Return to Rome

A few weeks ago I went to Rome once again, this was now my third time there but some friends wanted me to go and I never could get tired of Rome so I was happy to go along. After arriving in the city and getting squared away a few of us wanted to go out to a proper Italian dinner. Now of course these are not cheap, but a few of us wanted to splurge. At the recommendation of a friend and some great reviews online we went to a place on the western side of the city.

We got there about six o’clock and the place was empty so we were a it skeptical as we sat down, hoping that the Italian habit of eating very late was solely to blame for the dearth of patrons. Sure enough we were not let down. We started with Italian antipasti, cold meats, cheeses, olives, bread, marinated zucchini, artichokes and mushrooms and a few other dishes. Half an hour later we were on to the primi piati, that is pasta. We started with a penne tossed in a spicy cream sauce. The chef came out with the pasta still in the pan and dished it out to each of us individually, and the last person, Chris, got to eat right out of the pan. It was delicious. Next, the second phase of the primi piati, we had a lasagna style pasta in a tomato cream sauce, also stupendous. They keep the servings pretty small but we were all feeling it by the time we were on the secondi piati, which is supposed to be the main course, often a type of meat. We had a small chicken breast, house-made sausage and a skewer of lamb accompanied by pan-seared cheese. All of this of course accompanied with wine, the guys choosing a bottle of red, and the girls choosing a bottle of white. For dessert there was of course tiramisu, a very small piece of us because by now we were nearly bursting at the seams. All in all dinner took nearly three hours and was a true and wonderful experience of authentic Italian dining.

The next day Chris and I got up pretty early and caught the metro as close as we could to St. Peter’s, walked the rest of the way and went to Mass in the Basilica. After Mass we went to the Vatican Museum. Luckily we had already purchased tickets because the line was about half a mile long. The Vatican Museums are amazing, they really are, everyone should have the joy of visiting them. My favorite part wasa room dedicated to the dogma of the immaculate conception and some of the rooms painted by Michelangelo, and of course the Sistine Chapel.

The Museum took many hours and by the time we had finished we were quite tired. But we went and got some lunch at a highly rated sandwich place, got some gelato and then headed back to the hostel for a short nap before going to dinner with everyone. 

The next day Chris and I went to Mass at a church run by the Fraternity of St. Peter. I had been to the church for a Mass during the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage a few weeks prior. Afterwards we took the bus to St. Peter’s. There I sent a postcard to my family and we bought some gifts. We took one last long look at St. Peter’s before getting on the metro to head back to the hostel and then back to Riva.

The Institute of Christ the King & Florence

The last few days of my week I spent at the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest’s St. Phillip Neri Seminary in Gricigliano, a region of Italy just west of Florence. Thursday afternoon I took a train from Siena to Florence. I had an hour-long layover waiting for my next train so I grabbed a cappuccino and pastry at a local café while I did some journaling. Then I got on a local train for the twenty-minute ride to Gricigliano. On arrival I was met by a French seminarian in cassock and fasha. From the station it is a five-minute grave-road ride up the closest hill to the seminary. The seminary, set in the rolling hills of Tuscany and overlooking the sleepy town of Sieci, is set in sloped fields of grape vines and olive trees, which when in season are picked by the seminarians for the home-made wine and olive oil produced at the seminary.  The mild yellow and orange-red brick roof of the seminary is a beautiful complimentary to the gentle shades of green that run throughout the landscape.

Currently a small crane stands in the center of seminary courtyard. The whole roof is currently being recovered. And the yellow walls are undergoing extensive renovation. The building is hundreds of years old and was originally one of the summer homes of a powerful Italian family, the Martelli Family, who had homes all throughout Europe.  Recently it belonged to French Benedictine monks, who when not receiving vocations from the region gave it to the Institute of Christ the King. The building is constantly undergoing renovation to compensate for its age.

At the iron gate entry I met Abbe Kotsko, a seminarian I met this past summer. Abbe is a French title that precedes the names of all the seminarians who have been studying for more than one year. He gave me a partial tour of the seminary before Vespers and dinner. One of the co-patrons of the Institute is St. Benedict and from him they take many aspects of traditional Benedictine spirituality and prayer structure. Having just spent a few days in Norcia with Benedictines who still keep to St. Benedict’s Rule rigorously, it was wonderful to see the similarities, the devotions and prayers taken by the Institute from St. Benedict. One of the obvious traditions is the Benedictine Prayer before and after meals that is used, and like the Benedictine meals, the seminary meals are typically had in silence, while there is a table reading, there is a lector who reads current events at the Vatican, writings of saints and other Church and religious related books.

After dinner there is about half an hour of free time, the seminarians are free to play chess, cards, or enjoy conversation before compline, night prayer. This is a lively time at the seminary because at all other times of the day there is a general rule of reservation and solitude around the seminary, there is no needless conversation or other liveliness, which is another aspect taken from St. Benedict. So for this half hour the seminarians really enjoy each others company. I met many seminarians during these evening free periods. The official language of the Institute is French, but there are enough American seminarians, and other English speakers to feel at home.

The bell rings and a sudden silence instantly falls over the room, conversations are truncated as everyone proceeds out the door into the evening chill towards the chapel. The chapel is dark, except for a few candles as the seminarians with their superiors, process into the chapel in surplus and biretta topped with the hallmark royal blue pom-pom. Compline is chanted in Latin according to the 1961 breviary. Afterwards the seminarians spend a few minutes in silent prayer before a statue of their principle patron, Our Lady. Each one files out on his own accord as the seminary goes to sleep for the night.

In the morning I went with a few other seminarians to the 7am private Mass of the financial director of the seminary, followed by a quick breakfast. Then Abbe and I were driven to the train station because we were going to see Florence for the day. We arrived in Florence and enjoyed the Cathedral, a few other churches, as well as a great flea market and a small food festival. We also went to the museum, Plazzia Vechio, where Florentine royalty once lived.

Saturday we were up in the morning, it was All Saints Day, so there was a Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Faldstool celebrated by an Italian bishop whose name escapes me presently. It was a beautiful Mass, in attendance were a few laity as well as the Sister Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus, which is the sister community of the Institute.

After Mass there was a huge celebratory lunch appropriate for such a glorious feast day. The five course French inspired meal went on for hours, with lots of food, wine, and the restriction of silence temporarily suspended, the Institute clearly demonstrated how celebration of the saints and the joy of the feast flows out of the Liturgy and into the entire day of the faithful catholic. After lunch we all moved into a sitting room for coffee and after lunch liquors on a balcony overlooking the Tuscan landscape.

After enjoying an espresso and Carthusian made liquor accompanied by long and loud wonderful conversation, the seminarians were called to help clean up the party we had just enjoyed. As a guest this duty was off limits to me, so I was blessed enjoy a long late afternoon nap until vespers. After vespers, the evening was followed by dinner, which was very light, taking into account the massive meal a few hours before. Then came the evening discussion, which was a bit muted compared to the day before because of the exhaustion brought by the days earlier festivities. Compline followed, and then bed.

Sunday is another day of merriment in the seminary, which follows properly only after prayers have been said. So we started the day with Terce, one of the minor hours of the Divine Office. Lauds was not said in choir because the seminarians are permitted to sleep in on Sundays. Terce was followed immediately by the homily for the day. The homily is given outside of the Mass so that the intensity of the Sunday liturgy is allowed to develop without interruption. After Mass and some free time lunch was had without conversation but while enjoying some classical music.

Then was a post-lunch espresso after which Abbe Kotsko showed me around some of the seminary which I had not yet seen, which for a typically quiet and reflective sanctuary seemed like it was running on fumes after two days of holiday like festivities. After this minor tour and packing I was taken to the train station for my ride home after a wonderful week that was a welcome, more contemplative change of pace from the program so far. On to the BIT classes.

Assisi & Siena

I arrived in Assisi around two in the afternoon. Originally I had planned to get there earlier in the day but I wanted to spend a few extra hours in Norcia for Mass and lunch. I rented a room at a cozy little bed and breakfast just across the street from the train station. After getting checked in I caught the bus from the train station for the ten minute ride to downtown Assisi.

I hadn’t done much planning on what to see but I figured if I saw a steeple I would head toward it. The first church I ran into was the Cathedral of San Rufino. A very pretty church, but paling in comparison to many other churches I have seen in my travels and even others in Assisi. Next, I headed up the hill to Rocca Maggiore, the extensive castle ruins that overlook the town. I didn’t want to pay to see the castle so I enjoyed the view from the outside and the surrounding landscape. I had brought with me two beers from the monks in Norcia, one of which I had in my little backpack. So as the sun began to set I enjoyed a Norcia beer overlooking Assisi sitting on the ruins of Rocca Maggiore.

Since it was a Tuesday the town was not packed with tourists, in fact it was rather empty. As the day dragged on, while discovering the cobblestone streets and ancient stone homes I noticed very few people and even those I did see were religious or locals. I made my way to St. Francis’s Basilica. The upper church has amazing paintings of the life of St. Francis covering all the walls and ceilings. It is strange, the colors in the paintings are powerfully vibrant but when one looks in a more detailed way, many of the frescos that decorate the Church are in desperate need of restoration. Down below is the lower church, which is also covered in frescos the life of Christ and images of the saints cover the walls and ceiling, with the focal point above the altar is a fresco of the Last Judgment.  In the crypt the Blessed Sacrament is reposed and St. Francis’s coffin is visible.

 Unfortunately in this church I found all the people that I hadn’t seen while walking about the town, many were on tours led by friars, but these tours, unconcerned with silence, were so numerous that the spirit of prayer was unfortunately lost. When I came out of the Church it was almost completely dark, so I got some pizza that was noteworthy only for how bad it was, and then took the bus back to my B&B for the night.

The next morning I got up early and enjoyed a lovely little breakfast put together by the owner. I was the only one staying for the night in the B&B so I had a nice peaceful breakfast to myself before cleaning up and departing for Siena. I wish I had spent more time in Assisi, I didn’t see everything I would have liked to, but that is just reason to one day return. I got to Siena in the early afternoon, but I had not figured out the bus system before hand and it did not come easily so I ended up walking to my next Hostel. Siena is nestled in a particularly hilly part of Tuscany so my walk was not very pleasant thanks to inclines and the hiking backpack. Once again though my hostel was very nice and the owner was very personable. He gave me a map and recommended some places to see and eat.

From my hostel it was a five-minute walk into the walled old-town of Siena. It is a classic old town infused with new life. There are countless designer stores strewn along the main corridor packed into the tight street-side ancient homes. Gelato shops, cafés and restaurants keep the locals and the tourists full. It is about a one-hour walk from one side of the old town to the other at a leisurely pace. I really enjoyed the walk; I took my time to enjoy all the happenings. I ended up in the Piazza del Campo, the main square in the old town; it takes on the form of a sort of flattened and enlarged amphitheater shape. The semi-circular side is lined with restaurants while the flat side of the campo is home of the town hall. The young people localize there to enjoy each other’s company, and the tourists spend the money at top-dollar restaurants to enjoy the buzz of the square. I hung out there for a few minutes before moving on.

I walked up a few steps to the Siena Cathedral. I got a ticket and first checked out the cathedral museum. It was a relatively small collection of churchy stuff, but what they had was impressive. There was some wonderful metalwork, chalices, patens, cruets, and more. What was most impressive was the display of vestments, there was probably twenty different beautiful medieval chasubles and a few copes, the most extensive display I have seen. I wish I was allowed to take pictures, o well…

There was an amazing view from the top of an adjacent building overlooking the cathedral, all of Siena, and the surrounding countryside. When I got the to view the sun had just fallen behind far off hills and I spent time taking in the 360 panoramic view.

I spent about half an hour in the Cathedral. It was now dark outside so the Cathedral was not particularly well lit and I was feeling a bit tired, so I did not get the ideal experience in the church. Additionally the intersection of the church transepts, that is the very center of the church, all the way up to the high altar was all blocked off and under construction so I did not get to move through that part of the church. But the cathedral is still magnificent. In fact it is one of the most incredible churches I have seen and the best of the churches in cities of comparable size. I took some pictures, they will do far more justice than my words can, but they are still inadequate.

After the cathedral I headed home for the night, it was dark and the bustle city was winding down. The next morning I got up pretty late and had a nice easy morning. After checking out I found my way to a great little café just a few minutes walk, recommended to me by the hostel owner. I had a few pastries and a cappuccino for dirt cheap(at least in European terms) before walking back to the train station. Next was Florence and the Institute of Christ the King!

As Close to Heaven as Earth can Reach

After getting off the bus and saying good bye to my newly discovered and very generous friends I walked through the town of Norcia to the town square, on which is the Basilica dedicated to St. Benedict and St. Scholastica, in the crypt is the location of their birth. I entered the church as the monks were finishing chanting evening prayer.

Immediately after they finished, the guestmaster, Brother Anthony came to greet me. He was very kind, American, and a bit peculiar in his personality, he seemed almost like he may have been a skater or a surfer in his earlier life, needless to say a very laid-back and welcoming man. He brought me into the monastery for dinner. All meals are taken in silence according the Benedictine Rule, which provides time for introspection and evaluation of the day and so forth. But at many meals there is table reading, one of the monks reads from some sort of spiritual book while the rest eat.

The meal was quite nice, from what I remember it was a pasta with some simple sauce and a table filled with leftovers from the past few days that could be had by all. They also had beer and wine that one could drink as desired. But the note-worthy element, the Monks of Norcia brew their own beer. Of course this is what is served at meals and it is quite good. After my meal I was shown to the guest house, right around the corner from the basilica and entrance to the monastery. I was shown to my room, with two beds, a desk with accompanying chair, two dressers and a few religious pictures it was elegantly simple, perfect for someone who wants a taste of monastic life. It was furnished for two visitors but there were very few while I was there so I had the room to myself.

Compline, that is night prayer, was at 7:45pm and bed followed. At Norcia the monks are up at 3:45 each morning to chant Matins for a little more than an hour. It was quite funny, I wanted to go and I set my alarm clock accordingly, but that very night was the night of the Day Light Savings Time change in Europe, and not accounting for it, I missed Matins the first night. But Lauds, that is morning prayer, was at 6am so I was up for that followed by breakfast, also taken in Silence. The rest of the day was returning to the chapel every hours for chant, Latin Mass at 10am and helping around the monastery with preparing meals or giving more time to prayer.

The first day was notable because the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage that I had previously tagged along on had Mass said in the basilica by the Abbot with an Italian Cardinal present, I forget who it was though. It was a beautiful Mass and was completely packed. But as the Pilgrims funneled out to go tour the town peace once again ruled.

My time spent in Norcia was deeply moving and spiritually invigorating, but much of it was spent in silence, with little real “activity” to write about. Each day was filled with silence, the Liturgy of the Hours, Mass, private time for spiritual reading and recollection, and of course coffee. It becomes quite necessary in order to keep up with 3:45am vigils even for just a few days. I determined to keep a spirit appropriate for the monastery, embracing the stillness and silence of it all as best as I could in order to be disposed to the graces of the place as much as possible, so I did not wander about the town much at all, trying to live the life of a temporary o-so-transitory, but never-the-less… a monk.

I did spend an hour or so one day in the early afternoon walking around the small town, taking some pictures and stopping in some of the stores to pick up gifts. Norcia is a tiny walled town, now renowned for it meat and spices. But it seems like time has really stood still there. A quiet place in the middle of the rolling hills of Umbria, Italy, it seems cut off from so much of the noise of the world, a perfect place for a monastery. 

The last day I was taken on a private tour of the brewery. It is brand new but is tiny compared to most, only a few thousand square feet, really just a large room. But it was very interesting to see “behind the curtain”. After lunch I caught a local bus to Spoleto on my way to Assisi.

A Return to the Eternal City, for the Mass of the Ages!

The second week-long break had arrived and I was off for an extensive tour of catholic Italy on a solo nine-day pilgrimage.

My first stop was naturally Rome. Though I have been before, I found a few weeks before departing for this trip that the annual Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage would be making its way to the Eternal City the first weekend of my break. The pilgrimage celebrates the 2007 document, in which Pope Benedict XVI allowed for priests to freely say Mass according the 1962 Missal, more easily referred to as the Traditional Latin Mass or the Tridinite Mass. Needless to say, these are my kind of people, so I decided to hop on the pilgrimage for a few days.

I arrived in Rome on Friday around 1pm and met my cousin, who lives in the city, for lunch. Afterwards I checked into my hostel and figured out my plans for the evening. Summorum Pontificum was praying the Stations of the Cross on the Palatine Hill that afternoon which I planned to attend. I never made it. There was a huge demonstration in front of the main bus station, so none of the buses were running though it. So I did not make it in time, instead once I finally arrived very late I wandered around the Palatine Hill, saw the forum, and enjoyed some free time.

Later that evening I attended a Solemn High Mass for the 10^th anniversary of the Juventutem Movement, a movement of young people attached to the older form of the liturgy. After the Mass while waiting for the church to empty I started talking to some young men from the States, and after talking for a while learned that they are cousins with one of my good friends from back home. We talked for a long time, but the pilgrimage had an early morning planned for the next day so we went our ways planning to see each other the next day. I grabbed some pizza for dinner and then headed back to the hostel for the night. I was staying in a 6-person room and I got talking to the other guys. I talked to them for probably two hours about my travels and theirs before finally getting to bed.

The next morning I made my way to a holy hour and rosary hosted of course by Summorum Pontificum. From there we all processed all the way to the Vatican as glorious witness of the Church of Christ ever attached to the glories of Catholic Tradition. We processed through the main doors of St. Peter’s and all the way to the Altar of the Chair. After we had all made our way to respective seats Mass begun, offered by his eminence Cardinal Burke. I am not sure what more a person could want; the Mass of the ages in all of its glorious and heavenly decorum and devotion, celebrated by one of the most faithful Bishops alive today, in the Church that is the very center of Christendom.  I don’t know what could be truer manifestation of the glory of God and his Holy Church.

After Mass I was invited by my new friends to hop on their bus, as they were heading out to Norcia at nearly the same time I was planning on taking the train. So I joined them and enjoyed some prayer and wonderful conversation on the two-hour bus ride.