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A St. Pete Beach parish will mark the Catholic church's Great Jubilee Year of 2000 with the Christmas Eve opening of a replica of the holy door at St. Peter's Basilica.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 22, 1999
ST. PETE BEACH -- This Christmas Eve, people all over the world will look on as Pope John Paul II opens the holy door at St. Peter's Basilica to mark the beginning of the Roman Catholic church's Great Jubilee Year of 2000.
Closer to home, a less grand but no less meaningful ceremony is being planned at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, where a replica of St. Peter's bronze-panelled holy door has been created by Treasure Island artist Johnna Patterson.
The holy door, explained the Rev. Julio B. Rivero of St. John's, is a symbol of Jesus Christ.
"Christ is the door whereby we go to the Father. Now we go into a new millennium and we're going in with Christ. In the Old Testament, Moses led the people. In the New Testament, we're led by Christ."
The ceremony at St. John's will precede the church's 9 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass and will be performed by the Rev. Elmer MacDonald, administrator of the church at 445 82nd Ave.
Like the pope, MacDonald will knock three times to open the sealed door and recite a special prayer.
"Oh God," it begins, "grant your Church the grace to live this propitious moment with joy, when you have willed to open this door to your faithful, so they will come in and raise their prayers to you; and, after asking for forgiveness, indulgence and total remission of sins, will walk decisively in life according to your Son's Gospel."
The Christmas Eve ceremony is significant because it marks the beginning of a jubilee year, which usually commemorates important church anniversaries. The upcoming jubilee marks the beginning of Christianity's third millennium.
According to the Vatican news service, Pope Martin V first opened a holy door in 1423 in a ceremony at the pope's cathedral basilica of Saint John Lateran. The Christmas of 1499 marked the first time a holy door was opened at St. Peter's. On that occasion, Pope Alexander VI opened the basilica's holy door to mark the jubilee year of 1500.
The door that will be opened by the pope on Christmas Eve was donated by Swiss Catholics and is made of two bronze panels, each of which is divided into smaller panels depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments.
This is the door that Mrs. Patterson, a portrait artist and former art teacher at the Canterbury School of Florida, recreated on about 10 yards of canvas.
She did not hesitate when asked to recreate St. Peter's holy door, Mrs. Patterson said.
"I said, sure," she recalled, even though she was recuperating from back surgery and had planned an out-of-town trip.
Not to be outdone, the artist bought the canvas while visiting family in Kentucky, created the work from a magazine photograph and flew back with it for its late November installation. In all, it took about four days with the help of niece Leigh Draper to recreate the Roman door. Additionally, Mrs. Patterson also painted columns to cover two doors that flank St. John's main entrance.
Benjamin Hetrick, owner of Benjamin's Bokay, a Treasure Island florist's shop, recommended Mrs. Patterson for the job.
"I'm just so proud of it," he said of her work this week.
"To enhance all this, we are going to do the whole (entrance to the church) with white lights on 20 ficus trees" for the Christmas Eve ceremony, Hetrick added.
The effect of St. John's holy door is being felt beyond the Catholic community, said Mrs. Patterson, a member of St. Alban's Episcopal Church, which is across the street from St. John's.
"Everyone on the beaches has seen it. . . . St. Alban's has contacted me to do some artwork for them," she said.
"I think every artist appreciates a vehicle to share their talent. The holy door just turned out to be a meaningful way for me to share it. I feel God gave me this gift of being able to draw and paint, and I feel it was a wonderful experience for me to share that experience at the Christmas season."