Epiphany mass at St. Peter's - photo courtesy of Joanna Penn via Flickr
If you’re going to be in Rome during January, there are two dates to put in your calendar. The first is January 6th, Epiphany. This marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas and the end of the holiday season in Italy. In Rome it’s an important religious day and the Pope leads a morning mass in St Peter’s Basilica.
Hundreds of people dressed in medieval costume make their way up the wide avenue Via della Conciliazione in procession from the river to St Peter’s Square. This street that gives such a wide approaching vista to the Vatican is actually fairly new, only opened in 1950 and was one of Mussolini’s ‘improvements’ to Rome initiated in the 1930s.
The pilgrims making their way to St Peter’s for Epiphany bring symbolic gifts for the Pope just as the Wise Men took gold, myrrh and frankincense to the baby Jesus. The related significance of this day in Italy is La Befane, a witch figure who directed the Three Wise Men to Jesus and is said to now bring sweets and toys to children who have been good during the year, and coal to those who have been bad.
January 17th is also a significant day in Italy’s religious life: St Anthony’s Day, celebrating the patron saint of domestic animals (and butchers!). This feast day is celebrated with a mass and blessing of the beasts in the Church of Sant’Angelo Abate on Esquiline Hill. The animals to be blessed gather in nearby Piazza Sant’Eusebio making it a wonderful spectacle.
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