Zadok went over to Cardinal Levada’s new titular church for the "taking possession ceremony". As per usual, nice photos, interesting historical tidbits for context.

The first thing to note is that S.Maria in Domnica is a diaconal title – Cardinal Leveda is a Cardinal Deacon, the lowest of the three orders of Cardinal. Normally, Cardinal Deacons are Cardinals who serve the universal church in the Roman Curia. This is appropriate because the deacon traditionally had adminsitrative duties as part of his reponsability.

The Church used to be a diakonia – one of the Church’s centres of charitable distribution in early Christian Rome. This particular diakonia is assoiated with the martyr-deacon Laurence, one of the most honoured saints of the Roman calendar. Cardinal Levada made reference to this fact in his homily and refered to the example of Catholic chariable giving as being one of the ways in which the light of Christ overcomes the darkness of the world. The sanctuary of S.Maria in Domnica is decorated with frescos of St. Laurence’s charitable activities.

Sr. Bernadette, a Daughter of St. Paul in Rome for the year, was at the Mass yesterday, and another Mass today at the PNAC with Cardinal O’Malley.

The Roaming Roman has her weekly (cause it’s Lent) report up, with lots of photos from Staion Churches, plus a visit from Archbishop Dolan)

Michael Paulson with Cardinal O’Malley at his church – Santa Maria Della Vittoria (home of Bernini’s Teresa in Ecstasy)