When the custom of the stational liturgies was revived in the city of Rome in the early days of the twentieth century, the papal liturgy for Good Friday was appropriately housed in the stational church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, the Holy Cross of Jerusalem.
The church is off the tourist track today, but true pilgrims would never miss it. It stands on the grounds of the Sessorian Palace, the home of the Empress St. Helena, mother of Constantine. She dedicated her life to finding the true cross of Christ in Jerusalem, and desired to found a church in Rome for people who could not make the long and dangerous trip to the Holy Land. Eventually, it came to house relics of the cross. When the pope fled the city of Rome for Avignon, the religious institutions of Rome collapsed and the church was abandoned. Centuries later it was given into the care of monks. Amazingly, it concealed a forgotten treasure. In 1492 repairmen took down a brick wall and discovered a niche with the inscription “Title of the Cross,” and within, an ancient wooden tablet on which was carved the inscription dictated by Pilate for the cross of Christ in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. No one is certain that this is authentic, although its discovery was enough to give the church great prestige among pilgrims. The veneration of the relic of the cross located here was a factor in shaping our restored Holy Week. —Rev. James Field, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co
La primera santa americana fue Rosa de Lima, peruana de nacimiento. Murió en 1617 y fue canonizada en 1671, diez años después de la primera fundación inglesa en lo que hoy son Estados Unidos de América. Esta santa americana es acompañada por otros santos como san Felipe de Jesús (mexicano) canonizado en 1862 y Madre Francisca Cabrini (italoestadounidense y la primera santa de EE. UU.) canonizada en 1946.
Oficialmente hay 60 santos y 77 beatos que nacieron o trabajaron en América. La mayoría de estos son 50 mexicanos, 33 brasileños, 12 canadienses, nueve estadounidenses, ocho colombianos, siete peruanos, tres argentinos y tres chilenos. Guatemala, Cuba, República Dominicana, Uruguay y Venezuela tienen un santo(a) cada uno. Estados Unidos y Canadá comparten siete mártires. La mayoría de los santos o santas del continente americano fueron beatificados o canonizados durante los últimos 100 años. Sólo ocho de ellos fueron canonizados durante los últimos ocho años. No todos estos santos nacieron en América, pero sí dedicaron su vida a evangelizarla. Estos 137 santos de la Iglesia universal son un testimonio de la obra del Espíritu Santo en el continente americano. —Fray Gilberto Cavazos-Glz, OFM, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.