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Santo Stefano, Bologna |
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This is the church of San Giovanni in Monte. Some of the trees in tubs outside are the clue - this church represents the Mount of Olives, outside the walls of Jerusalem. There is some fine art in the church, and some even better art from the church in the art gallery in bologna, but the main interest is in its original function. It seems that there was a small round church here in the twelfth century based on the church on the Mount of Olives. There is some evidence - though difficult to confirm - that other places around this part of Bologna represented other Jerusalem sites. |
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So what is all this about? Modern day church worship generally involves the congregation staying in one place; standing to sing, kneeling for prayer, sitting and perhaps nodding off during lengthy sermons. Earlier liturgical traditions involved processional devotions, particularly on Palm Sunday. Another word for this is stational, intended 'to keep the participant in liturgical ceremonies in continual movement, so that they could feel themselves to be not merely simple spectators, but active participants' (H Mobius, Passion and Resurrection.) The Stations of the Cross, the Via Crucis in Jerusalem, give some idea of how this worked. The congregation would be led by the priest to various significant places or stations, though many details of what took place there has been lost. |
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