Station at St. Lawrence in Lucina

Friday after the Third Sunday in Lent.
Station at St. Lawrence in Lucina.
(S. Lorenzo in Lucina.)

In the list of churches St. Lawrence in Lucina is the first of the presbyteral titles. It was originally the house of a Christian lady named Lucina who converted it into an oratory.
In A.D. 366 Pope St. Damasus was elected here.

Pope St. Damasus
elected A.D. 366

Pope Sixtus III enlarged the edifice into a church about the year A.D. 435.
The church was seized by anti-Pope Anacletus II in 1130,
who consecrated it and enriched it with many relics.
Pope Celestine III (1191 - 1198) reconsecrated it on May 26, 1196.

Relic of the Gridiron of St. Lawrence.

In 1112 Pope Paschal II placed under the altar
a large piece of the gridiron on which St. Lawrence was martyred.
The most ancient document which guarantees the authenticity of this holy relic
is a sermon by St. Leo the Great,
who, on the feast of St Lawrence,
speaks of it as an object of veneration to all Romans.
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Prope est finis, o anima, prope est, nec es sollicita?...
Thy end is near, O my soul!
How comes it thou art heedless?
How is it, that thou art making no preparation?
Time presses; arise!
The Judge is near, even at the very gate.
Life is passing away, as a dream, and as a flower.
Why trouble we ourselves with vain things?

Recover thyself, O my soul!
Recall to mind the acts of thy life;
bring them before thee,
and let thine eyes shed tears over them.
Openly confess thy deeds and thoughts to Christ,
and be justified.

Act of Contrition.
O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee
and I detest my sins above every other evil,
because they have deserved Thy dreadful punishments,
because they have crucified my loving Saviour, Jesus Christ,
and, most of all, because they have offended Thine infinite goodness.
I firmly purpose with the help of Thy grace,
which I beseech Thee to grant me now and always,
never more to offend Thee,
to avoid the occasions of sin
and to amend my life. Amen.