22 January – St. Vincent Pallotti. Wherein Fr. Z reflects on God’s plan.

Today, in addition to being the Feast of Sts. Vincent of Saragossa and Athanasius the Persian, it is the feast of another Vincent, St. Vincent Pallotti, founder of the Pious Society of Missions (the Pallottine Fathers).

I have a connection to this saint, along with San Filippo Neri and Francesca Romana.  The first time I was in Rome, before my conversion, I was studying ancient history and archeology.   The place where we were lodged was called the Casa Pallotti in the Via Pettinari, the street that aims directly into the Ponte Sisto across the Lungotevere.  It was across the street from the “flank” of what years later would become, and still is, my adoptive Roman home parish, Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini, which Providence decreed would be the personal parish for the Traditional Roman Rite in Rome.

It is amazing how these things connect together over the decades.  We need hindsight and perspective to see how God works His plans for us, how the digitus Dei moves us around.

Anyway, the Casa Pallotti, pretty run down when I was there, must have been part of the Pallottine complex.  It has since been transformed into a pretty swanky hotel.

Not only was the Casa Pallotti surely part of the Pallottine complex (their world “HQ” is just around the corner), but it is next to a lovely little church, San Salvatore in Onda, where you find the body of… St. Vincent Pallotti.   He was canonized by John XXIII in 1963, so he didn’t make it into the 1962 Missale Romanum.  However, I believe that, according to the CDF Decree Cum sanctissima, we could honor him through a celebration of Holy Mass, with the Common of Confessors, perhaps even – being flexible – with the Latin orations of the subsequent missal.

In the same church is the tomb of Bl. Elisabetta Sanna.

Meanwhile, it is also the Feast of Sts. Vincent and Athanasius, whose church is across from the Trevi Fountain.  It is distinguished for having the innards – yes, you read that right – of various Popes.   More on that HERE.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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4 Comments

  1. Pingback: 22 January – St. Vincent Pallotti. Wherein Fr. Z reflects on God’s plan. – Via Nova Media

  2. Uniaux says:

    Father, regarding Cum Sanctissima, you mention the possibility of using the Latin orations of the subsequent missal: would this always be a sound practice when it is available? Really curious about the implementation of the decree (even though it seems really simple in theory), since I help organize TLMs and we recently got very close to using it for the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. (We were probably overthinking it a bit.)

    It also cannot be said enough, but thank you, Father, for being such a continuous source of spiritually edifying content.

  3. Ave Maria says:

    Oh to be able to go to Rome again! How I would love to have a good block of time and to visit so many holy places. But that may never again be possible…however I have had pilgrimage there in the past which was a great privilege and blessing. Nowadays, I would not even be welcomed in the world’s parish church of St. Peters!

  4. Sol says:

    I feel a special connection to St. Vincent Pallotti having been a novice (and having almost completed the first year) with the Pallottine Fathers all the way back in 2005-2006. To this day I often wonder what became of a couple of us with whom I was in the novitiate and, even though I am not a priest today, I still feel that the time spent learning about St. Vincent and his life, and reading his writings, has had an influence on my growth as a then 19-year old finding my way in the world. I also feel indebted to my then-superiors – the master of novices and our spiritual director who are among the best priests I have ever met. I do hope to one day be able to visit the places in Rome connected to St. Vincent, of which he wrote with such affection in his letters.

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