Scala Santa
Scala Santa
(Italian: Holy Stairs)
Twenty-eight white marble steps at Rome, near the Lateran. According to tradition, it is the staircase that formerly led to teh praetorium of Pilate at jerusalem, and hence was sanctified by the footsteps of Our Lord during His Passion. They are supposed to have been brought from Jerusalem to Rome by Saint Helena, c.326. In the Middle Ages they were known as Scala Pilati, the Stairs of Pilate. When the old papal palace was destroyed in 1589, and the new one built, the Holy Stairs were transferred to their present site before the Sancta Sanctorum. Here they are flanked by four other stairs, two on each side, for comon use, since the Holy Stairs may only be ascended on the knees, a devotio popular among pilgrims and the Roman faithful. Pope Pius X granted a plenary indulgence to be gained as often as the stairs are devoutly ascended, after confessoin and communion. Imitations of the Scala Santa have been built elsewhere and indulgences are attached to them.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Scala Santa
(Ital. for holy stair), a celebrated staircase, consisting of twenty-eight white marble steps, in a little chapel of the Church of St. John Lateran at Rome. Romanists assert that this is the staircase which Christ several times ascended and descended when he appeared before Pilate, and that it was carried by angels from Jerusalem to Rome. Multitudes of pilgrims creep up the steps of the Scala Santa on their knees with roses in their hands, kissing each step as they ascend. On reaching the top, they repeat a prayer. The performance of this ceremony is regarded as being particularly meritorious, entitling the devout pilgrim to plenary indulgence. It was while thus ascending these holy stairs that Luther thought he heard the words The just shall live by faith, and, mortified at the degradation to which his superstition had brought him, fled from the spot.
Certain churches in England had similar staircases, which enjoyed the privilege of affording composition for a visit to Rome at Westminster Abbey, in 1504; St. Mary’s Chapel, at Boston; St. Mary’s Chapel in the Austin Canons’ Church, Norwich; and at Windsor, with a college of ten priests, until 1504.