For months, two newborn lambs become part of the daily rhythm of life inside a Benedictine monastery in Rome. The sisters of St. Cecilia feed the lambs, care for them and gently shepherd them through an ancient ritual whose final destination reaches all the way to the Pope. In a tradition dating back hundreds of years, the lambs' shorn wool is used for a vestment known as a pallium, a woolen band worn over the shoulders. It is bestowed on the Pope at his inauguration Mass, and on metropolitan Archbishops during a sacred annual ritual: the June 29 solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. The tender relationship between the sisters and lambs has been featured in a new Italian documentary, "Agnus Dei" ("Lamb of God"), which offers a rare glimpse into a cloistered world where this centuries-old tradition endures. What follows throughout the film's 73 minutes is a quietly commanding, hypnotically mesmerizing and visually arresting film that follows the animals from birth to their formal blessing and then subsequent time with the Benedictine nuns of the monastery of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome. The lambs ae presented to the Pope on the feast of St Agnes, January 21when he blesses them at the Vatican. Then they continue to grow as their wool becomes thicker. The lambs represent purity and innocence, sacrifice and redemption, while the love found in the Benedictine community, the tenderness shown by the sisters to the vulnerable lambs is truly special, as the lambs become a part of their community, until they are sheared for the wool to be used to be made into the palliums. The climactic moment happens when one sees the vestments worn by Pope Leo XIV and a group of metropolitan Archbishops.
The
project was filmed as we hear reports of Pope
Francis'
declining health, and then, finally, the Pope’s death on April 21, 2025, the day after Easter. Though
sadness is apparent, and as the nuns' activities were paused for only a few
hours, life in the monastery quietly resumed, unchanged and
unchanging, as it has always been through the centuries. The nuns are used to moving on. They do what they do
no matter who is the Pope, noting they must deliver the pallia
on time, this time
to Pope Leo XIV. The film ends memorably: The sisters watch the Sts. Peter
and Paul service on television — with a new pontiff presiding and
the sisters' careful craftsmanship on full display. They react both with pride
and with characteristic modesty. This was the fruit of their labor, after caring for the lambs for several months, as if they had babies in
their monastery. The pallia are crafted by other nuns whose expertise is sewing,
weaving and stitching.
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