Sunday of the 2nd Week of Lent - Santa Maria in Domnica

Sitting quietly by the side of the busy Via della Navicella, the Basilica of St. Mary in Domnica holds the distinction of being the station church for the Second Sunday in Lent.  

A tradition holds that on this location once stood the house of the Roman matron Cyriaca, from which St. Lawrence would distribute alms to the poor.  At some later time, it is believed that this was the location of military barracks, or of a civil defense post.  A diaconia [a place where charity was provided by the Church for those in need] with an attached chapel is known to have existed here from the time of the late eighth century, this possibly being established in some buildings from the military post.  The name domnica might signify that this was built on land donated by the Emperor, which would make sense if its previous use was for military purposes.  While the other Sundays of Lent are celebrated at the largest basilicas in the city, the station is held here today because there was originally no station for this day, the ordination liturgy at St. Peter’s on the previous day being considered the Mass for Sunday.  When the liturgy was created for this day, this venerable diaconia was fixed as the station.  Pope St. Paschal I replaced the diaconia with a larger basilica around the year 820.  While little decoration from these times remains, one notable feature are the mosaics of the triumphal arch and apse, these being one example of the many mosaics he commissioned in churches built or repaired by him.  

In the mid-fifteenth century the church was near ruin, and later in that century the cardinal titular of the church, Giovanni de Medici, undertook a restoration and additions, including the fine porch.  These works largely ended in 1513 when he was elected as Pope Leo X, in which office he would see the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.  The basilica was again restored in the mid-sixteenth century.  From then until the present day the church has seen some minor additions and restorations, but is still today essentially a structure whose appearance reminds us of those last days before Europe descended into the wars of religion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

As you approach the church you are able to quickly see the reason it has another name: Santa Maria in Navicella - as there is a small sculpture of a boat in front of the church.  The ceiling is decorated with allegorical images of the Church as a ship - carrying forward the nautical theme from outside.  In fact, a boat has long been used as an allegory for the Church  - beginning with Noah's ark.  Churches were often built to give one the sense of a boat - the ceiling often resembling that of the bottom of a boat and the keel (if it were to be turned upside down).  And even today the main body of the church is called the "nave" - that nautical idea.  Traditionally, this image of a boas has been applied to the Church becuase of the protection shoe offers from the storms of the world.  Just as Noah's ark was the means of salvation for those on it - so is the Church our protection in this life.   

Pausing once more before the large mosaic in the apse - we recall the varied history of all those who have passed through this place, whether saint or sinner - all seeking refuge in the saving ark of the Church.