Hope to Humility

We had our last class today, it was also the last of 3 on Homiletics.  We all leave for Assisi on Sunday for a week long retreat and then home to the USA next Saturday.

Today after class I changed into formal attire and walked to the Casa Santa Maria to pick-up Fr. Javier Diaz, we then made our way on foot to St. Mary Major.  There we were both invited to lunch with Cardinal Law, the retired Archpriest of the Basilica.  We had a very nice and gracious lunch with His Eminence and his Secretary Msgr. McInery.

After lunch I walked Fr. Javier back to his residence and then took a long meandering walk back to the Janiculum.  When I started my walk to the Casa in the morning I also took the long way and there was a lovely little Church called Santa Lucia del Gonfalone that was open so I popped in to say a prayer, it had a beautiful image of our Lady of Hope over the Altar.  On my way back I found a Church open that had an image of Our Lady of Humility over the Altar.

I also stopped by Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, the Dominican Church I have written about before.  It is near the Pantheon and is so richly decorated it is hard to show the whole place.  The interior is Gothic and has a stunning ceiling painted in a wonderful blue color.  It houses the body of St. Catherine of Siena (but not the head and thumb which were stolen by the Siena folks and you have to go to that city to see the head and thumb).  One of my favorite painters, Blessed Fra Angelico, is buried in this Church.  It also has beautiful paintings by the Spoleto artist Filippino Lippi.  Oh, and a real great example of the talent of Gian Lorenzo Bernini who did a lot of sculpture for this Church but one piece in particular exemplifies his genius with marble.

S. Lucia del Gonfalone

Our Lady of Hope over the Altar

 This is the main Altar at St. Andrew's Church on the Corso.  The Altar is by Carlo Maderno.

St. Andrew's

 This is a side Chapel that contains the body of a Cardinal who is a Saint and died in the 18th Century.

Cardinal Saint

 There is a very nice marble and mosaic piece over the entry to the apartments where Cardinal Law lives.

Apartment door lintel

Myself, Cardinal Law and Fr. Javier

 On the walk back I took this picture of the Column of Trajan, it once had the statue of Trajan on it but the Popes melted him down and put St. Peter on top.

Trajan's Column

 Here a good interior shot of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, see the great blue ceiling.

 This is the tomb of Blessed Fra Angelico, a highly skilled sublime painter who was also a Dominican Friar and died in the Friary of Sopra Minerva.  He is buried in the walkway to the left of the Altar not far from the back door of the Church!  Blessed John Paul II named him a Blessed of the Church.

Bl. Fra Angelico's tomb

Great Mosaic recently discovered under the plaster, to the left is St. Patrick of Ireland!

 Here are photos of the work of Filippino Lippi in a side chapel.

Altar Piece

right wall of the Chapel

 Here is a stunning piece of the amazing work of Gain Lorenzo Bernini.  There are numerous examples of his work in this Church but this one really shows his genius and is incredible talent of making marble look like fabric, it is a memorial to Maria Raggi.

Geocaching

Yesterday I mentioned this very interesting hobby called Geocache, basically an adult version of a treasure hunt.  The treasure simply being finding the cache, signing the tiny log, then logging the whole thing on the Website.  It is a very interesting hobby and one that could easily be addictive.  You have to use Sherlock Holmes deductive skill, GPS and ingenuity.  Some of these are pretty hard to do.  They have a rating for the difficulty level from 1 (easy) to 4 (hardest) and then a level of terrain difficulty from 1-4.  Today we had class in the afternoon so I went out in the morning with Fr. Joe to find several caches.  We did not find all of them because one was a level 4 but that mystery has been mostly solved and we have to go back to that site.  The other one we did not get because the battery died on the GPS before we could get to the location but the others we found.  There are many variations on these caches.  Most of them are little film canisters, some half the size of a film canister, some are medium to large tupperware pieces and others are tiny canisters the size of small bullet.  Some contain not only a log but markers with the geocacher's logo or motto, some have traveling trinkets meant to be moved to anther location. Some have hints while others have no hints.  Some are puzzles while others require several sites to find the final site, with each site giving a new hint and coordinates.  Here are a few pictures to give you an idea.

This is where we traveled for the first cache.  It is the Piazza Del Popolo.  The hint was, "at the left foot of the River".  You have to know a little about the history of the Piazza.  There is a fountain with two figures representing rivers.

Piazza Del Popolo

 Here is a picture of one of the Rivers, the left river's foot.

Left river figures foot

 And here is a close up of the geo cache container under the foot!

Close up shot of the container

 Here is Fr. Joe signing the scroll found in the container to prove he found it, after signing it he then puts it back and then logs on his computer at the website.

Fr. Joe authenticating the first find of the day

The next one was at a very large park here in Rome, the Villa Borghese.  This huge and lovely park was once the private estate of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V Borghese whose name is inscribed on the front of St. Peter's. The World Famous Borghese Gallery, the Cardinal's former Palazzo, is on the property.

This is a fountain that keeps time by means of water from the aquaducts falls on levers in the center part, it keeps perfect time, it is pretty cool!

Water Clock in the Borghese Park

The next find was deep in a wooded section of the park and the hint was "Behind the wooden door".  I had no idea what that meant but Fr. Joe has been doing this for decades and knows some of the lingo and "geo thoughts".  He said we needed to look for a tree with a piece of wood covering a hole.  Voila!  There it was! This was a pretty big container and had lots of Geo tags inside with markers from folks around the world.

The "Wooden Door"

 Here is Fr. Joe extracting the log to be signed, you can see all the stuff in the tupperware.

Tupperware Cache

 Here is a close up of the stuff other Geocacher's have left in the container.  Large containers are for this purpose.

Close up of the some of the stuff in the tupperware

 Then we were off to the next one in a rather off the beaten path location, a bit remote.  The hint was "The highest point"  While Fr. Joe dug himself under a thicket of vines and climbed up a fence to the top to look in the branches - I looked around.  When he extracted himself from the thicket he was re-reading the hint out loud and saying, "well we're just going to have to leave because I can't find it"  At which point I handed him the Cache and said, "Is this what your looking for???".  He then looked at me rather cross and said, "How did you find that?".  I told him I noticed these three rocks in a triangle and one was higher than the others, since rocks do not form naturally this way I knew someone had placed them purposely that way and the white one formed the "highest point" so I picked it up.

"The Highest Point"

 Here is a shot of what I found, a canister embedded in the rock!

The find!

 The last one was very tricky with a double rating of 4.  There were no official hints but several Geocacher's had logged on the website that it was "hard to find the right coordinates" but "the military police" were helpful.  By this time it was late and we needed to get back but I pestered Fr. Joe to look at one possible site but he refused, had we done that we would have found the cache.  The right coordinates requires knowledge of the topography of the area, we think we figured it out tonight and will return to this site to log it.  I will post something if we are correct!

This evening I took Emmanuel Iyevuze to dinner.  He is a seminary student studying at the Pontifical Urbaniana College located right next door to PNAC.  This college is run the by Congregation Propoganda Fide, the Pontifical Mission Office, it houses and educates students from the developing world.  He is from the Diocese of Kasana-Luweero in Uganda, East Africa.  He is from the parish of St. Joseph in Katikamu, the Church St. Thomas More has a partnership with.  His father is Katikamu's Catechist.  Mary Goss also knows his family very well.  I laughed because I asked him where he would like to go to eat, did he have a favorite restaurant????  Remember this is Italy, lots of great restaurants.  What do you think he said???  "Chinese"!!!!!!!!!!  So for the second time I have had Chinese food in Rome, Italy!  We went to one of his favorite ones.  There were priests from the NAC at the next table and in the front room two big tables of Africans.  One table had several bishops, Archbishops and a Vatican Official.  The food was very good but it is comical hearing Chinese speak broken Italian!

Cena with Emmanuel Iyevuze

Vatican Gardens

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to tour the Vatican Gardens by Bus, they take you through on a small bus with a pre-recorded tour in your language, you use little ear plugs to listen.  It was very nice but it would have been better, for those of us who are gardeners, to be able to walk around and examine the specimens.

Within the Gardens are also the governmental buildings that support the Vatican City-State, remember the Vatican is an independent sovereignty.  It is an Independent Country with Ambassadors around the world and a seat at the United Nations.  The Pope is the monarch of the country and it has a Secretary of State who is a Cardinal.  The buildings include Vatican TV. Radio, Newspaper, Observatory, Goverante, Judicial, various Chapels.  There is a heliport, lots of outdoor shrine,  several fountains, a veggie garden, and all kinds of rare trees and plants.

The Governate

A Chapel

Dome of St. Peter's from the Garden

Sculpture

Modern Version of Our Lady of Fatima

St. Juan Diego presenting the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Bishop of Mexico

Copy of a Miraculous Image

Bell that signaled the beginning of the Great Jubilee Year 2000

English Style Formal Garden

Desert Garden

Coral Garden with Fountain and papyrus

Seashell Fountain with formal hedges

 Oh, I forgot they also have a train station, the worlds smallest Rail Service.  There is a gate in the Wall that opens and from their it joins the Italian Railway System.  It is rarely used for transportation by the Pope but is used to bring supplies into the Vatican which it was doing the day we toured.

Vatican Train Station unloading provisions

Lion Fountain

The Heliport with statue of the Famous Polish Black Madonna, wonder who put that there?? (JP11)

 In the afternoon I went Geo Cacheing but also stopped by several Churches.  The on is Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims.  On All Souls they had a Solemn Mass for the Dead with a very elaborate funeral set up.

 After that I stopped at St. Barbara's one of the smaller Churches in the City.  It has this very beautiful Medieval tryptic in a side chapel.

Maestre Pie

On Saturday I visited the Maestre Pie, that is the The Teaching Sisters of St. Lucy Filippini, simply called in the USA, "The Philippini Sisters".  They run a wonderful retreat house in Mantaloking, NJ called St. Joseph-by-the-Sea and have a convent on the same property.  I said Mass for them most of the Summer.  They are an Italian teaching Order but do other Apostolic work as Missionaries and retreats.  I have been very worried about Sr. Bruni, Sr. Gerri and Sr. Dolores.  I sent the Filippini Motherhouse in Morristown an e-mail to inquire how they were.  Sr. Betty Jean the US Mother Superior told me they were evacuated to San Alphonso in Long Branch and were safe.  They have been told the Retreat House and Convent are intact.  They were hoping to go down today if possible to assess the damage. Sr. Bruni just had a lot of structural work done this summer, quite extensive (and expensive) work on the Ocean side of the building.  They are right on the Ocean!  I can see the horrible damage around they house but have not seen any photos of their house.  Just a block away whole blocks have burned to the ground.  

Today I went back to meet with Sr. Virginia who though Italian spent many decades working in St. Joachim's in Trenton and Holy Trinity in Long Branch.  She also did missionary work in Africa.  Her English is very good and we had a very nice visit.  We of course spoke of the situation in New Jersey and I told them the Sister's were safe, they were relieved.  We also talked a bit about the New Evangelization and Sr. Virginia had great insights, she should be put on the Vatican Committee for the New Evangelization!!!  She had very practical things to say and some reform ideas for the Clergy and Religious of the Church.  The Maestre Pie are very forward thinking women!  Just when we were about to go outside the Mother General came into the dining room and I was introduced to her.

This is the School they operate, I can see it and the Provincial House from our kitchen here on the Hill, we look down on their property.  Though it looks like a hop, skip and a jump away, it takes almost 20 minutes on foot.  I have to go to St. Peter's, take a tunnel, then walk up several blocks to get to their place.  When we went outside I showed them where I lived, high above on the Janiculum Hill, they said they always wondered what that yellow building was for!

School Entrance

Provincial House Entrance, also for the School.

Mother General, me and Sr. Virginia

Catch up!

After a busy yet restful weekend I am posting a bit late and catching up!  Saturday I went out in the morning with a priest here who does "Geo-Caching".  If you are not familiar with the term don't feel bad, I did not know what it was either.  It is a pretty cool hobby.  Readers-digest-condensed-version is this; they have a website, you choose a name for yourself, you buy a GPS device and then you find hidden canister's with little paper rolls in them that you then sign and re-hide! Well it is a little more complicated but it is essentially a treasure hunt for adults!  He likes to walk and knows I like to walk so we set out to find 5 Geo-Cache's. We found all of them, he found 3 and I found 2, it was pretty neat!

Along the way I stopped at Churches to peak into the ones I have not seen.  You can't really see them all since there are nearly 1000 in the City proper alone and many are open once a year or are private.  We tried to see the Knights of Malta Chapel but no go!

Sunday it rained all day so the entire day was a bust, I should have used the time to post but when it is grey and rainy you don't feel like doing anything.  I did go to the Nose Bleed Mass, which this time really was a High Mass, about half of it in Latin.  I also attended Solemn Vespers at the Seminary last night which was all polyphonic chant or Gregorian Chant and again about half of it in Latin.  It was very beautiful and the student choir voices were superb, much much better than the Screaming Sistina (the nickname of the Sistine Chapel Choir - the Pope's dreadful private choir - they sing everything like a dirge).

Tomb of the Apostle St. Barnabas

Relics of St. ???

 This is near where one of the Geo Cache's was.  It is the misnamed Temple of Vesta, it was actually dedicated as The Temple of Hercules Victor and built by a wealthy oil merchant on the bend in the Tiber, Hercules was patron of oil sellers.  It is entirely constructed of Greek Marble from Mount Pentelicus and built by the famous Greek Architect of Antiquity Hermodoros of Salamis and dates to the late 2nd Century B.C.

Temple of Hercules Victor 

 In a small but old Church not far from the Circus Maximus are the relics of St. George, a piece of his skull can be seen under the Altar in this little dish, the writing says in Latin Cranium of St. George.

Skull fragment of St. George

 Here is the Church of St. George built by Eastern Monks.  You can see the old bell tower and the writing on the lintels are in Greek.

St. George

 This is the interior of the Church of St. Prisca on the Aventine Hill.  One of the priests from the Dakota's has a parishioner who has a devotion to this Saint.

St. Prisca on the Aventine Hill

 These are the relics of St. Boniface and St. Alexis under the Altar in the Church of St. Alexis on the Aventine Hill.  This Church is between Santa Sabina and San Anselmo at the very summit of the Hill and often overlooked because of the other two more significant Churches that flank it and the "Key Hole" tourist attraction right next door to it.

Relics of St. Boniface and St. Alexis

Interior of St. Alexis on the Aventine

 Cosmedian Floors in Church of St. Alexis

Cosmedian Floors in St. Alexis

 This is the world wide headquarters of the Benedictine Monks at the very top of the Aventine Hill, called San Anselmo.  It is a newer Church built in the old Constantinian style, you can see the Bell Tower, there is a courtyard with a fountain and then the Church proper.

San Anselmo

 Though new it has a very Old 4th Century look to it. You can see the Timber Ceiling.

San Anselmo Interior

 After the walk and Geo Caching we returned for Pranzo, I went out for walk to the Borgo Pio in the afternoon and visited the Filippini Sister's Convent.  For Cena three of us treked down to Trastevere for Dinner at a local restaurant.  I don't know the name but there was line before the place opened and all those folks were turned away since they did not have reservations.  We didn't either but only being 3 was a distinct advantage as they had one table for three empty!!!!!!!  YEAH.  It was delicious. The first shot is of the ceiling, the second of our Pizza from the wood burning oven.  Afterwards we went to a place called 'Chocolate and Wine' and had shots of rum in dark chocolate edible shot glasses, better than a dessert!!!

Ceiling in a Trastevere Restaurant

Our Pizza's, the third course of our meal.