Official Visit to the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome

ROME 16 May 2019 (ORCNS) - HIRH Don Rutherford Cardinal Johnson, Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch made his first official visit to the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome to take symbolic possession of it as Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria Antiqua. The visit was delayed due to years of restoration work on the church. The Diaconal Church of Santa Maria Antiqua dates to the 5th century A.D. and is located in the Roman Forum at the foot of the Palatine Hill. It is the oldest Christian monument in the Forum and contains the earliest known Roman depiction of the Blessed Virgin as Queen.

In the early 8th century, it was used by Pope John VII as the seat of the Bishop of Rome. In 847, however, the church was partially destroyed by an earthquake. A new church, Santa Maria Nova, was built on part of the ruins of the temple of Venus and Roma. During the Norman Sack of Rome in 1084, Santa Maria Antiqua suffered further destruction. In 1617, the church of Santa Maria Liberatrice was built on its ruins. It was not until that church was demolished in 1900 that the ruins of Santa Maria Antiqua were again brought to light.

For more information, please visit: http://www.anglicanritecatholicchurch.org/ps/sma.html

Cardinal Count Don Rutherford in Santa Maria Antiqua

One of the walls inside Santa Maria Antiqua

Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch makes official visit to Holy House of Mary, Site of Assumption

EPHESUS, TURKEY 11 May 2019 (ORCNS) - HIRH Cardinal Don Rutherford Cardinal Johnson, Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarchate made an official visit and pilgrimage to the Holy House of Mary near Ephesus in modern-day Turkey. The house is where the Blessed Virgin Mary lived in her later years and from where she was assumed into heaven.

Sri Lankan Attacks -- Post-Mass Statement by the Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch

21 April 2019 -- Statement by HIRH Cardinal Don Rutherford I, Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch after mass on Easter Sunday on the attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka earlier in the day.

Easter Greetings from the Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch

20 April 2019 - Holy Saturday and Easter Vigil - Easter greetings in the four principal languages of the Imperial Patriarchate from HIRH Don Rutherford I, Archprince of St. Stephen and Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch.

The Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch comments on the fire at Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris. I remember the venerable old cathedral well, climbing up the narrow stairs, the gargoyles, all the little details that are easy to miss. It is a fond memory of the Europe I knew and loved in my youth, a society and culture that most Europeans have ceded away and destroyed. Some of us still proudly call ourselves European, invoking the memory of Caesar, of Charles the Hammer, of Charlemagne, St. Louis IX, Friedrich the Great, and many others, with determination that our Faith and our culture will never be allowed to die, but will flourish once again. The great cathedral may burn, but its image is forever seared into my memory. We in the Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarchate, then, dedicate the liturgy of Holy Week to the renaissance of European Christianity. Deus vult!

+Rutherford PI

Statement of the Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch on the Christian Victims of the Killing Spree in Nigeria

On behalf of the Imperial Patriarchate of St. Stephen, we express our sympathy for and solidarity with the victims of the anti-Christian killing spree in Nigeria. At present the death toll is at least 200. We pray not only for the victims of this senseless violence, but for all those Christians who are persecuted for their faith around the world. The nations of the world are morally obligated to shun hypocrisy and do their part to put an end to such violence. 

+Rutherford P.I. 

Statement on New Zealand Mosque Shooting by the Imperial Patriarch

On behalf of the people of the Imperial Patriarchate of St. Stephen, we express our heartfelt sadness at the mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is unfortunate that some resort to brutal violence to settle their differences. It is unfortunate that some cannot live and let live. Let us pray for the victims of all violence in places of worship around the world.

Rutherford P.I.