Pope to lead Palm Sunday services

April 12,2014: Pope Francis will usher Christians into their holiest week with the open air palm Sunday mass in St. Peter’s square today. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem when people welcomed him with shouts of Hossanas, waiving palm and olive branches. Palm Sunday introduces Christians to the Holy Week, commemorating the greatest mysteries of their faith - the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.
As is the tradition every year, the palm fronds for the Pope’s Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square today have arrived in the Vatican from cities of San Remo and Bordighera on the Italian Riviera. The two cities have sent 3000 intricately braided palm fronds, known as ‘parmureli’, for the Pope and his concelebrants at the Palm Sunday Mass. A specially woven palm over 2 meter tall is reserved for the Pope.
The tradition behind the two cities supplying palms for Palm Sunday in the Vatican is over 5 centuries old. A certain Captain Benedetto Bresca from Sanremo (some say from Bordighera) was in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 10, 1586, to watch the ancient Egyptian obelisk being erected in the centre of the square. Pope Sixtus V had ordered absolute silence on the pain of death, during the extremely delicate manoeuvre to raise the 26 meter tall monolith weighing 350 tons. But seeing that the ropes used to haul the obelisk were about to snap due to overheating, Bresca instinctively shouted, “Water to the ropes”, thus defying the Pope’s order. However the sailor’s advice saved the obelisk as well as many people who would have died or be injured. Rather than punishing Bresca, Pope Sixtus thanked him and asked him to choose whatever he wished as a reward. Bresca requested that from that time onwards, he and his people would supply the palm fronds for Palm Sunday service in the Vatican.
During today’s service, the Pope will use the crosier made and donated by the inmates of the prison of San Remo, reported Fr. Lombardi, the Pope’s spokes person. He described it as very simple, made of olive wood, which ends at the top with the cross and also carries the coat of arms of the Pope.