I attended Sunday Mass at the Brick Makers’ Church (Santa Maria Della Gracie alle Fornaci) this morning. It was a children’s Mass complete with guitar accompaniment (my least favorite form of musical sacra because it is almost never done well). But it was nice to see all the children fully engaged in the liturgy.

Santa Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci is an 18th century Baroque parish and titular church at Piazza di Santa Maria alle Fornaci 30, just south of Vatican City and north of the San Pietro train station in the Aurelio quarter.

The dedication is to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Graces.

The church was originally founded in the 14th century, and served a small suburb which became important as a site for preparing materials for the building of the new St Peter’s. The name Fornaci refers to kilns used for making bricks for the work.

At the end of the 17th century it was rebuilt by Francesco Multò for the Discalced Trinitarians (a Spanish reform of the Trinitarian order), whose monastery was adjacent, and in 1720 Filippo Raguzzini added the façade.

In 1850 it took over parochial responsibilities for the area from Sant’Angelo alle Fornaci, which had just been destroyed in the suppression of the Roman Republic. In the process, it suffered a thorough restoration by Andrea Busiri Vici.

A campanile in Baroque style was added in the 1950’s.

Afterward I went to St Peter’s Square for the Angelus said by Pope Francis from the window of the Apostolic Palace high above the piazza. The sun is out today so the crowd was larger than might be expected on a cold day in February—stretching halfway to the Tiber River. A native group (I guessed from South America) was dancing in the street directly in front of the Hotel Columbus.

 The Holy Father was greeted with much enthusiasm and he responded warmly. Since I was not able to understand the pope’s remarks (my familiarity with the Italian language is limited to ordering items from a menu), I looked them up on the pope app. Here is a selection from the CNA report:

(CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis announced that Friday the first full week of Lent would be a day of prayer and fasting for peace given the many ongoing conflicts throughout the world, particularly those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

 “Facing the tragic continuation of conflicts in different parts of the world, I invite all the faithful to a special day of prayer and fasting for peace Feb. 23, the Friday of the first week of Lent,” the Pope said Feb. 4.

 He asked that the day be offered specifically for the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan and invited both non-Catholics and non-Christians to join “in the ways they deem most appropriate.”

 “Our heavenly Father always listens to his children who cry out to him in pain and anguish,” he said, and made a “heartfelt appeal” for each one of us to “hear this cry and, each one according to their own conscience, before God, ask ourselves: 'What can I do to make peace?'”

 While prayer is always an effective resolution, more can be done, Francis said, explaining that each person “can concretely say no to violence to the extent that it depends on him or herself. Because victories obtained with violence are false victories, while working for peace does good for all!”

 The Pope's appeal, which he made during his Sunday Angelus address, comes just two months after a Nov. 23 prayer vigil for peace in the two countries.