Pisa, Turin...and some last things

Last Thursday and Friday were final reviews. They went pretty well. After that, I had a theology paper to write, a history exam Tuesday, and a theology oral exam this morning. The way things were spaced meant we had Saturday, Sunday, and Monday free (except for writing and studying), so of course, the best use of my time was to travel one more time. This was a trip I had been planning on going on probably since about last year at this time, or whenever I found out that the Shroud of Turin was going to be on display April and May of this year. That's where we went--Turin! And we stopped in Pisa on the way.

Pisa was cool--one of those places I felt like I should see if I lived in Italy for a year. Of course everyone knows what the main attraction is. And even though I knew coming in, it's still a shock to see that tower for the first time. It's really leaning. More than I expected, I think.

We only spent about 3 hours in Pisa, but that was enough time to go in the cathedral and pray for a bit, look at the baptistery from the outside, browse the giftshop (they sell coffee cups, regular cups, and wine glasses that are leaning over, it's pretty funny), take touristy photos, enjoy the beautiful sunshine, climb up the tower, and make it back to the train.


This shows the lean pretty well.


It feels sturdy up there, even though you can definitely tell sometimes you're walking uphill and sometimes downhill...


We had to:-)

From there, we headed up to Turin, aka Torino. You might recognize the Italian name from when the Olympics were there in '06. I remember they always flashed that across the screen and it took me awhile to realize that was the same thing as Turin. Anyway, we got in around 9:30. It was just my roommate Katie (a different Katie than the one I traveled with all of Christmas break) and I at this point. Matthew had come with us to Pisa but then gone back to Rome. Through an unfortunate series of last minute events, we got to Turin without a place to stay for the night. That was a bit unsettling, but luckily we were able to find a fairly cheap hotel not too far away from the duomo.

We woke up early on Monday morning, because our appointment to see the Shroud was at 8 am. Before you go in to see the actual thing, they show you a video that highlights the markings on the Shroud and explains what each of them are. Then you file in to the church and in front of the Shroud. On the way, we passed the tomb of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. I was almost as excited about seeing that as I was about seeing the Shroud. He's one of my favorites, probably on about the same level as St. Josemaria Escriva. So to get to see both of them, in a span of about 2 weeks...unbelievable. And if you want to know more about Pier Giorgio, just ask me, I love talking about him:-)

Anyway, the Shroud itself was a little different than I expected, I guess. Mostly I was surprised by how clean it was. We couldn't stand in front of it very long, but from thinking about it then and throughout the rest of the day, I think one of the things that was most moving was thinking about all the other people that have been in the same Shroud's presence, starting with Mary. We don't have many relics of her...but she was there when Jesus was wrapped in that cloth. And the women saw it laying discarded in the tomb on Easter morning. And many popes and saints have made pilgrimages to see it over the years, including St. Charles Borromeo, who's been popping up in my life a lot recently...(for instance, I just learned that he wrote a document after the Council of Trent outlining how churches should be built to be theologically accurate, and that was the basis for church architecture until about the 1960s. That's pretty cool. He's one of my patron saints, so maybe he's been nudging me towards sacred architecture all along, haha).

We spent the rest of the day in Turin walking around, visiting other churches, including one where Pier Giorgio had his first reconciliation, and also going to a museum about the Shroud. I learned some interesting stuff. They explained about all the markings on it--there are two types, one that's blood stains, and one that's something else. The blood stains show through on both sides of the cloth, but the other kind doesn't show up on the reverse side. The blood is type AB, which matches the blood of all the Eucharistic miracles that have been tested. Also, using computer technology, they created a 3D hologram of exactly what the body looks like based on the markings. So I think I saw what Jesus looked like. And they never say specifically, This Is Real. But all the evidence sure points to it.

We left in the late afternoon, and got back to Rome at about 9:30. Now I've been finishing up some last things...packing, visiting places I've always wanted to go, and some places for one last time...I leave on Friday. It's very bittersweet. More bitter at the moment. I'm very thankful for the time I've had here, and I guess it's time for a new part of my life to start. It might be a quieter section than this one, but those are necessary too. Like in a piece of music, it has different movements, and they have to be taken together to get the full effect of each of them. I was sad to leave the U.S. at the beginning of the year, but in retrospect I shouldn't have been quite as much, because I get to go back, and the 8 months doesn't seem so long after all. I'm sad now...and I don't know when, if ever, I'll return to Rome. I guess it just goes to show that I have a bad sense of timing, and the Lord knows much better than I when things should happen. His will is very clear in this case--I'm supposed to go back to America on Friday. His timing worked out at the beginning of the year, and I should trust that it's right this time (pun intended) too. Yesterday I was praying in the church of S. Luigi, one of those ones I've been meaning to go to for awhile, and I realized how fitting that was. I was able to ask St. Louis for some help in my transition back to St. Louis. And the thought struck me that I am not Italian. I am American (and so can you). That's where God has placed me. He brought me here to Rome this year as a beautiful gift and growing experience, but I can't stay here permanently. For one thing, I would need to learn the language a lot better:-)

People at home, don't think this means I'm not excited to see you! I am! But, like a line from a poem they gave us at the end of MSA says, "my heart now has two homes." Or in my case, maybe three or four. Anyway, I guess I'm just incredibly blessed. To have had so many amazing experiences this year, and to have such good things to come back to too. More processing and reflecting on this topic is definitely necessary.

Well before I get too nostalgic for Rome before I even leave...right now I'm going to head to St. Peter's to see the Pope again! One more Papal blessing will be nice:-) Pray for me this week!

Pilgrimage Day in Rome

Yesterday my friend Chris and I went on a pilgrimage...to see some sights in Rome! We started by going to the prelature church of Opus Dei in Rome, S. Maria della Pace (but not the one by Piazza Navona, this one is up just north of Villa Borghese).


The church (which is more like a chapel) is in this building...it took us a while to figure out where to go, as it doesn't exactly LOOK like a church.

Anyway, why there? Because S. Josemaria Escriva is buried there! He's one of my favorite saints, and has been pretty influential in my spiritual life in the past year...so it was HUGE to get to go pray by his tomb (actually, his casket is behind glass, under the altar in the church, so I don't know if "tomb" is really the right word, but I don't know what else to call it). I was actually just thinking a few days ago that at this time last year, I didn't know much about him at all, just that my brother Steve would often tell me about things he had written in one of his 3 books The Way, Furrow, or Forge. I borrowed The Way from him last summer, mostly because its compact pocket-size size was handy to carry around in my Totus Tuus bag, and somehow I ended up with both The Way and Furrow here in Rome, probably for the same reason (Steve, I promise I'll give them back when I get home! Possibly after I buy my own copies, ha...). His writings talk a lot about having a strong interior life while living and working in the world, and how sanctity can come through ordinary work. He gives pretty straightforward advice and doesn't really beat around the bush. His thoughts are organized into short points that are pretty easy to remember, so when one catches your heart you can keep it in mind all day. And he was so recent--he was practically living in the same world we are today. And he was able to be holy, and he's a saint...so why can't we too? Actually, he talks about that himself: "saints are not abnormal cases to be studied by a modernistic doctor. They were--they are--normal, with flesh like yours. And they conquered" (The Way #133). That seemed very real to me yesterday. He probably also wins the award of "only saint to talk about alarm clocks in relation to the spiritual life"...:-)

After praying there for awhile, and getting to go to mass there too, we walked to St. Peters and climbed up the dome! That's one of those things we always figured we'd do "at some point" throughout the year...and it's definitely time to start doing all of those things. And it was an awesome experience! One of the coolest parts is walking around the neck of the dome inside the church. You can see just how huge the letters of the inscriptions in the frieze are (6 ft. high), and looking down on the church from above gives a new perspective (literally) on how enormous it is. The baldacchino is waaay below you, whereas from the ground it seems to go up forever. So in between the ground and the dome, there is clearly quite a lot of space.


Looking down on the apse--that's the cathedra petri and dove window way down there.

And of course, being outside on the cupola was pretty cool too. There were some good views of the piazza below and the Vatican gardens behind.


A cool aerial shot taken by a creative English-speaking tourist.


Looking down the side of the dome.

You can also go out onto the roof of the church. You can get pretty close to the statues that line the top of the facade, and from up there they look kind of goofy. They're out of proportion so that they look right from below--my friend Evan described them as looking like Lego people.


They're also pretty big, as you can see with me as a scale figure.


Looking back at the dome.

Chris and I prayed Morning Prayer up there (even though it was 3:30--we decided we were just doing it on American time), and also got cappuccinos from the bar on the roof. Seriously. I mean, it's not actually in the church, so it's ok, right? Haha.


This is probably where the Pope goes after the Easter Vigil.

After those two very exciting events, we finished off the day in truly Roman style--pizza and gelato. It was a great day!

In other news, I turned 21 last week, and Pope Benedict turned 83 (on the same day)! Unfortunately, we didn't have a joint party. But my birthday has actually been elevated to quite the feast this year--we celebrated the vigil the night before by going to Hard Rock Cafe and eating cake, we went to an Irish pub for awhile the night of my actual birthday, and apparently there's a package for me on its way from St. Louis that should arrive somewhere near the end of the octave:-) Haha. But in all seriousness, it was great to get to celebrate with my friends here in Rome, and thanks to everyone at home for your thoughts and prayers!

Now it's final project time...and also final two weeks in Rome time. So life will be pretty busy from here on out, trying to fit in all the work and all the fun and sightseeing that still have to be done!

Assisi

Yesterday several other archies and I took a day-trip to Assisi! One of the seminarians from the NAC helped organized it. Assisi is a beautiful, fairly typical Italian hill town, famous, of course, for Sts. Francis and Clare of Assisi. We had beautiful weather all day, too, which made it even better. And the first thing I thought when I got there was "I immediately recognize why St. Francis saw the presence of God so clearly in nature", because the geography around Assisi is breathtaking--green fields and mountains.

Anyway, we hopped on a train early in the morning, and got to Assisi in time for mass at the Basilica of S. Francesco at 11. We all went to mass together, and then sort of split up and people went off to do different things and explore the city. I stayed in the church for awhile and prayed by St. Francis' tomb. And what would a blog post about a pilgrimage like this be without a description of some of the things I reflected on while I was there? :-)

So, I was thinking about how the Franciscans and Dominicans are kind of complimentary orders, and the simplification I've heard before is "Dominicans are the head, and Franciscans are the heart" of the Church. Usually I'm more drawn to the Dominicans; to the intellectual side of faith and an emphasis on Truth. But I realized yesterday that St. Francis certainly didn't have any less Truth than St. Dominic. He appealed to people's hearts, but with true Charity, not just emotions. And it worked, and is still working, as evidenced by the massive amounts of pilgrims who come to Assisi to see him. And I think St. Francis was such an effective witness because he was charismatic and he appealed to people--but then he had something of substance to offer once they were drawn in. And that was his radical casting off of the world and embracement of poverty. His life really DID witness the Gospel, like that overused quote that's attributed to him, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words." (Lately when I've heard people use that quote that to make a point, the point is usually--words are necessary! Switching around the cliche a little, haha.)

Anyway, after eating lunch and gelato with a few of the archies, I spent the afternoon...visiting more churches, of course. I think my favorite was one called S. Damiano. It was a short walk outside the city, and built on the spot where St. Francis wrote the Canticle of Creatures and heard the Lord speaking to him from a crucifix. Later, St. Clare had her convent there, too. They've moved the original crucifix to the Basilica of S. Chiara, so there's a replacement there now...but it was still pretty incredible to be sitting in a church in the spot where part of St. Francis' conversion happened. I love the story of his conversion, too, because it kind of involves architecture...

What St. Francis heard Jesus tell him was "go and rebuild my church, because it is in ruin". St. Francis took it literally, and went and raised money to restore the church of S. Damiano. He sold a bunch of his father's cloth, and gave the money to the priest at the church. When his father found out, he was a little upset, though, and that's when the big show-down between them occurred that ended with St. Francis taking off all his clothes as a symbol of renouncing his old life. He then put on a simple tunic, which I saw in a chapel of relics. (It also included the original rule of the Franciscans, a letter St. Francis had written, his breviary, his shoes, and piece of leather he pressed on his stigmata...it was incredible). So anyway, after St. Francis did this reconstruction project for S. Damiano, Jesus spoke to him again and said, basically, "Umm...I meant reform the people of my Church. Nice try." And then St. Francis started the Franciscans, and the rest is history. Or something like that:-)

That distinction between building the church and rebuilding the Church is one that's close to my heart. I've often pondered the same thing myself--I thought about it a lot when I strongly considered switching majors to Theology, for instance. But as of right now, I think I'm trying to do the second through the first, or at least along with doing the first. Seemingly sort of choosing the opposite as St. Francis...but hopefully not really. I'm certainly aware of the need for renewal in the Church, anyway. Especially right now, especially in America. Nuns supporting Obama's health care, "Catholic" reporters calling for the Church to stop suppressing women...yikes, yikes, yikes. Jesus, your Church is in ruin again. But it's so beautiful how the Lord always raises up holy men and women in times of need to BE that renewal. People like St. Francis, back in the Middle Ages (if he's not a patron of New Evangelization, he should be), and people like St. Faustina and the devotion of Divine Mercy now, which is celebrated especially today--Divine Mercy Sunday! As a side note, this morning I went to a special mass at a church dedicated to Divine Mercy here, and I thought it was really cool that one day I could celebrate a saint who's been around for over 500 years, and the next celebrate a saint who was canonized 10 years ago. The Church is still alive! And the Holy Spirit is constantly working in her! And will continue to. And St. Francis' prayer, "Lord, make me an instrument...", was my prayer too.

After that, I visited S. Rufino, the cathedral of Assisi, which has the baptismal font where St. Francis and St. Clare were both baptized. Then I went to S. Chiara, where the body of St. Clare (aka S. Chiara, if you haven't made that connection) is kept, and also has that original crucifix that spoke to St. Francis. There's a kneeler in front of it with a prayer written in a bunch of languages, including English, that I think is maybe a prayer that St. Francis himself said in front of that cross. So...praying it in communion with him was pretty awesome. I said it in English, but also in Italian, since that's the language he would have been using. You know, just so that the words sounded familiar to the Lord:-)

Finally, last church: S. Maria degli Angeli, on the site where St. Francis died. The whole group visited that one together, and then got back on the train to Rome! It was a great day, followed by a good morning this morning, and overall a good end to the Octave of Easter.

Liturgical Adventures Continued

Buona Pasqua! (aka Happy Easter!) I've had a very exciting week here in Rome, attending 4 Papal Liturgies in 8 days. The first was Palm Sunday, of course, which I already wrote about.

The next was Holy Thursday at St. John Lateran. Although we got there really early, through a badly organized waiting system, we ended up not getting seats...but we were standing in the back of the nave, so still had an ok view. By this time, a lot of people from other Notre Dame study abroad locations had arrived in Rome, and some of them were able to come to mass too. Oh, and also along the lines of seeing people I hadn't in awhile...while at mass I saw a girl who had been in our high school program at one of my Totus Tuus parishes over the summer, and also one of my Young Disciple leaders from the summer before freshman year of college. What a small and wonderful Catholic world:-)

But anyway, mass itself was awesome. I realized partway through why they picked St. John Lateran to have this particular mass in. It was right after the washing of the feet, in which the Pope washed the feet of 12 priests. At first I thought, "Wow! How amazing to have your feet washed by the Pope!" And then I reminded myself how infinitely more incredible and unbelievable it would be to have your feet washed by Jesus Himself...and then I realized that the 12 original feet wash-ees were lining the nave. (For those of you who have not been inside St. John Lateran or can't picture the interior, the dominating feature of the decoration scheme is 12 huge statues of the apostles going down the sides of the church. They were all designed by Borromini.) So then the connections between the Last Supper, the apostles, and the priesthood all kind of clicked, and St. John's seemed like the perfect place to be for that mass.

On Friday early afternoon, I got to go to S. Croce in Gerusalemme and pray in front of some of the relics of the Passion--a piece of the True Cross, nails, thorns, St. Thomas' finger, and the INRI sign, among others. That was part of a tour organized by Notre Dame Campus Ministry for all the ND kids who came to Rome for the weekend, so we had a nice reunion before going to pray, too. It was awesome to see so many people, and kind of crazy that it was happening in ROME. Anyway, Campus Ministry had planned things for all afternoon, but I ducked out after S. Croce and headed to St. Peters to wait in line for the Good Friday service. The weather was gorgeous--sunny and warm. Normally I would be thrilled about that, but not on Good Friday. On Good Friday I always want it to be dark and stormy. But alas, no luck. The service was really good, though. Unfortunately, because of what would no doubt be massive logistical problems, we didn't get to individually venerate the cross like usual. I kind of missed that part, but everything else was just like a normal Good Friday service.

After that, the day still wasn't over--apparently it's a tradition in Rome for the Pope to preside over Stations of the Cross by the Colosseum on Good Friday night. It's a busy week for him! That event was packed, too, because it wasn't ticketed and so anyone and everyone could come. It was actually the only time I prayed Stations of the Cross all Lent, strangely...I guess I'm used to the ease of having them in English every Friday in the basilica on campus. But anyway, I'm really glad I got to that one time. The reflections were in Italian, but they at least announced each station in several languages, including English, so everyone could follow along somewhat.

The next day was Holy Saturday, and I spent all of it at St. Peters. Almost literally. The Easter Vigil started at 9:15; we got there at a little after 1 to wait in line. It sounds crazy, but it wasn't so bad. Good company, more good weather, good books, and a spirit of being in solidarity with the women (and the whole world) who were waiting while Jesus was in the tomb, all made the hours go by quickly. When the doors finally opened, there were moments when I feared I would get crushed and trampled in the crowd of people crushing in--it was absolutely NUTS. But we made it in alive, and got pretty good seats. I ended up sitting by Stephanie, Jessica, John, and Chris. Mass was incredible. It's one of my favorite masses of the year to start with, so being in St. Peter's, with the Pope, with the whole Church (saints and angels included), and with some of my good friends...pretty much unbeatable. The only slight disappointment was they only did 4 of the 7 (I think) Salvation History readings! I couldn't believe it! Out of all places, I expected the Vatican to go all out and do all of them. The Intercessors win that little liturgical contest. So altogether, mass was only a little over 3 hours, which is shorter than I thought it'd be.


John, Steph, Chris, me, and Jessica after mass! Look at all that Easter joy:-)

Afterwards, we met up with some of the archies who had also been at mass, and all went out and got pizza--a good way to start off our Easter celebrations.

I had a great day on Sunday, too. We had a big archie brunch in the morning, and I helped with a little bit of the preparation for that. Then I ran down to St. Peter's (literally) for the Pope's Urbi et Orbi blessing. Unfortunately, the good weather didn't hold, and it was raining off and on all day, very on at that point. I missed the speech beforehand, but made it just in time for the actual blessing. And then I just stood in the piazza for while, watching the rain and soaking in the joy of Easter. (And starting to realize how much I'm going to miss Rome when I leave...in three weeks, eek!). Then later that afternoon, I walked around for a while with Notre Dame people again, and then went to an evening Easter mass, in English this time! My friend Chris was playing the organ, and we sang all the typical awesome Easter hymns--I'm thinking mostly of Jesus Christ is Risen today and Christ the Lord is Risen Today, both personal faves.

One theme that has stuck out a lot to me this year has been that Easter happens in the middle of suffering. The Pope pointed it out in his Urbi et Orbi message, and the priest who celebrated evening mass mentioned it too. The Gospel was the road to Emmaus, and the two disciples were SAD. The women who went to the tomb in the morning were mourning too (pun intended). So the Resurrection doesn't automatically take away suffering, but transforms it and gives us hope. Actually, the Pope says this better than I can; here's the last paragraph of his Easter morning message:

"Dear brothers and sisters, Easter does not work magic. Just as the Israelites found the desert awaiting them on the far side of the Red Sea, so the Church, after the resurrection, always finds history filled with joy and hope, grief and anguish. And yet, this history is changed, it is marked by a new and eternal covenant, it is truly open to the future. For this reason, saved by hope, let us continue our pilgrimage, bearing in our hearts the song that is ancient and yet ever new: “Let us sing to the Lord: glorious his triumph!” "
--Pope Benedict XVI

(And I like that quote because the idea of my blog title is in it! Haha). But seriously. It seems very fitting for the present situation in the Church, too...

After that evening mass, we continued our celebrations by meeting back up with ND people and going to dinner, then getting gelato, then going to an Irish pub. A good end to a good week! And just the start of the Easter season.

He is Risen! Alleluia indeed.