FREEDOM!

That’s the Pont Sant’Angelo (Holy Angel Bridge) spanning the river Tiber and connecting to the city center of Rome. This, in olden days, used to be the main bridge for pilgrims to get to St. Peter’s Basilica; so, way back when, it was also called Pons Sancti Petri (Bridge of St. Peter). In the seventh century, Pope Gregory the Great renamed it Sant’Angelo, because of Archangel Michael who apparently landed on the roof of a nearby castle and sheathed his bloody sword, announcing the end of the plague that had decimated the city in 509 A.D.

For many centuries, this portal for pilgrims was a place to display the dead bodies of those executed—criminals and other unsavory elements. Pole Clement VII didn’t care for these gruesome spectacles and so, in 1535, erected statues of Peter, Paul, the Evangelists, Adam, Noah, etc., to line the bridge. A century later, the crumbling figures were replaced with a project that has stood the barrage of time and elements ever since. Pope Clement IX, in 1669, commissioned a new balustrade and ten figures of angels bearing the instruments of the suffering of Christ. (A magnificent brainwave of a project, if you ask me!)

So you have an angel with a column (representing Jesus’ being tied to it to be whipped), an angel with a whip, one with Veronica’s veil, an angel with a garment and a dice, an angel with a nail, one with the cross, another with the superscription (“Jesus Nazarene, King of the Jews” or I.N.R.I), an angel with a sponge (of vinegar), and one with a lance. Absolutely fascinating—we had fun trying to figure out what each one stood for. All have their backs to the river and so face the throngs of pilgrims making their way to St. Peter’s. (Of the earlier statuary, Peter and Paul still remain, at the south end of the bridge.)

So you basically have angels lining a symbolic Way of the Cross, reminding pilgrims of the Passion of Jesus Christ, as they head towards their destination.

That Passion, folks, is worth remembering!

Even today, believers continue to remember the death of Jesus Christ with concrete and tangible elements—the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.

… the Lord Jesus in the night
in which He was betrayed took bread;
and when He had given thanks,
He broke it and said,
“This is My body, which is for you;
do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way He took the cup also
after supper, saying, “This cup is
the new covenant in My blood;
do this, as often as you drink it,
in remembrance of Me.”
1 Corinthians 11:23–25

Jesus’ Passion (indeed, His life, death, and resurrection) set us free. He freed us from the slavery of sin and the power of death, paying for our sins once and for all.

Therefore, since the children
share in flesh and blood,
He Himself likewise
also partook of the same,
that through death
He might render powerless him
who had the power of death,
that is, the devil, and might free those
who through fear of death
were subject to slavery all their lives.
Hebrews 2:14–15

Freed with a price, a terrible price!

… you were not redeemed with
perishable things like silver or gold …,
but with precious blood, as of
a lamb unblemished and spotless,
the blood of Christ.
1 Peter 1:18–19

For believers, this sacrifice, that won us eternal life, is worthy of remembrance, now and always.

We’ve been freed, never to forget!