1450TH ANNIVERSARY OF ITALIAN BASILICA OF ST. APOLLINARIS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 26, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was a Message from the Pope to Archbishop Luigi Amaducci of Ravenna-Cervia, Italy, on the occasion of the 1450th anniversary of the dedication of the basilica of St. Apollinaris in Classe, which was consecrated in 549.

In the Message, dated July 23, the Holy Father recalls that the basilica houses "the body of the first bishop, St. Apollinaris, who evangelized Ravenna in the second half of the second century, thus becoming patron of the city, the diocese and the entire region."

"Your Church," writes John Paul II, "as it gives thanks to God for the good it has spread throughout the centuries, feels stimulated to a renewed awareness of the ever urgent duty to bring the proclamation of Christ to all those who have not yet received it. I hope that, through the intercession of the first bishop and the saints and fellow citizens who were the apostles of the Slavs, many priestly vocations will come from this Church, so that the Word of the Lord will also bring joy and salvation to the men and women of today."

The Holy Father affirmed that "for more than 14 centuries the basilica of St. Apollinaris has transmitted, though its splendid mosaics, the eternal truth of the Gospel, which has its radiant fulcrum in the crucified and risen Christ. How can we not hope that this saving truth can be reflected with renewed vigor in the Church of the 'living stones' which is in Ravenna, so that the new generations can find in Christ that peace which is the gift of God and an expression of His eternal love?"

MESS;BASILICA ST APOLLINARIS;...;RAVENNA; AMADUCCI;VIS;19990726;Word: 290;