English version

The Corpus Domini Parish was erected in 1975 by the Cardinal Poma. It is situated in the south east part of Bologna (Fossolo 2) and it has now completed its definitive church, designed by the architect Umberto Spagnoli.

Following two years of construction work, the church was first used for the cult on the Christmas Eve of 2009.

For more than 30 years the Parish had a temporary building serving as church, but finally Mons. Aldo Calanchi and the community managed to build a new church beautiful to look upon and easily recognizable as place of worship.

The study of the presbytery and the works of liturgical art have been entrusted to one of the greatest contemporary artists spiritual art: the Jesuit Father Marko Ivan Rupnik.

Since December 2009 the church has a chancel, with its altar, the seat and lectern, designed by p. Rupnik, assisted by the architect Paolo Marciani.

Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik SJ

Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik was born 28 November 1954 in Zadlog, Slovenia near Idrija. In 1973 he entered the Society of Jesus. He studied philosophy in Ljubljana and then, in 1977, enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome where he finished studies in 1981. Theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome followed. He was ordained a priest in 1985. Still at the Gregorian, he began a specialization in missiology. In 1991 he earned a doctorate from the Gregorian’s Faculty of Missiology with a dissertation on The Theological Missionary Meaning of Art in the Writings of Vjaces lavIvanovic Ivanov.

Since September of 1991 he has lived and worked in Rome at the Centro Aletti, of which he is the director. He teaches at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, the Pontifical Gregorian University, Saint Anselm Pontifical Liturgical Institute, and gives seminars and lectures at numerous other European academic institutions. Since 1999 he has been a consultant for the Pontifical Council for Culture.

His work as an artist and theologian has always been complimented with work that is more specifically pastoral, above all in leading numerous courses and retreats.

Centro Aletti

In 1991 the Centro Aletti was created with the aim of seeking a Christian spiritual physiognomy for culture in the newly reunited Europe, creating privileged opportunities to meet and Exchange experience on the Christianity in Eastern Europe. In December 1993, John Paul II inaugurated the Centro Aletti with these words: "It is already evident here how living together, knowing one another and undertaking research in common is a royalroad in the quest for a deeper communion between the Churches."

In 1995, encouraged by the Father General of the Order, the Atelier Centro Aletti opened, as a response to artists who were asking for a place to nurture the spiritual and liturgical art.

Centro Aletti is mainly open to scholars and artists with a Christian perspective from Central and Eastern Europe, with the aim of giving them an opportunity to meet with their Western colleagues. Meeting one another in charity fosters a creative attitude, which results from the study of the Tradition of the Church related to the questions raised by the present day world. The Center offers a space where Orthodox and Oriental or Latin rite Catholics can live together and work towards personal development in one's own Church, in the charity of the one Christ.

In over 20 years, the Center has had over 1000 visitors , especially from the countries of the East Christianity: researchers, professors and artists..

Fr. Rupnik and the Centro Aletti

Since he took his place at the Centro Aletti, P. Rupnik has not stopped making mosaic works. In his art he stresses the message of unity and communion. The mosaic is made by hundreds of different types of stones and materials from all over the world, which together account for one unit. So in the mosaic is evident that each tile of each colour is unique , that blue is blue and the red stays red , but together they form a figure and all figures form the mosaic, which is a single great work. This is the meaning of the universality of the Church: the communion of the many. The work of art to which it refers is the realization of the mosaics in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Vatican, the private chapel of His Holiness, second in size only to the Sistine Chapel, where many liturgical actions takes place, and where in Lent the spiritual exercises are preached to the Pope and the Vatican Curia. In 1999, during the dedication of the chapel, which Pope John Paul II wanted to accomplish as the gift for his 50th anniversary of priesthood, offered by the College of Cardinals, the Pope said : "This work is proposed as an expression of the two lungs theology from which the Church of the third millennium can draw new vitality. "

As for today, the holy places that display P. Rupnik’s works, performed by the artists of the Centro Aletti , are more than a hundred, and it is interesting to note that among these are little places of small resonance, as well as sites of global significance for the Christian faith. Among the latter is enough to recall the apse of the sanctuary of the new SS . Trinity of Fatima and the facade of the Basilica of the Rosary in Lourdes, completed in 2007. His most extended work is the decoration of the lower church and the respective access ramp of the shrine of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, opened with the blessing of Pope Benedict XVI (June 21, 2009). His works are present mainly in Europe but also in the United States and the Middle East, even if the country in which most works to date are done is Italy.

These are the names of the 22 artists who have worked in community work mosaic of Corpus Domini:

  1. P. MARKO RUPNIK
  2. SVETOZAR ZIVKOVIC
  3. SILVANO RADAELLI
  4. RENATA TRIFKOVIC
  5. MARIA STELLA SECCHIAROLI
  6. EVA OSTERMAN
  7. MANUELA VIEZZOLI
  8. BOSTJAN RAVNIKAR
  9. JOZE AVSEC
  10. SAMUELLE CHERON
  11. P. YEHVEN ANDRUKHIV
  12. ANDREA CERIONI
  13. P. JUAN CARLOS GARCIA
  14. ISABELLA DE CHIARA
  15. DON ZHIMING YAN
  16. P. GERALDO TRINDADE FURLANETO
  17. P. OSCAR RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ
  18. DON LUIGI RAZZANO
  19. P. RADU ROSU
  20. MARCO PIAZZOLLA
  21. ANDRIY SMEREKA
  22. JIRI STASTA

1. The Crucifixion

Christis representedon the cross, below Him there are His Mother, Mary, and St. John the Apostle. The crossis black and on itt here is a flame that symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Beneath the crossis Golgotha, which in Hebrew means the skull, and where, according to Jewish tradition, there is the tomb of Adam.

God’s Word:

John (19,5-7;16-18;25-30)

5So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said to them, "Behold, the man!" 6When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him." 7The Jews answered, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."

16Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, 17and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. 18There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.

25Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." 27Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. 28After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst." 29There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. 30When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished." And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

Description of the scene

The main representation of the whole mosaic is certainly the Crucifixion that dominates the central wall. Here the artist, p . Marko Rupnik , wanted to represent Jesus after his death with his eyes open. In fact, the side of Christ also shows the open wound on the priestly garments of which he is dressed with . Its position on the cross is not the one of a man suffering or dying , but it is that of one who, with arms wide open, welcomes those who enter the church, as if to embrace them. His gaze is gentle and the head, slightly tilted to one side, expresses great tenderness towards the person on whom his gaze rests. The cross is black, because black is the color of darkness, of sin and death. Christ is there where thereis death, sin and the night of the spirit. In Scripture God's revelation is always in the darkness: in the night descended the Word of God, in the night the people of Israel came out of Egypt, in the night the Son of God became a man, in the night he was betrayed, darkness came in the hour of His death and in the night he rose again. It is in the darkness of our suffering and our limits that Jesus can reveal himself to us. We can meet him, for our salvation, not in our perfection and our feats, but in the spiritual difficulties, suffering, when we feel abandoned and helpless. It is there that he, without us realizing it, sustains us and saves us.

The Cross is planted on Mount Golgotha, which in Hebrew means skull. According to rabbinical tradition it is the place where Adam, the first man, was buried. So it was always believed that the New Adam, Christ, has fallen into the underworld to rescue those who had died before him, back to Adam. On the basis of the processional cross, behind the chancel candles, Jesus is depicted in bas-relief, dragging Adam and Eve out of the grave grabbing their wrists . The skull beneath the Cross, behind the seat of the celebrant , symbolizes that through death Christ has entered the realm of darkness and has won over it.

Next to the cross, below it, there are Mary and St. John the Apostle , the disciple whom Jesus loved. Mary leans toward the wound in his side , Holding a purificator (cloth used to wipe the chalice at Mass). Mary is the depiction of the diaconate of the Church. St. John is the symbol of humanity to which the Church is entrusted for the salvation of us all.

Above the Cross is shown schematically the breath of the Holy Spirit , whose power sanctifies the gifts that are on the altar, that they may become the Body and Blood of Christ. As the gifts, we too, who feast on the bread and the wine, are transformed by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ.

2. The Paradise (Heaven)

This upper part of the mosaicis (the open in gof)a chalice that occupies the entire wall. Inside the chalice there is Heaven with the Angels and Saints. From left to right: the angel with crystal sphere in hand,which represents the universality of God, St. Clelia Barbieri, last Saint canonized in Bologna, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christin Glory, the Pantocrator, St. John Baptist, the most important of those born of woman; St. Pio of Pietrelcina and the angel with a scale in his hand that represents justice and God’s judgment.

God’s Word

Ephesians (1, 15-23)

15Therefore, I, too, hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of your love for all the holy ones, 16do not cease giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. 18May the eyes of (your) hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, 19and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might, 20which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, 21far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Revelation (5, 1-14)

1I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals. 2Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" 3But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it. 4I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it.

5One of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals."

6Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb 4 that seemed to have been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the (seven) spirits of God sent out into the whole world. 7He came and received the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. 8When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones. 9They sang a new hymn:

"Worthy are you to receive the scroll

and to break open its seals,

for you were slain

and with your blood you purchased for God those

from every tribe and tongue, people and nation.

10You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth."

11I looked again and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless 5 in number, 12and they cried out in a loud voice:

"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain

to receive power and riches,

wisdom and strength,

honor and glory and blessing."

13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out:

"To the one who sits on the throne and

to the Lamb

be blessing and honor, glory and might,forever and ever."

14The four living creatures answered, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Description of the scene

Looking up , from the skull and through the cross with the living Christ , we come to the eschatological vision of Paradise. It is represented in a cup that is drawn on the entire wall and that is the cup of the new and everlasting covenant , where the blood is poured for us and for all, for the remission of sins.

In Heaven Jesus is represented in the center in his Glory, the Pantocrator . At his side, his mother Mary and St. John the Baptist , the greatest of those born of woman. Behind Maria there is St. Clelia Barbieri and behind the Baptist there is St. Pio of Pietrelcina . Rounding out the picture at the ends there are two angels: Michael and Raphael. Between the early Saints, Mary and John, and the Saints closer to us, and Clelia and Pio, there are all those who have preceded us into the kingdom of heaven , and now sit at the heavenly banquet in communion with us. Communion that is expressed specifically in the Liturgy of the Church, which is the place where the liturgies of Heaven and the liturgiesof Earth join. Every day the liturgy enlightens those who are in the Church to make it a holy temple in the Lord ( SC1) . The Church of those who walk on the earth, recognizes this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ ( LG2 ). The archangels Raphael and Michael respresent respectively, the universalityof Salvation,with the ball, and the second, Justice and Judgment of God, full of love and mercy,with the balance.John writes in his gospel, "I am the bread of life" ( Jn 6:35 ) and this is the writing of the book that rests on Jesus’left leg. It is our destiny: Eternal Life .

3. Abramo and the sacrifice of Isaac

Abraham is represented herein the moment in which he is sacrificing his only son Isaac. Abraham is the symbol of God the Father who sacrificed his son Jesus on the cross. So Isaac is represented on an altar with the wood, that he has brought, and is depicted in a cross, and turns his gaze to his father.

God’s Word

Genesis (22, 1-13)

1Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!" "Ready!" he replied. 2Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you." 3Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him. 4On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar. 5Then he said to his servants: "Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you." 6Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. 7As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. "Father!" he said. "Yes, son," he replied. Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?"8Son," Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust." Then the two continued going forward.

9When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar. 10Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11But the LORD'S messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" "Yes, Lord," he answered. 12"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son." 13As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

Hebrews (11, 17-19)

17By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, 18of whom it was said, "Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name." 19He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.

Description of the scene

On the left side of the central wall is represented the sacrifice of Isaac, that Abraham makes to fulfil God's command, but when Abraham is about to pull the knife from its sheath and he is about to sacrifice his only son, God stops him. Isaac is shown tied to a cross to make the obvious parallel between him and Jesus. Isaac’s gaze, with his head thrown back, is fixed to his father Abraham, while the latter is gazing the Son of God, who is enthroned on the altar of the sky. The relationship between Abraham and Isaac is an anticipation of the relationship between God the Father and Jesus on the cross.

4. The supply of Melchizedek

Melchizedek is the high priest who offers the most high God bread and wine in honor of Abraham.

God’s Word

Genesis (14, 17-20)

17When Abram returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and the kings who were allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). 18Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words:

19Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth; 20and blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand."

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Psalm 110 (3-4)

3Yours is princely power from the day of your birth.

In holy splendor before the daystar,

like the dew I begot you."

4The Lord has sworn and will not waver:

"Like Melchizedek you are a priest forever."

Hebrews (6,18c-7,3)

18cwe who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us. 19This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil,20where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

1This "Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High," "met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings" and "blessed him." 2And Abraham apportioned to him "a tenth of everything." His name first means righteous king, and he was also "king of Salem," that is, king of peace. 3Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

Description of the scene

On the opposite sideis depictedMelchizedek, thehigh priest, who is not of the tribe ofLeviasallthe other priestsof the Jewish people, but it is a priest inavery particularorder. He, too, offering breadandwineto Abraham, is a symbol of Christ's priesthood, whichhas beendesignated by God ahigh priestaccording the order ofMelchizedek (Heb.5:10).To highlight theunique andparticular priest,Jesus on the Crossis represented withpriestlyliturgical garments. They are the sameclothesas those, that the priestwears whencelebratingmass.

For the priesthood, see also:

From the Book of Exodus (28)

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__P29.HTM

5. The disciples of Emmaus

This scenere presents the breaking of the bread to the disciples who met the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

God’s Word

Luke (24, 25-35)

[To the two disciples sad and disappointed by the death of Jesus on the cross, who cannot recognize him while he walked with them to Emmaus, Jesus]25 said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer 8 these things and enter into his glory?" 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. 28As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. 29But they urged him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. 30And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. 31With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.32Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?" 33So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them 34who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" 35Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Description of the scene

The artist p . Marko Ivan Rupnik , together with the artists of the Centro Aletti , wanted to represent this scene in the moment described in Luke 24:30 : " While he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them." In particular, while Jesus is represented while giving the bread to the disciples , "gave it to them ." The Gospel does not tell us where Jesus took bread, but only that it " took bread " . However , the artist has depicted the disciples in the gesture of offering both the bread and the wine. This wants to be an explicit reference to the Eucharistic celebration which sees the offered bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. The gospel goes: "31With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him" It is interesting to notice the disciples’ looks in the mosaic: indeed, we can observe that the disciple on the left recognizes Jesus looking at his face. The other disciple recognized Jesus too, but his gaze is directed to the broken bread, as if he recognized Jesus in the bread . John writes in his gospel: "I am the bread of life" ( Jn 6:35 ) . The broken bread that Jesus gives to his disciples passes through the tabernacle , as if he wanted to put it in it.

Jesus does not look toward the two disciples . He looks toward the mosaic’sobserver, as if he is speaking to each of us to say, "Take this bread of life, you too, and you too will recognize me as risen." So it is Jesus himself who draws near to each of us and walk with us (cf. Lk 24:15 b ), because even today we can recognize him in the consecrated bread that is broken and distributed in mass. We can recognize him in the Eucharist preserved,for those who are sick, in the tabernacle, where we can meet, pray and worship, visiting the churches open. We can also recognize him in the face of the Church, the Saints, the brothers who are close to our side, and especially the poors. Here we can really recognize the face of Christ, we can find traces of his features .

Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter "Mane Nobiscum Domine" at number 24 wrote:

" The two disciples of Emmaus, upon recognizing the Lord ," set out immediately "( LC24 , 33) , to report what they had seen and heard. When you have truly met the Risen One by partaking of his body and his blood , you can not keep to yourself the joy we have experienced . The encounter with Christ, constantly intensified and deepened in the Eucharist, issues in the Church and in every Christian an urgent summons to testimony and evangelization . "

The decorative part

A decorative part, full of different types of stones and enamels,dominates the scene at Emmaus.This part is divided into horizontal lines and vertical lines. The first ones are the Created and the latter the Uncreated. The horizontal lines recall the stratification of the earth and then the passage of time and history, from the top where there is only one gold band that symbolizes the deity. The vertical lines recall what has not been created: the pre-existence of the Word, that is, the Son of God who has always participated in the creation of the world. So we read in the Gospel according to John (1, 1-5) :

"1 In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God

2He was in the beginning with God;

3 All the things came to be through him

and without him nothing came to be. What it came to be .

4through him was life;

and this life was the light of the human race;

5The light shines in the darkness

and the darkness has not overcome it . "

The shadows are represented by the vertical black line at the bottom that is won by the light emanating from the Risen One. All vertical lines are interrupted by a horizontal line that splits in two the decorative part . It was conceived by the artist as the fullness of time , when God became man . We read in the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians (4, 4-5) :

" 4But When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son , born of woman , born under the law , 5to ransom those under the Law, so that we might receive adoption. "

All vertical lines are mixed up from the horizontal line representing the embodiment, only one is continuos: it is the white line that represents the Holy Spirit . This line reaches the decorated part behind Jesus and indicates that his being in glory, symbolically represented by the colors white, gold and red, signs of the Trinity.

6. The shipwreck of St.Paul

The scene represents the Shipwreck of St. Paul during his trip to Rome in chains, through a 14 days long storm,during which he receives a message from an angel who tells him not to worry and that God wanted to keepsafe all his companions of navigation. Paul there fore urges his fellow travellers to take food. He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and ate it. All of the meat and no one lost his life. So it was and all the 276 non christians present on the boat were saved.

God’s Word

Acts c. 27

1When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion named Julius of the Cohort Augusta. 2We went on board a ship from Adramyttium bound for ports in the province of Asia and set sail. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. 3On the following day we put in at Sidon where Julius was kind enough to allow Paul to visit his friends who took care of him. 4From there we put out to sea and sailed around the sheltered side of Cyprus because of the headwinds, 5and crossing the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia we came to Myra in Lycia. 6There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship that was sailing to Italy and put us on board. 7For many days we made little headway, arriving at Cnidus only with difficulty, and because the wind would not permit us to continue our course we sailed for the sheltered side of Crete off Salmone. 8We sailed past it with difficulty and reached a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. 9Much time had now passed and sailing had become hazardous because the time of the fast 3 had already gone by, so Paul warned them, 10"Men, I can see that this voyage will result in severe damage and heavy loss not only to the cargo and the ship, but also to our lives." 11The centurion, however, paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. 12Since the harbor was unfavorably situated for spending the winter, the majority planned to put out to sea from there in the hope of reaching Phoenix, a port in Crete facing west-northwest, there to spend the winter. 13A south wind blew gently, and thinking they had attained their objective, they weighed anchor and sailed along close to the coast of Crete. 14Before long an offshore wind of hurricane force called a "Northeaster" struck. 15Since the ship was caught up in it and could not head into the wind we gave way and let ourselves be driven. 16We passed along the sheltered side of an island named Cauda and managed only with difficulty to get the dinghy under control. 17They hoisted it aboard, then used cables to undergird the ship. Because of their fear that they would run aground on the shoal of Syrtis, they lowered the drift anchor and were carried along in this way. 18We were being pounded by the storm so violently that the next day they jettisoned some cargo, 19and on the third day with their own hands they threw even the ship's tackle overboard. 20Neither the sun nor the stars were visible for many days, and no small storm raged. Finally, all hope of our surviving was taken away. 21When many would no longer eat, Paul stood among them and said, "Men, you should have taken my advice and not have set sail from Crete and you would have avoided this disastrous loss. 22I urge you now to keep up your courage; not one of you will be lost, only the ship. 23For last night an angel of the God to whom (I) belong and whom I serve stood by me 24and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You are destined to stand before Caesar; and behold, for your sake, God has granted safety to all who are sailing with you.' 25Therefore, keep up your courage, men; I trust in God that it will turn out as I have been told. 26We are destined to run aground on some island." 27On the fourteenth night, as we were still being driven about on the Adriatic Sea, toward midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were nearing land.

28They took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on, they again took soundings and found fifteen fathoms. 29Fearing that we would run aground on a rocky coast, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30The sailors then tried to abandon ship; they lowered the dinghy to the sea on the pretext of going to lay out anchors from the bow. 31But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved." 32So the soldiers cut the ropes of the dinghy and set it adrift. 33Until the day began to dawn, Paul kept urging all to take some food. He said, "Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting, going hungry and eating nothing. 34I urge you, therefore, to take some food; it will help you survive. Not a hair of the head of anyone of you will be lost." 35When he said this, he took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. 36They were all encouraged, and took some food themselves. 37In all, there were two hundred seventy-six of us on the ship. 38After they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea. 39When day came they did not recognize the land, but made out a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore on it, if they could. 40So they cast off the anchors and abandoned them to the sea, and at the same time they unfastened the lines of the rudders, and hoisting the foresail into the wind, they made for the beach. 41But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow was wedged in and could not be moved, but the stern began to break up under the pounding (of the waves). 42The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so that none might swim away and escape, 43but the centurion wanted to save Paul and so kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to the shore, 44and then the rest, some on planks, others on debris from the ship. In this way, all reached shore safely.

Description of the scene

The scene of the right wall is a rare episode in the iconography which is not present in the Eucharistic liturgy . This is the journey of St. Paul to Rome, when the boat he is traveling on , after 14 days of storm, shipwrecked on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. During the journey he receives a message from an angel who tells him not to worry and that he will go to Rome to be judged by the emperor. The angel reassures him that God wants to keep safe all of his navigation companions. Paul therefore urges his fellow travelers not to be afraid and convinces them to take food. In this passage from the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 27 ), the author, Luke the Evangelist , writes that Paul took bread, gave thanks, broke it and ate it. Then they all ate, and no one lost his life: all 276 non christians present on the boat were saved. The author of the mosaic here wanted to express how the celebrated Eucharist can belived Eucharist, thinking of the Church, represented here by St. Paul, as the instrument used by God for the salvation of the world, becoming itself Body of Christ for the salvation of mankind.

7. Tabernacle

The tabernacle is enclosed within an octagonal column , a tower on top of which the Eucharist is a lantern. The lantern is a symbol of the light that leads us in darkness and enables us to walk without stumbling . The light makes safe the way, overcomes the darkness .The tabernacle is entirely covered in mosaic, on the doors there are two images in continuity between themselves: the Archangel Gabriel who, unrolling the scroll of the Word, announce to Mary the birth of the Savior (cf. Lk 1:26-38 ). These two images are painted on terracotta and represent the angel who unrolls a parchment that is the Word of God, the Word , which is embodied in Mary . In fact, she is represented, as in the Eastern tradition , holding a ball of red wool as a sign that she’s beggining to weave in her womb the flesh of Christ .

John Paul II wrote about tis topic in the Encyclical "Ecclesia de Eucharistia" , number 55:

“55. In a certain sense Mary lived her Eucharistic faith even before the institution of the Eucharist, by the very fact that she offered her virginal womb for the Incarnation of God's Word. The Eucharist, while commemorating the passion and resurrection, is also in continuity with the incarnation. At the Annunciation Mary conceived the Son of God in the physical reality of his body and blood, thus anticipating within herself what to some degree happens sacramentally in every believer who receives, under the signs of bread and wine, the Lord's body and blood.

As a result, there is a profound analogy between the Fiat which Mary said in reply to the angel, and the Amen which every believer says when receiving the body of the Lord. Mary was asked to believe that the One whom she conceived “through the Holy Spirit” was “the Son of God” (Lk 1:30-35). In continuity with the Virgin's faith, in the Eucharistic mystery we are asked to believe that the same Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary, becomes present in his full humanity and divinity under the signs of bread and wine.

“Blessed is she who believed” (Lk 1:45). Mary also anticipated, in the mystery of the incarnation, the Church's Eucharistic faith. When, at the Visitation, she bore in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a “tabernacle” – the first “tabernacle” in history – in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, allowed himself to be adored by Elizabeth, radiating his light as it were through the eyes and the voice of Mary. And is not the enraptured gaze of Mary as she contemplated the face of the newborn Christ and cradled him in her arms that unparalleled model of love which should inspire us every time we receive Eucharistic communion?”

Inside the doors of the tabernacle there is a lot of crosses, in greek " Polistaurón " which means " many crosses ." In the tabernacle there is a compartment for housing the Eucharist dominated by another compartment where to expose the Blessed Sacrament for adoration.

8. Altar

The altar bares, on the side facing the people, the representation of the bidding angel of the first Eucharistic Prayer:

Look with favor on these offerings and accept them as once you accepted the gifts of your servant Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the bread and wine offered by your priest Melchizedek.

Almighty God, we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in heaven. Then, as we receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing.

Description of the scene

The altar, square shaped, has a mosaic on each side. Three symbolically represent the Holy Trinity with three crosses, the fourth mosaic represents the bidding Angel of the Eucharistic prayer.On the linen hold by the Angel should be placed the offering on the altar that becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. But that linen is also the place where all the observants who attended Mass puts their joys and their sufferings forgiving their life to the Father, which will make them holy.