VATICAN WITNESSES IMPRESSIVE REPRESENTATION OF PASSION
700 Actors Perform 43 Biblical Scenes
VATICAN CITY, APR 18 (ZENIT.org).- Rome has experienced a very moving
Holy Tuesday. Dozens of priests have heard confessions in all the major
Basilicas: St. Peter's in the Vatican, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major,
and St. Paul Outside the Walls, giving pilgrims from around the world,
who have come to Rome for Holy Week, the possibility of receiving
individual absolution. A total of 500,000 pilgrims are expected this
week in the Eternal City.
The pilgrims' Jubilee evening prayer at 7:30 p.m. broke all records in
terms of attendance, perhaps because immediately afterwards, the "Sezze
Process" took place in St. Peter's Square. The Procession is one of the
oldest in Italy representing Christ's Passion. According to tradition,
it was first organized by St. Charles of Sezze in the 17th century.
Sezze is an Italian town located about one and a half hours by car from
Rome.
On Good Friday every year, the town's "Passion of Christ" association
brings together 700 actors and extras dressed in period costumes to
perform scenes of profound religious meaning. The procession recreates
43 Old and New Testament scenes, which are transformed into veritable
"religious theater" on the streets. The Sezze Procession was last seen
in Rome during the 1950 Jubilee. On that occasion it performed in the
Imperial Fora.
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