Rome in the Rain

Today was another early morning as we set off for the Vatican before dawn to get in line to see the pope -- and it was raining. We lined up with a crowd and waited in the rain for about an hour until they started admitting people to St. Peter Square. Let's just say that the street vendors were doing a brisk business selling rain ponchos and umbrellas, and we were among their best customers. Although almost all of us had rain jackets and umbrellas, it was raining pretty hard at times, and the knee length ponchos were much appreciated.

Although we didn't get any special seats near the front, we were able to sit in a section where the pope-mobile would drive directly behind us. After quite a long wait, the giant TV monitors came on and the crowd started buzzing, and we knew something was about to happen. As we waited for the pope-mobile, people started standing on chairs and shoving into all the rows near the pope's route, including ours. One girl landed on Peggy and Tricia when the chair she was standing on collapsed. It was a zoo, but it was worth every raindrop and inconvenience when the pope-mobile stopped right in front of us and we got to see the pope's radiant and benevolent face. The pope kissed a baby and then looked around at us. Several of us swear he made eye contact. It was very, very special, and almost everyone got some really good photos.

Our tour guide said the pope was wearing makeup and that the pope-mobile had special lights to enhance photography. But, in the words of our tour guide, "Eh, so what-eh!" It's a great idea!

After seeing the pope, there were some long readings in at least 10 different languages, then a message from the pope in Italian, and then greetings from the pope to all the pilgrims in about 10 languages. As you can see, some of us had a bit of trouble focusing on the program. There was prayer with the pope and a blessing at the end.

After the papal audience, we had a quick lunch and then drove to St. John Lateran Basilica. This is one of the four papal churches in Rome that I mentioned yesterday. Here is a photo of the Holy Door that will be opened on December 8 and the high altar where only the pope is allowed to consecrate the eucharist (although our local guide told us that other bishops may use the altar for special celebrations with permission of the pope). St. John Lateran is the home church of the pope in his role as Bishop of Rome, whereas St. Peter's is his home church as Pope.

We then headed out for the fourth of the papal basilicas, St. Paul Outside the Wall -- and that's when we hit our own wall -- a wall of traffic that kept us completely gridlocked for over an hour.

Our tour guide called the catacombs where we were supposed to celebrate Mass after our visit to St. Paul's, but she found out that they closed at 5:00 PM. Father Nathan decided to skip St. Paul's, but in the end, we had to cancel Mass at the catacombs as well. Our local guide was embarrassed; he said he had never seen such a traffic nightmare, and Father Nathan decided to return to the hotel. Once traffic started moving, there were still many snarls, sirens, and flashing lights. Our bus driver had to turn wherever he could, and I think we might have gone the wrong way through some roundabouts and one-way streets, but we had a wild and interesting ride back to the hotel. I feel bad for my sister and some of the other pilgrims who really wanted to visit the catacombs, but there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. Everyone seemed to take it in stride, and we arrived back at the hotel as a group of happy pilgrims (looking forward to caffe, wine, and dinner).

P.S. I added the missing photos to yesterday's post.

St. Peter's and the Other Papal Churches

I apologize for not posting yesterday, but the internet at our hotel is very slow, and I had trouble uploading the photos (and what's a blog without pictures?). I made up for it today with two blog posts. The missing day, Monday, was a pretty light day with a lot of driving -- unlike today, which was crazily busy. Here goes!

Today we headed out on the bus at 6:15 AM. Even though our hotel is very close to the Vatican, we had to get there by 7:00 AM to be able to celebrate Mass in one of the private chapels below the main altar at St. Peter's. It was truly a privilege to enter St. Peter's at that early hour and get to see the inside of the basilica almost empty. We were not allowed to dawdle, but I don't think any of us will ever forget the vastness and beauty of our first glimpse.

After Mass, our tour guide lead us on a race walk to the entrance of the Vatican Museums, where we were to meet our local guide. She said if we were late, we would lose our preferred entry status and would have to get in the general admission line, which was even longer. It was very, very crowded, but our local guide told us that it was not a busy day. We made our way through the museum, and I've got to say that the "group route" we took was not very interesting. We went through some Greco-Roman statues, some tapestries, and then some giant maps painted on the walls. We then arrived at the Sistine Chapel and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with all the other visitors while the docents kept shouting out for SILENCE. I know I'm painting a rather negative picture, but although of course this is a "must see" when visiting Italy, it truly was not very enjoyable. Our local guide was excellent, though, in giving us a lot of information before we entered the chapel so that we could understand the history of the chapel and Michelangelo's masterpiece. No photos were allowed. 

We then returned to St. Peter's for a guided tour with our local guide under much more crowded conditions. We saw the most famous Pieta by Michelangelo. 

We visited the tombs of St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII, and we learned that the beautiful "high altar" by Bernini was created from bronze taken from the Pantheon -- a pagan Roman building. 

We also learned that only the pope is allowed to consecrate the eucharist at the high altar, both at St. Peter's and at the other three papal basilicas in Rome (St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul Outside the Wall.) St. Peter's and the other three basilicas all have a "holy door" that gets opened only every 25 years -- so the last time they were opened was in the year 2000. However, since Pope Francis has declared next year to be a Holy Year of Mercy, those doors will all be opened on December 8 of this year. 

Speaking of the Holy Year of Mercy, it is estimated that about 20,000,000 people will visit the Vatican next year compared to about 6,000,000 last year.

After all our touring, it was finally time for lunch and free time. We had intended to visit the Vatican gift shop but ended up getting so side-tracked with a fun lunch that we never made it. Maybe tomorrow!

After lunch, we got back on the bus and took a short driving tour of Rome. Although Rome is very crowded, I think it is an awesomely beautiful and lively city. Our tour guide pointed out many landmarks and churches, and we stopped to visit St. Mary Major and St. Peter in Chains, which houses the Moses sculpture by Michelangelo and also the chains used on St. Peter when he was held prisoner. 

St. Peter in Chains is very near the colosseum, so most of the pilgrims walked to an overlook to take pictures. Some of our group will choose to spend more time at the Roman sites on our free day on Friday.

So, it was then time to return to the hotel to rest up for dinner. Tomorrow, we return to the Vatican to see the pope.

Orvietio

Today as we left Assisi, our tour guide, Isabella, kept counting and counting the pilgrims on the bus, and by the third time she realized that two of our pilgrims were missing. We had to turn around -- not an easy feat on those narrow mountain roads -- and Isabella hiked up the hill to our hotel to find the missing pilgrims. They boarded the bus, and we were finally on our way to Orvieto.

Orvieto is an Umbrian hill town very high up from the main road. It was the site of a eucharist miracle in the 12th century, and a cathedral was built there to commemorate the miracle. After parking the bus, we had to first ride a funicular up the hillside and then take a shuttle bus to the town square. The cathedral dominates the square and is a beautiful building made of striped marble with much carving and beautiful sparkling mosaics. Unfortunately, much of the facade was covered with scaffolding, so it wasn't possible to see it in its entirety. Here are pictures with and without the scaffolding for comparison.

We celebrated mass in a small grotto below the main cathedral, and then we toured the main cathedral. Apparently while we were there, the archbishop was also inside along with a couple of cardinals and some carabinieri, so we had to be on our best behavior.

It was then time for lunch with a little free time afterward for shopping. Unfortunately many of the shops were closed either because it was Monday or maybe because it was time for siesta. The streets of the town, though, were quaint and charming, so it was a pleasant setting for strolling and eating gelato.

After navigating our way back down the hill, we were off to Rome, and we arrived in a couple of hours. Today was a relaxing, low-key day, which is good because we are now preparing for a very early morning mass tomorrow at St. Peter's in the Vatican.

The Lord's Lanterns in Assisi

Today is Sunday, and we're in Assisi. We drove down the hill to a beautiful church called Saint Mary of the Angels. This church was built on the site where St. Francis died, and a small "porzuincola" (little house) is erected in his honor.

When we entered the church, a mass was being held for the general public. We were shown to a small chapel where we celebrated a private mass with Father Nathan presiding.

For this mass, Father Nathan chose the readings for the feast day of St. Francis (rather than the lexionary readings), and the gospel reading was the one about not hiding our light under a basket but instead being the light of Christ for all to see. That is one of Tricia's favorite readings, and it reminded her of her small faith sharing group, which is named "The Lord's Lanterns."

After mass, we drove up the hill to the town of Assisi. Approaching it from below is a thrilling sight. It's a medieval hill town that is visible from afar.

We arrived and were able to enter the church of St. Clare and then tour her tomb and see some of her clothing relics in the museum. We then walked to the Basilica of St. Francis at the opposite end of town.

We enjoyed lunch as a group at a venue that dated back to medieval times.

We were then able to enter the "lower church" at the St. Francis Basilica and descend to the tomb of St. Francis. We then toured the "upper church," which contains a fresco storybook of the life of St. Francis.

It was then time to make a decision. About half the pilgrims decided to go back to the hotel (what?), and the rest of us decided to stay in town for caffe, sweets, and shopping.

By this time, the crowds had thinned out (our tour guide said she had never seen it so crowded), and we were able to enjoy a delightful caffe break and then head out to the shops. This was a time to bask in the medieval architecture and enjoy being Assisi.

 

The weather was perfect, and the light in the town and from the hilltop view was glorious. While we found some undeniable material pleasures in our shopping, the experience was magnified by our surroundings. We returned to our hotel very gratified both corporally and spiritually.

Tomorrow, we will stop at Orvieto, the site of a eucharistic miracle, to celebrate mass, before we head for Rome, our final pilgrimage destination.

Pilgrim Pictures

Here are some photos sent to me by others in our group to share on the blog. Enjoy!

Chianti Classico

This morning we left Montecatini Terme and drove to the beautiful city of Siena. It is a medieval town surrounded by a wall and sits high on a hill surrounded by stunning countryside. We went immediately to the Basilica of St Catherine -- yes, the famous St Catherine of Siena.

This is church has some beautiful stained glass, but it's otherwise rather plain and currently filled with scaffolding. It's main feature is the head of St Catherine, which is housed in its own chapel. The story goes that Siena and Rome were fighting over her remains and that her head became separated from her body during a tug-of-war with Siena ending up with the head. Fortunately, the head is covered by a decorative mask. No photos were allowed. We celebrated mass in a small chapel inside the basilica.

We then walked through the old town of Siena to see the beautiful "campo," the major town square, which is not a square but a fan shaped, sloping plaza made from two colors of brick. It's very different and beautiful.

Speaking of beauty, nothing compares to the grandeur of Siena's cathedral, Santa Maria Assunta (Our Lady of the Assumption).

Unfortunately our limited time in Siena didn't allow for a tour of the inside of the cathedral, but it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful churches in the world. Almost all of us on the tour wished we'd had more time to spend in Siena to see the cathedral, explore the streets, and particularly to do so some shopping.

We left Siena on a very crowded shuttle bus to take us back to our tour bus. We had fun, though, packed in like sardines and singing "Getting to Know You." We were in a happy mood because our next stop was lunch and wine tasting. After Mr. Toad's wild ride up a steep Tuscan hillside, we arrived at the Dievole winery with a long table set up for all 42 of us to eat and drink together. Let's just say that the wine flowed freely, and we also had a gourmet "light" lunch that was both delicious and filling. After lunch, we got to taste Chianti Classico, Super Tuscan, and Chianti Classico Riserva. Magnifico! Many of us purchased wine to take with us or to have shipped back home.

Then, on to Assisi! I think our tour guide was pretty happy that most of us fell asleep on the bus. Before long, we saw Assisi high on a hill all lit up for the night. We arrived at a very nice hotel and had a sumptuous buffet dinner. We can't wait to celebrate Sunday mass tomorrow in the town of St Francis. Happy pilgrims!