Porta Sancta (Holy Gate/Door)

Today we had our first class, The Development of Christian Art.  It was a 2 hour class covering Early Christian art up to the Renaissance.

In the afternoon we toured St. Peter's with a different Professor, Elizabeth Lev.  Her Mom was the United States Ambassador to the Holy See, Mrs. Mary Ann Glendon of Boston.  She was very engaging, funny and gave us a wonderful tour from 2:30-4:30pm.  Here are some pictures.

This is obviously St. Peter's Basilica but you will note the crane arm on the right of the picture.  The entire complex is being cleaned, paid for through the generosity of the Knights of Columbus.  One side of Bernini's Colonnade has already been cleaned the effect is quite dramatic, the marble and statues on top are brilliant white. Eventually the whole complex will be white again after nearly 1000 years of grime.

St. Peter's

Here is Elizabeth Lev chatting inside the Colonnade before we go up to the Basilica.  The Priest in the back ground with the clerical shirt on is Msgr. Figueiredo, the director of our program.  He was born in Goa, India and grew up in England, worked in Africa then moved to the USA and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Newark.  He taught at Immaculate Conception Seminary/Seton Hall University for five years before moving to Rome to Work for the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.  He then transferred to the Directorship of the ICTE.  The Priest is Red is a thirsty Canadian Military Chaplain.

Elizabeth Lev

Here are some of the priests milling about the Obelisk in St. Peter's Square.  This is the largest of Rome's Obelisk that is entirely in one piece.  It was brought to Rome from Egypt by the Emperor Calligula and placed in the Imperial Circus in the valley between Vatican Hill and Janiculum Hill.  The Pope had it moved during construction of the Basilica to the front of the Basilica and it was an engineering wonder. 

Milling about at the Obelisk

The priest in the blue shirt on the left is Fr. Dolan, a favorite American name here in Rome owing to the fame and favor of Cardinal Tim Dolan of New York.  On the 2nd night here we had introductions and Fr. Dolan said he was pastor of a 6,000 family parish and the other priests all went "oh, ah, wow, unbelievable", someone announced he must have the largest parish..... until 5 priests later when I said I had a 7,000 family parish with Schools etc.  Then there was silence and Fr. Dolan said, "You win, I can't beat that!"  The priest on the right is not a Blues Brother, he is from New Zealand.  

The Blue's Brother's do Rome