This news was startling. From what I discovered later, the abbey’s twenty monks were a moral disgrace, and their “liturgy,” including dancing nuns, sacrilegious.
The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem contains the most sacred relics of the passion. These include pieces of the True Cross, one of the four nails that pierced Our Lord’s flesh, a thorn, or thorns, from the Crown of Thorns, the bone of the doubting Saint Thomas, index finger, and a large piece of the sign that was nailed to the Cross identifying Our Lord in three languages as King of the Jews. Some of the letters can still be read. Also a huge section of the cross beam from the cross of Dismas is there. It is one of the seven major basilicas of Rome.
Rorate Caeli reports: The Cistercian abbey linked to the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme), the Sessorian Basilica, one of the seven most relevant basilicas in Rome, has been suppressed by a decree of the Congregation for Religious (Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life), approved by the Holy Father, following the results of an Apostolic Visitation – which itself was a result of years of serious problems, including significant liturgical abuses. (Source: multiple reports – see G.Galeazzi; A.Tornielli.) The former abbot and other monks had already been removed two years ago (see M. Tosatti); the remaining Cistercians will be relocated to different abbeys. See here for links to report.
