CNS PHOTO/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ, LONG ISLAND CATHOLIC

The Basilica of St. John Lateran is one of nine sites in Rome designated for pilgrimage during the Pauline year.

The Year of St. Paul begins June 28

International and local activities will celebrate the saint’s life and work

VATICAN CITY — Nine Rome pilgrimage sites linked to the life of St. Paul are being readied for visitors during the jubilee year dedicated to the apostle, church officials announced.

Pope Benedict XVI will inaugurate the Pauline year June 28 at an evening prayer service in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. He will light a votive lamp that will burn continually during the jubilee, which ends June 29, 2009.

Vatican officials are hoping pilgrims and religious tourists will give special attention to St. Paul, and the nine sites being promoted all have connections to the saint’s life in Rome.

In addition to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, where St. Paul’s tomb lies under the main altar, the sites include St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

CNS PHOTO/CROSIERS

A window at St. Peter’s Church in Soest, Germany, depicts the conversion of St. Paul. The Pauline Year will run from June 29, 2008, to June 29, 2009.

Two small churches are also featured on the pilgrim’s route: San Paolo alla Regola (St. Paul’s at Regola) and Santa Maria in Via Lata (Our Lady at Via Lata), traditionally considered the first and second houses where St. Paul lived and taught in Rome.

The church of Santa Prisca on the Aventine Hill is included. It was believed to be the residence of St. Prisca, a first-century martyr known by St. Paul.

Also on the route are the basilica and catacombs dedicated to St. Sebastian. The relics of St. Paul were thought to have been preserved in these catacombs before being moved to their permanent burial site.

A final stop is the Mamertine Prison near the Roman Forum, where St. Paul was believed to have been incarcerated.

In our own Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the Worship Office will be providing materials over the course of the next year to assist parishes in the celebration of the Year of St. Paul. The first of these materials is a liturgy planning resource for the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on Sunday, June 29. The resource will assist parishes in marking the beginning of the Year of St. Paul and is now posted on the Worship Office web site, www.catholiccincinnati.org/ worship.

It includes a call to worship/introduction, penitential rite, intercessions and a homily. Parishes may use these materials as inspiration for their own reflections or use them as is.

Karen Kane, director of the Worship Office, said that she hopes to work with other diocesan offices to provide programming and other resource materials that parishes will find helpful in the celebration and honoring of St. Paul over the course of the next several months. A schedule of these programs and resources will be posted on the Worship Office web site in the coming weeks.

And Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk offers readers just a few of the reasons why we should all celebrate St. Paul in this week’s "Grateful Believers" column on Page 9.