What is the most sacred city in Catholicism?

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These are all important cities, but is their one in particular that we should revere more?
 
Catholicism isn’t like Islam where there’s a holy must-see city. That said: Though Jerusalem is the most important biblically, I’d have to put a personal favor towards the Vatican.
 
mVitus said:
Catholicism isn’t like Islam where there’s a holy must-see city. That said: Though Jerusalem is the most important biblically, I’d have to put a personal favor towards the Vatican.
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Why? If i may ask?
 
Jerusalem, as it’s where our salvation happened. Jesus saved us by his blood in Jerusalem.
 
TheTrinitySaves said:
Which one deserves the most veneration.
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None. While the places you mention are interesting for historical knowledge and sometimes beauty, if all holy sites were destroyed Christianity would continue on as it has for the last 2000 years.

This doesn’t mean we don’t have sacred spaces, sometimes which are consecrated for use such as a church building or altar. But practice of the Christian Faith is not dependent on them. Many thousands of masses have been said on the hoods of Jeeps, Humvees and plastic tables for troops during war time. Jesus was just as present there as in the Vatican.

PAX
 
Golgotha, site of the Holy Sepulchre, just outside of the original walls of Jerusalem, where Jesus’ tomb is. Known as the holiest place on earth, where Christ Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. Every year on Orthodox Pascha the miracle of the Holy Fire ocurs.

holyfire.org/eng/

So sad to see traditions lost, discarded, forgotten.
 
Casilda said:
Golgotha, site of the Holy Sepulchre, just outside of the original walls of Jerusalem, where Jesus’ tomb is. Known as the holiest place on earth, where Christ Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. Every year on Orthodox Pascha the miracle of the Holy Fire ocurs.

holyfire.org/eng/

So sad to see traditions lost, discarded, forgotten.
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That wasn’t his question.

There can be places that we revere as sacred, but no city on its own is sacred.
It’s the Presence of God or the action of God that makes is sacred.
Not a place.

No one has forgotten Golgotha.
 
TheTrinitySaves said:
These are all important cities, but is their one in particular that we should revere more?
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If I’m understanding St. Gregory of Nyssa correctly, he didn’t think any city was holier than another:

“O you who fear the Lord, praise Him in the places where ye now are. Change of place does not effect any drawing nearer unto God… [If] you keep your inner man full of wicked thoughts, even if you were on Golgotha, even if you were on the Mount of Olives, even if you stood on the memorial-rock of the Resurrection, you will be as far away from receiving Christ into yourself, as one who has not even begun to confess Him.” source

And: “if the Divine grace was more abundant about Jerusalem than elsewhere, sin would not be so much the fashion among those that live there.” source

And: “What advantage…is reaped by him who reaches those celebrated spots themselves? [You] cannot imagine…that the Holy Spirit is in abundance at Jerusalem, but unable to travel as far as us.” source

Note: this is not meant to imply that pilgrimages cannot be of value. The Church Fathers had a long history of pilgrimages, including both Rome and Jerusalem, and several other places. St. Gregory of Nyssa himself, in the document quoted above, was writing about a (rather poor) journey to the Holy Land he had recently taken. But to speak of one city being particularly more holy than another…I think that might miss the point of a pilgrimage.

Perhaps we can gain insight into the real purpose of a pilgrimage from this comment by St. Jerome: “Just as Greek history becomes more intelligible to those who have seen Athens, so [a] man will gain a clearer grasp of Holy Scripture who has gazed at Judaea with his own eyes.” (Prefaetio in Librum Paralipomenon, Patrologia Latina 29 401a, as quoted in Ian Bradley’s Pilgrimage: A Spiritual and Cultural Journey Chapter 2 [Oxford, UK: Lion Books, 2009])

St. Gregory indicates that the “sacred places” themselves do not confer any holiness, at least not directly, neither on the geographical spot they are in nor on their visitors. But a pilgrimage to see these places can be motivated by a holy desire for sacred knowledge about the faith and its history, and if this is pursued in prayer, then it can be good for you. But the place itself? The place itself is often more a hotbed of sin than your own hometown, so don’t become confused about your motives for going on a pilgrimage.

If you want to learn about the history of the faith in Jerusalem, including the places visited by Jesus, then go there. If you want to learn about the history of the faith in Rome, where the Church’s headquarters have been for centuries, then go there. But I’m not sure any particular geographical spot is more holy than any other.
 
Always a good poll I am sure. What is interesting is that I had to think about it for a while before choosing.

I think what the poster said that ours, is not the type that has a “most holy city,” is close to the mark, however, Rome is where the successor to Peter is. There, we have a vast treasury of documents, and relics. It is the repository of gifts, from those who were in the lifetime of giving. The Sistine Chapel comes to mind. There are stone masons that devoted their life’s work to the Vatican for the glorification God and others, I am sure, who we will never know about.

So, yeah, Rome.🙂
 
Casilda said:
Golgotha, site of the Holy Sepulchre, just outside of the original walls of Jerusalem, where Jesus’ tomb is. Known as the holiest place on earth, where Christ Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. Every year on Orthodox Pascha the miracle of the Holy Fire ocurs.

holyfire.org/eng/

So sad to see traditions lost, discarded, forgotten.
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So it seems that this will not work with the Roman Catholic Church but only the Greek Orthodox, am I reading that correctly? Why is that? What does the Catholic Church say about this miracle?
 
I say other, I don’t think God is really blessing one city more than another. What if Rome (May God Forbid it) was destroyed, and the Vatican had to move? Would God not bless the new Vatican?

I’m not sure but for now I have to say other: none
 
i would say cities, per se, are not sacred. perhaps you could provide us with the definition of the word sacred that you are using in your survey?
 
Our Lord lived and died in Israel. The Vatican isn’t holy, it’s only the place the Pope resides and he can and has resided elsewhere. Technically “Rome” can be anywhere on earth whereas there is only one Jerusalem. Christ makes it holy just as he makes the Eucharist (wafers) holy.

Having been to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Gethsemane etc I can’t tell you the overwhelming feeling of emotional and spiritual peace it brings you. Yes, even when the country itself is being threatened. There is a peace at the Holy sites which I haven’t experienced anywhere else including Vatican, Lourdes etc

If you make one pilgrimage in your life, make it Jerusalem.
 
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