STATION
268
STATION
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tempore] des papes de 1790 d nos jours (Lille. 1890) ; Cb^tineau-
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Geaandten Guido r. Usedom in KuUur (1903); Idem, Pius IX
im Revolutionsjahr. Pius IX in Gaeta. Der Kirchenstaat in
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1817-68 (Rome, 1899); Giovagnoli, Pellegrini Rossi e la rivolu-
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italiana dal 1863 al 1870 (Rome, 1880); de Cesare, Roma e lo
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Ddrand-Morimb.au, La question romaine, depuis le traits de
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La loi des garanties et la situation internationale de la papaut^
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GUSTAV SCHNURER.
Station Days. — Day.s on which in the early Church fast was observed until the Hour of None (between twelve and three o'clock), laterofSext (nine to twelve), as distinct from the strict observance of the fast day proper until Vespers (three to six) . The ancient liturgi- cal writers commonly apply the word statio to fast days, but a distinction must be made between jejunium and statio. Pamelius will not admit this distinction, but Cardinal Bona is less uncompromising and admits that though statio is sometimes identical with jejtinium this is not an absolute rule. The statio came to an end at the Hour of None, but the jejunium was not broken till the Hour of Vespers, which is a notable difference. However, TertuUian speaks of a less rigorous fast which was broken sooner and which he calls semi-jejunium. In this case the faithful did as on a day of statio, and the fast did not differ from the one on that day. To TertuUian solvere stationem meant exactly the same as solvere jejunium. But St. Gregory the Great designated certain churches in Rome as stationes and recommended that on the more solemn festivals they should be made stations (stationes fieri) until the Hour of Sext, and at these same churches on the appointed days (statis diebus) the faithful should assist at the Office. The stations have long since been abandoned and have left their trace only in the Missal, but in some instances the fast laisted longer and has been preserved even to modern times. The classic text on the stationes is found in TertuUian's "De Oratione" (XIV): "Simi- liter et stationum diebus non putant plerique sacri- ficiorum orationibus intervcniendum quod statio solvenda sit accepto coi-pore Domini". (In the same way many think that on Station days we must not be present at the prayers of the sacrifices because the Station should be finished when the Lord's Body is received.) Comparison of other phrases of the same author with this passage shows that the statio was celebrated on Wednesday and Friday, of each week, lasting until the ninth hour. The 69th Apostolic Canon enjoins the observance of a fast on these two days.
An explanation of the fast of the stationes has been found in the fact that the solemnity was fi.xed statis diebus, but this is a purely verbal coincidence; and it seems difficult to find jp it anything else. St. Ambrose gives a reason which may have been accept- ed in his time: "Our fasts", he says (Sermo XXV), "are our encampments against the attacks of the devil; they are called stationes because we remain standing" (stante.i). It also seems ])ri)b:il)lc th.-it these days of fasting and prayer were characterized by endless watchings, and processions either within or around the church, when the faithful were obliged to remain standing, stantes, aa is said in modern French in exactly the same sense, stationner, to stand. Statio became the place before which or within which
the faithful walked in procession and, tired out, but
always standing, sometimes leaning on a stick,
assisted, before separating, at the celebration of the
Liturgy. The churches to which they repaired took
the name of stationes, though incorrectly, and the
route followed to reach them became statio ad. . . .
The tomb of a martyr became the object of a kind
of pilgrimage to which the faithful went in a body,
and thus arose another statio ad. . . . But the
martyria alone did not attract the crowds; it became
the custom to go to the celebrated basilicas, and
sometimes all the clergy of a large city assembled
at a certain point, probably in the vicinity of the
episcopal residence, to go thence with the bishop, the
patriarch, or the pope. himself to the place assigned
for the celebration of the Eucharist. As time went
on parishes or tituli were formed in the cities and their
grouping gave rise to vexatious questions of prece-
dence, which were solved as well as could be by
"rotation". Rome has preserved the most complete
accounts of its stational churches, but we know that
these celebrations also took place at Jerusalem and
Constantinople. The going to the statio was quite
a ceremony; thither were carried the sacred vessels,
liturgical instruments, all that was peculiar to the
service of the pope, and also, doubtless, all that would
supplement the insufficient hturgical furniture of the
church to which they were going. The "Liber
pontificalis" states that Leo III (795) had twenty
silver ves.sels made which were borne by acolytes in
the processions to the stations. There is extant a
writing called "De locis Sanctis martyrum qu» sunt
foris civitatis Romie", the last chapter of which
contains the list of "station basilicas" of Rome.
This little document, the work of a German pilgrim,
dates from the pontificate of Honorius I (625-38),
but seems to be based on an older compilation dating
at least from Pelagius II (579-90).
The following is the fist of the station churches aa it was compiled in the time of St. Gregory: Patri- archal basilicas, S. Giovanni in Laterano, S. Pietro, S. Maria Maggiore, S. Paolo Fuori le Mura, S. Lorenzo Fuori le Mura; cardinaUtial titles, S. Sisto, SS. Gio- vanni e Paolo, SS. Quattro Coronati, S. Clemente, S. Marcellino e Pietro, S. Pietro in Vincoli, S. Silves- tro ai Monti, S. Prassede, S. Pudenziana, S. Eusebio, S. Vitale, S. Susanna, S. Ciriacos, S. Marcello, S. Lo- renzo in Lucina, S. Lorenzo in Damaso, S. Marco, S. Anastasia, S. Nereo e Achilleo, S. Balbina, S. Sabina, S. Prisca, S. Maria in Trastevere, S. Cecilia, S. Cris- ogono; diaconates (those which had been stations before they were diaconates), S. Nieolo in Carcere, SS. Cosma e Damiano, S. Maria in Via Lata, S. Maria in Porticu, S. Maria in Domnica. The number of stations is eighty-six, and, that of the churches being less, some of them have the station several times in the year. S. Sabina, the station established by Ur- ban VIII for Ash Wednesday, is the most important of all because it was long customary for the popes to repair thither on that day to di.stribute the ashes to the people.
Persons desirous of gaining the station indulgences first repair to a church in the vicinity of the station in imitation of the ancient collect, or gathering of the clergy and the people, preparatory to the procession. In this church prayers are recited from the Station Manual, consisting of invocations to the Blessed Vir- gin and the MartjTS. Then begins the journey to the station accompanied by the recitation of the JSIiserere, 5 Paters, the Ave and Gloria, and the steps of the Passion of Christ. On arrival at the station church the Litany of the Saints is said with versicles and prayers, ending with the "De Profundis. The pope grants dispensations to all who are unable to go in person to the stations, such as cloistered religious, prisoners, the sick, etc., who are free to visit their own church and say the prayers prescribetl. Cardinals
