usage as well, with its own derived acceptations, but always linked to the primitive sense. Thus, for example, the word statio was employed, as in military language, in the sense of an advanced sentinel, watchful, tensed toward action, to signify the state of the Christian in time of fasting, that is, wholly intent on the strictest guard, both of body and of soul: famous in this regard is the address of St. Ambrose to his people at the beginning of Lent, in which he compares the "iter quadraginta dierum" with military life and the "devotio ieiuniorum" with the "castra," whence he derives the word "stationes," because "stantes et commorantes in eis, inimicorum insidias repellamus. Castra enim sunt ieiunia christianis" (Sermo 21: PL 17, 644). In this sense stands also the acceptation of the word station in the specific meaning of "stational" fasting, that is, of half a day, on the liturgical ferias of Wednesday and Friday, a custom that soon fell into disuse (cf. the Shepherd of Hermas, Similit., V, 1, ed. F. X. Funk, I, 528, and the Didache, VIII, ed. F. X. Funk-K. Bihlmeyer, Tübingen 1924, p. 5).
II. THE LITURGICAL STATION IN PARTICULAR
It was therefore natural that the word s. should be taken to indicate the house, and subsequently the church in which the divine Mysteries were to be celebrated, and later, by extension, the liturgical celebration itself and the assembly of the faithful. This usage is very ancient, and is found in Tertullian, De ieiunio (ed. Oehler), ch. 1 (p. 852); ch. 2 (p. 853); ch. 10 (p. 864); and in the Ad uxorem (ed. Oehler), II, ch. 4 (p. 688), and in other places; then in Cassian, in De institutis coenobiorum, book I, ch. 5 (PL 49, 236-43) and in Isidore, Etymologiae, book VI, ch. 19 (PL 82, 258).
III. THE LITURGICAL STATIONS OF ROME
In many ancient episcopal sees, provided with numerous churches, the bishops were accustomed to celebrate, on certain feast days or for other liturgical reasons, now in one church, now in another: these liturgical gatherings, and the churches concerned, were called stationes. The information about these stational churches outside Rome is somewhat fragmentary; it nevertheless makes it possible to know that this custom, and the related technical term, was already known, for example, from the 4th century in Antioch, in Jerusalem (cf. the Peregrinatio of Egeria), in Egypt at Oxyrhynchus (papyrus of 535); in the West at Milan, Carthage, Ravenna, Vercelli, in Gaul and in Germany, at Paris, Strasbourg, Mainz, Cologne. The stational churches in use at Tours are listed in the so-called Calendar of Bishop Perpetuus (ca. 460), preserved by Gregory of Tours (Hist. Francorum, X, 31: PL 71, 556): the 3rd canon of the Council of Orléans (541) prescribed that the major feasts and Easter be celebrated with the bishop (Mansi, IX, 114). Bishop Chrodegang of Metz (766) established in his see a whole system of stational churches, modeled on the Roman use.
IV. THE PARTICULAR DEVELOPMENT OF THE LITURGICAL STATION IN ROME
The place where the stational churches had a wholly particular development and assumed a general importance in liturgical life and practice is Rome. The solemn pontifical celebrations, to which — especially after the Constantinian peace, with the rapid development of the liturgical year — an extraordinary solemnity, also external, was given, were not tied to the church annexed to the papal residence (the Lateran), but also took place in other great urban and cemetery basilicas, and in the city's titular churches. Already in the epistolary exchange between Pope Cornelius and Cyprian of Carthage (mid-3rd century), the term "statio" occurs in the sense of a stational church as an ordinary thing (Cyprian, Ep. 43, ad Cornelium; Ep. 48, Cornelii ad Cyprianum; ed. G. Hartel, II, 597, 612). The Luciferian presbyters Faustus and Marcellinus, in their Libellus precum against Damasus, presented in 384 to Theodosius the Great, speak of the statio held by Ursinus, the antipope (PL 13, 81, 83). The Lib. Pont. (I, pp. 244, 246) reports that Pope Hilarius (461-68) donated a magnificent liturgical service, including the sacred vessels necessary for the stational churches, to the Roman Church; but a regular system of stational churches must certainly have existed long before. Even later the Lib. Pont. and other sources report papal gifts for the stational celebrations. The Ordines, on the other hand, deal with the manner of celebrating them (cf., for example, G. Löw, Il Codice A 14 della Bibliot. Vallicell. [del sec. IX] e il suo contributo alla liturgia romana, in Misc. L. C. Mohlberg, II, Rome 1949, pp. 246-48).
Gregory the Great also reorganized the Roman stational churches, not only in the liturgical texts and chants, but, as it seems, also with adjustments to the order of the stational churches. In any case he did everything to keep the stational churches alive and operative as a great means of pastoral liturgy. John the Deacon reports in his Vita (II, 18, 19: PL 75, 94) not only on the aforementioned reorganization, but above all on the fervor of the Pontiff in preaching and on the religious enthusiasm of the people, who came even from afar to take part in the stational churches. The stational system established by Gregory the Great was completed by Gregory II (d. 731) with the addition of the stations of Thursday in Lent, which had remained free by ancient tradition from the heavy stational service (Lib. Pont., I, p. 402), so that by the 8th century all the days of Lent had the same service. From the Ordines Romani it is known that the Roman stational churches continued to take place with unchanged splendor and decorum until the time of Avignon. Afterwards they declined, and upon the Pope's return to Rome the stational church was no longer considered a pontifical function. It continued, however, in lesser and more modest forms, as is gathered from the later Ordines Romani and from other sources. Very interesting in this regard is, for example, the description of Lent with its stations, left by the priest (parish priest and preacher of the court of Munich in Bavaria) Giacomo Rubus, during the Holy Year 1575 (ed. K. Schottenloher, Munich 1925).
V. THE ROMAN STATIONAL CHURCHES
1. Lent
The most complete system of liturgical stations is found in Lent, though even here the completion took place in successive periods. The first to have stations were ferias II, IV, VI and Saturday; then followed ferias III, V and the aliturgical Sundays because of a vigil celebration.
a) The great Basilicas as Lenten liturgical stations. - ST. JOHN LATERAN, the Pope's cathedral: the 1st Sunday of Lent (that is, the primitive beginning of the great fast); Palm Sunday (that is, the beginning of Holy Week); Holy Thursday, and the Easter vigil between Holy Saturday evening and the Matins of Easter Sunday, that is, the days of the greatest Sacraments. ST. PETER'S IN THE VATICAN: Passion Sunday (that is, the beginning of the most primitive fasting period: but the station is relatively recent, since a vigil celebration that ended on Sunday preceded it). ST. PAUL OUTSIDE THE WALLS: Wednesday (IV week of Lent), the day of the great scrutiny for the catechumens. ST. MARY MAJOR: Wednesday of Holy Week, which originally had a great liturgical service similar to that of Good Friday (as well as in the Ember Days, see below). HOLY CROSS IN JERUSALEM: the IV Sunday and Good Friday. ST. LAWRENCE OUTSIDE THE WALLS: the III Sunday.
b) The oldest Lenten liturgical ferias. - The "collect" is indicated in round brackets, that is, the church in which the people gathered in order then to go in procession to the stational church, generally nearby. Ferias II: I week of Lent: (Sts. Cosmas and Damian), St. Peter in Chains (it was the second day of the primitive Lent, therefore the presentation of the Roman community to the Prince of the Apostles); II week: (St. Cosmas and Damian), St. Clement; III week: (St. Adrian), St. Mark; IV week: (St. Stephen on the Caelian), the Four Crowned Saints; week of the Passion: (St. George in Velabro), St. Chrysogonus (two churches of martyrs believed to be soldiers); Holy Week: (St. Balbina), Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, St. Praxedes (until the 10th century there were several changes between the two stational churches indicated). Ferias III: I week: (St. Nicholas in Carcere), St. Anastasia (note that St. Nicholas has existed only since the 9th century): at St. Anastasia, as a quasi-palatine church, was the second station after the first Sunday; II week: St. Balbina; III week: (St. Sergius), St. Pudentiana (at present, with equal right, also St. Agatha of the Goths); IV week: (St. Mary de domna Rosa), St. Lawrence in Damaso; week of the Passion: St. Cyriacus (destroyed in the 15th century; the station was transferred to St. Mary in Via Lata); Holy Week: (St. Mary in Porticu), St. Prisca. Ferias IV: I week: Ember Days, see below; II week: (St. George in Velabro), St. Cecilia; III week: (St. Balbina), St. Sixtus the Old; IV week: St. Paul (see above); week of the Passion: (St. Mark), St. Marcellus; Holy Week: (St. Peter in Chains), St. Mary Major (see above). Ferias VI: I week: Ember Days, see below; II week: (St. Agatha of the Goths), St. Vitalis; III week: (St. Mary ad martyres, that is, the Pantheon, consecrated to worship in 613), St. Lawrence in Lucina; IV week: (St. Vitus), St. Eusebius; week of the Passion: (Sts. John and Paul), St. Stephen on the Caelian. c) The Saturdays: I week, Ember Days, see below; II week: (St. Clement), Sts. Marcellinus and Peter; III week: (St. Vitalis), St. Susanna; IV week: the Saturday called "Sitientes", of particular importance in the system of preparation of the catechumens, St. Lawrence in Lucina, later replaced by St. Nicholas in Carcere, a church known only from the 9th century.
2. Stations added with their churches
a) Under Gregory the Great: this Pope, having advanced the beginning of Lent to the Wednesday preceding the first Sunday of Lent, that is, to "Ash Wednesday", in order to bring the days of actual fasting to the number of 40, instituted the two liturgical stations: "Ash Wednesday": (St. Anastasia), St. Sabina; the Friday after Ash Wednesday (St. Lucy in Septizonio), Sts. John and Paul. b) under Gregory II (d. 731): the ferias V of Lent: after Ash Wednesday: (St. Nicholas in Carcere, 9th century), St. George in Velabro; I week: (St. Agatha of the Goths), St. Lawrence in Panisperna; II week: (St. Chrysogonus), St. Mary in Trastevere; III week: (St. Mark), Sts. Cosmas and Damian; IV week: (Sts. Quiricus and Julitta), Sts. Sylvester and Martin; Passion week: (St. Mary in Via Lata), St. Apollinaris. c) at an unspecified time (probably during the 9th-10th centuries) certain aliturgical days had their liturgical station: the Second Sunday, aliturgical because preceded by the Ember Day Ordinations at St. Peter with a vigil: St. Mary in Domnica, seat of the Roman archdeacon. Saturday after Ash Wednesday: St. Tryphon, now destroyed, replaced by the nearby church of St. Augustine. Saturday of Passion Week: St. John before the Latin Gate. d) The stations of "Pre-Lent," of later origin than the primitive Lenten ones, but earlier than Gregory the Great. Septuagesima Sunday: St. Lawrence outside the Walls; Sexagesima: St. Paul outside the Walls; Quinquagesima: St. Peter's in the Vatican: the three great patrons of the City.
3. Easter season
The octave of Easter, with stations among the most ancient, since it was the custom to visit, together with the neophytes, the most renowned churches of the city, in order to celebrate the solemn Easter stations. Easter Sunday: St. Mary Major (of later institution, since originally the Easter Vigil ended in the morning of that same Sunday, at St. John Lateran); Monday: St. Peter's in the Vatican; Tuesday: St. Paul outside the Walls; Wednesday: St. Lawrence outside the Walls: a visit, therefore, to the principal churches of the three great patrons of the City. Thursday: Sts. Apostles; Friday: St. Mary at the Martyrs; Saturday in albis: St. John Lateran, the true "octave" of Baptism; Sunday "in albis": St. Pancras, the young martyr, model of the neophytes: this last station is therefore an addition, though a fairly ancient one. The Sundays after Easter, although they have very ancient Mass formularies, did not however have liturgical stations; only for the Second Sunday after Easter is there an isolated notice indicating the station at Sts. Cosmas and Damian, but it must be a late and short-lived custom. Ascension: St. Peter's in the Vatican, a liturgical station at least from the 7th-8th centuries.
4. Pentecost and its octave
It should be noted at once that the summer Ember Days were fixed within the same octave of Pentecost only between the 7th and 8th centuries. Saturday, that is the vigil of Pentecost: baptismal celebration as at the Easter Vigil, hence a station at the Lateran. Sunday: perhaps without a station, as originally on Easter Sunday, then St. Peter's in the Vatican; Monday: St. Peter in Chains; Tuesday: St. Anastasia; Wednesday: St. Mary Major; Thursday: the Twelve Apostles, a primitive station, but soon abandoned; Thursday remained without a liturgical station until the 10th century; then St. Lawrence outside the Walls was assigned to it; Friday: Sts. John and Paul, after the fixing of the Ember Days replaced by the church of the XII Apostles; Saturday: S. Stefano al Celio, later replaced, on the Ember Days, by S. Pietro in Vaticano.
5. Christmas season
The liturgical stations of Advent are of more recent date, that is, of the 9th century, except that of the December Ember Days; the stations of the great Christmas feasts are in part older, in part even more recent.
a) The Sundays of Advent: I Sun.: S. Maria Maggiore; II Sun.: S. Croce in Gerusalemme; III Sun.: S. Pietro in Vaticano: perhaps the first station established in Advent. It was a vigil celebration, held until the 12th century with the greatest splendor. IV Sun.: as the conclusion of the Ember Days, with the Vigil originally without a station; from the 9th century a church of S. Eugenia appears, known from no other source (perhaps for S. Eufemia, a monastery famous in the Middle Ages); only in the Avignon period does the church of the XII Apostles appear.
b) The Christmas feasts: the station church preferred for this season is S. Maria Maggiore, the church of the "Mother of God" since Sixtus III, and near which, perhaps already from this time, there existed a representation of the Nativity scene. c) Vigil: it is of more recent institution, since the true vigil Mass was the present first Mass. From the 8th century the vigil too (as the preceding day) has its station: S. Maria Maggiore. Christmas: I Mass, the true night Mass: station at S. Maria Maggiore "ad Presepe", that is, in the underground chapel of the "Presepe". II Mass: S. Anastasia, from the Byzantine period, since the feast of the Saint fell on the same 25 December; III Mass: S. Pietro in Vat. (this was the primitive station for Christmas); it appears that under Innocent II (1130-43) the present station at S. Maria Maggiore was substituted there (the triple celebration in three churches so far apart being too burdensome). 26 Dec., feast of St. Stephen: S. Stefano al Celio, the station is explicitly noted only from the 12th century. 28 Dec., feast of St. John the Apostle: station perhaps at the Lateran; certainly the missals of the Avignon period carry this indication; only with the printed missals does the present station appear: S. Maria Maggiore. 28 Dec., feast of the Innocents: S. Paolo fuori le mura; the station is noted as early as the 8th century; perhaps from this time, and certainly later, relics of these saints were venerated there.
d) Octave of Christmas (Circumcision), primitive station at the Pantheon, that is, at S. Maria ad Martyres, replaced by S. Maria in Trastevere from the Avignon period. e) Epiphany: S. Pietro in Vaticano; II Sun. after Epiphany: SS. Giovanni e Paolo; III Sun. after Epiphany: S. Eusebio; but these stations appear only and for a short time in the 8th century.
6. The Ember Days
The Ember Days, independently of their later arrangement, partly in Lent, partly in the octave of Pentecost, partly in Advent, had from their institution their own particular station churches, always of grandiose dimensions, so as to be able to contain the whole crowd of the faithful; these stations are fixed and identical in all the Ember Days. Wednesday: S. Maria Maggiore; Friday: SS. XII Apostoli; Saturday, for the nocturnal vigil celebration that lasted until the morning of the following Sunday: S. Pietro in Vaticano. One also immediately understands the reason why the Vatican Basilica was chosen: the dignity and power of the sacred Orders had to proceed from the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles.
7. The litanies
The major litany, of Roman origin, tied to the date of 25 April (independently of the later feast of St. Mark), with its grandiose procession, had, in origin, a collect and three stations: collect: S. Lorenzo in Lucina; I station: S. Valentino fuori Porta Flaminia (cemeterial basilica); II station: S. Croce, an oratory beyond the Milvian Bridge, toward the Vatican; III station: S. Pietro in Vaticano. The minor litanies, introduced from Gaul to Rome during the 9th century (Leo III, 795-816), were celebrated in the three great major basilicas: Monday: S. Maria Maggiore; Tuesday: S. Giovanni in Lat.; Wednesday: S. Pietro in Vaticano.
8. The great Marian feasts
The four great Marian feasts, Purification (2 Feb.), Annunciation (25 March), Assumption (15 Aug.), and Nativity (8 Sept.), were celebrated in Rome with great solemnity, that is, with the collect at S. Adriano on the Roman Forum, and the procession to the station at S. Maria Maggiore.
9. Present practice
With the fall of the temporal power of the Popes (1870), public religious manifestation had to be reduced to the interior of the churches. The celebration of the stations too, with its processions, disappeared from the external life of Rome. The revival was slow. The merit of having restored them to honor belongs to the "Collegium cultorum martyrum", and it may be said that in recent decades the liturgical celebration of the Roman stations is in full revival, naturally no longer as a service of the Supreme Pontiff, but as a public liturgical celebration that always attracts a great number of the faithful, Romans and foreigners. In the station churches the relics are exposed, the floor is strewn with laurel leaves, and in the morning the solemn Mass of the station is celebrated, while toward evening there takes place, often with great solemnity, the procession with the singing of the litany of the saints and the prescribed prayers, and it ends with the blessing with a relic of the Holy Cross.
Since the Middle Ages special indulgences were also attached to the pious practice of the stations, revised by Pius VI (9 July 1777) and now established in the Enchiridion indulgentiarum (Rome 1952, n. 780). As already in the early Middle Ages there are cases of imitations of the Roman stations: some bishops have recently organized in their episcopal cities a kind of station, with visits to determined churches and a religious service similar to the Roman one. - See plate LXXXIX.
Bibliography16 works
Giuseppe Löw