Saturday Sojourn: St. George & Scouting

The Basilica of Saint George in Velabro

As many of you know, I am a proud Eagle Scout. Scouting has been a big part of my life and the life of my family -- my sister was a Girl Scout and my mother a leader, and my brother is also an Eagle Scout and my father also a leader. I learned a lot in Scouting, both skills-oriented activities (wilderness survival, first aid) but also life lessons -- moral values, leadership, community service, active citizenship, etc. Looking back, these ideals played a big role in my vocational discernment.

This is apparently not an uncommon thing. More than 10% of NAC seminarians are Eagle Scouts (more than 20% of my class alone), and even more were Boy Scouts at one time or another. The Scouting movement, which began in England under Lord Robert Baden-Powell, recently celebrated its 100th year, and in 2010 the Boy Scouts of America will celebrate its 100th anniversary as well. In commemoration of this, I had the opportunity this morning, with 10 other fellow Eagle Scouts (including one of the vice rectors of the college, a priest of Tulsa), to visit the patronal church of Scouting, the Basilica of San George in Velabro. The church is located in Velabrum, a low-lying part of Rome near the Tiber which was in fact the agricultural center of ancient Rome. Traders from around the Mediterranean brought their food stuffs here both to supply the city itself and for shipment to other parts of Italy. Prior to its role as an economic center of the city, it was a large swampland, and legend has it that the infants Romulus and Remus washed ashore here, their basket catching in the roots of a fig tree and eventually making its way to the base of the Palatine Hill (located above Velabrum) where they were reared by a she-wolf.

The 13th century apse fresco by Peter Cavallini of (from L to R) St. George, the Virgin Mary, Christ, St. Peter, and St. Sebastian

In the late 5th century, as you may know, imperial Rome collapsed, basically imploding due to its own excesses, continuous barbarian invasions, and a bankruptcy that resulted from vain attempts to fix (or cover up) the former and ward off the latter. While much of the outlying lands of the empire fell under the permanent rule of barbarian tribes (e.g. the Franks, the Lombards, the Burgundians), Rome itself was constantly in upheaval, variously under the control of the Byzantines to the east or of Germanic tribes from the north. This created huge humanitarian problems for the citizens of Rome since there was virtually no civil government; even worse, the the city of Rome actually had a quite effective social services program for its poorest citizens, so after the empire's fall, these individuals were completely destitute. In response to this, Pope Gregory the Great founded nineteen diaconia, or centers of social services and food distribution for the poor of the city. The Basilica of Saint George in Velabro was one of the original diaconia.

The basilica church was originally built on the site of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, a captain of the Praetorian Guard who was likely killed by his own men on the orders of Diocletian. Later, during the iconoclast controversy in the 8th century, Rome became the primary haven for refugee artists and icon writers, and the area of Velabrum especially became a center of Greek culture and art. Many of the churches in this area especially were adorned with beautiful mosaics and proto-cosmatesque marble inlay. In the mid-8th century, as a tribute to their artistic work (a contribution to the life of the Church at the time) Pope Zachary, himself of Greek descent, moved the relics of Saint George of Lydda to the church of Saint Sebastian and renamed it in honor of the Eastern saint.

St. Gregory the Dragonslayer, 15th century icon from the Novgorod School

Originally from the area of Lydda in Palestine, George, like Sebastian, was a high-ranking member of the Praetorian Guard under Diocletian, serving in Nicomedia in western Turkey, the main imperial city of the time, and thus one of Diocletian's personal guard. When Diocletian ordered the arrests of all Christians in the Praetorian Guard (likely after the death of Sebastian) George denounced him publicly and called for him to renounce his edict. Diocletian did not wish to lose such an excellent and estimable member of his guard, but George refused all bribes of titles, land, and money and would not renounce his faith in Christ. Having given his considerable personal wealth to the poor of the area, George was tortured and then beheaded outside the walls of Nicomedia. He became a very popular saint in Eastern Christianity. Later, during the time of the Crusades, his reputation spread westward as well, and he became a popular patron, especially for the English. He is perhaps best known today for slaying a menacing dragon, a mythical tale with medieval rather than ancient origins.

The basilica was the titular church for Cardinal Odo Colonna, who later became Pope Martin V. His election marked the end of the Great Western Schism, a dark damaging time of the Church's history when three men claimed to be the rightful pope. Centered around the issue of the whether the pope should return to live in Rome or continue to reside in Avignon, France, Martin moved his residence back to Rome despite the fact that the city was at this time literally a dump, populated by only a few thousand people (after a height of 2 million in imperial times) with much of the city center being used as pasture for sheep. Martin embarked on an ambitious campaign of attracting and funding artists and architects to restore Rome to its former stateliness. His efforts did much to legitimize and to further the nascent Renassiance, which had started in Florence but spread throughout Italy (thanks, in large part, to Martin) and then throughout all of Europe.

Nearly 500 years later, the basilica served as the titular church of Cardinal John Newman, perhaps the most famous convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism, and an important theologian (at different times) of both and later an important father of modern Catholic apologetics. In 1993, after Pope John Paul II had issued some strong condemnations of the mafia, a car bomb outside the facade blew off the entire front portico of the church and damaged some of the structural walls. Fortunately, the bomb fragments were catalogued meticulously and the church has been largely returned to its ancient appearance.

From the early 16th century, a more typical picture of St. George Fighting the Dragon by Raphael

A lot of history for one church, huh? Certainly it has some very important ties to the history of Rome and to the history of the Church, and even a simple visit can give one a new appreciation for the interconnectedness of history and of the importance of one person's action in it. As our vice rector remarked in his homily this morning, these values are in essence the values of Scouting as well, and thus it's fitting that St. George in Velabro is the patronal church of Scouting. Whether it's standing up for one's beliefs, like St. George, St. Sebastian or Cardinal Newman, or helping those around you, like Gregory the Great or Martin V, our world needs more leaders whose hearts and minds are oriented to the betterment of humanity. Scouting, in my mind, can play an important part in helping form the character of our youth so that they can become those leaders. I remain very grateful for all that it taught me.

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There seems to be one thing on the mind of everyone around here lately (aside from the NFL conference championships, that is -- lots of Philly and Pitt guys at the NAC). Exams. They are swiftly approaching, and so while I still haven't forgotten about detailing to you some of my Christmas travels, posts here will have to take a backseat over the next few weeks to my studies and exam preparations. Say a prayer, if you think of it, that I do well!