Over 200,000 Olive Branches Donated for Palm Sunday Mass

Summary

Over 200,000 olive branches were donated for Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, with half com­ing from the Castel di Guido estate and the other half from Città dell’Olio asso­ci­a­tions of Lazio, as part of the Jubilee year cel­e­bra­tion. The dona­tions were accom­pa­nied by prayers for peace in Gaza and Ukraine, with the olive branches sym­bol­iz­ing peace and har­mony, accord­ing to Città dell’Olio’s national asso­ci­a­tion.

As part of the Jubilee year cel­e­bra­tion, more than 200,000 olive branches were donated for Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, more than dou­ble the num­ber donated last year by the Città dell’Olio (Cities of Oil) of Sardinia. 

One hun­dred thou­sand branches from the Castel di Guido estate were donated by the munic­i­pal­ity of Rome, and another 100,000 by the 46 Città dell’Olio asso­ci­a­tions of Lazio. In addi­tion, 150 olive branches were gifted to the car­di­nals.

“We have taken up this chal­lenge with great pride,” said Alfredo D’Antimi, coor­di­na­tor of the Città dell’Olio in Lazio. ​“Many olive grow­ers have joined the ini­tia­tive. Donating their olive branches for such an impor­tant day of prayer rep­re­sents a great emo­tion for them and a great honor for us.”

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri presided over the Palm Sunday mass, with Pope Francis appear­ing to greet pil­grims after­wards.

Although palm leaves are now most com­monly asso­ci­ated with the hol­i­day, olive branches have played an essen­tial role since ancient times. According to the Bible, ​“the chil­dren of the Hebrews, bear­ing branches of olive, went out to meet the Lord, cry­ing out and say­ing: Hosanna in the high­est.”

The liturgy con­tains many ref­er­ences to olive trees and the branches car­ried by the clergy and wor­shipers. 

As laid out in the missal, the priest relates the his­tory and sym­bol­ism, say­ing, for exam­ple, ​“on this day the mul­ti­tude, taught by a heav­enly illu­mi­na­tion, went forth to meet their Redeemer, and strewed branches of palm and olive at His feet. The branches of palms, there­fore, sig­nify His tri­umphs over the prince of death, and the branches of olive pro­claim the com­ing of a spir­i­tual unc­tion.”

He also calls upon God numer­ous times to bless the branches, again refer­ring to their sym­bol­ism, before they are dis­trib­uted among the clergy present.

“Let Thy man­i­fold mercy descend upon us, and let these branches of palm or olive trees be blessed… like­wise these branches of palm and olive, which Thy ser­vants receive faith­fully in honor of Thy name.”

“O God, who, by an olive branch, didst com­mand the dove to pro­claim peace to the world: sanc­tify, we beseech Thee, by a heav­enly bene­dic­tion, these branches of olive and other trees. Bless, we beseech Thee, O Lord, these branches of palm or olive.”

In addi­tion to the branches car­ried dur­ing the Palm Sunday cel­e­bra­tions, large olive trees were placed near the stat­ues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, at the foot of the taber­na­cle and the obelisk, where they remain as an inte­gral part of the square’s adorn­ment for the remain­der of Holy Week.

As in pre­vi­ous years, the dona­tions are accom­pa­nied by state­ments on the impor­tance of peace and spe­cific prayers for peace in Gaza and Ukraine. 

“The homage of the Città dell’Olio… also brings with it this year the request for a defin­i­tive and last­ing peace in Gaza and the Ukraine and a mes­sage of close­ness to the pop­u­la­tions who are vic­tims of all the wars in the world,” Città dell’Olio’s national asso­ci­a­tion said in an offi­cial release.

“The olive tree teaches us to live in har­mony because it is a sym­bol of peace,” said Michele Sonnessa, the association’s pres­i­dent. ​“But peace can only be built together. War leaves no escape for any­one; it only sows death and poverty.” 

“On the con­trary, civ­i­liza­tion sprouts in peace,” he added. ​“There is no peace with­out dia­logue and mutual recog­ni­tion, no alliance with­out the com­mon good. The states of the world must take on this con­crete com­mit­ment imme­di­ately. If they do not do so, his­tory will judge them.”

• Vatican News
• Città dell’Olio