Monday at the Vatican Museums

As you begin reading this post, just a reminder. I have photographed works of art in what may be the greatest museum in the world. There are images of nude sculptures. If there are children viewing this with you, scroll down to decide if you want them to see it. It may save you from the task of explaining things.

Monday morning was a cool and cloudy day. Our schedule was to meet Liz Lev at the main entrance of the Vatican Museums (Plural, because there about a dozen museums at the Vatican.) I have visited these museums on several occasions but I have never experienced them like I did today.

When I was in my first year of seminary, I had a introductory philosphy course where the professor made a statement that I have never forgotten. "What is said can never be separated from how it is said." Liz introduced our tour by saying that not only is this one of the premier collections of human genius in the world, but that the various museums, and their exhibits are arranged so that the message of the gospel becomes evident. I never understood that before today. So, what is said is not separated from how it is said. After going through the security, obtaining group tickets, and the closed circuit headsets so that Liz could address our group privately, we gathered on a terrace with one of the most striking views of the dome of St. Peter's.

The dome is visible rising out of the gradens. It is one of the few places where the entire dome is visible, including the drum, that cylindrical portion below the actual curved dome which is hidden from view in St. Peter's square because of the extension forward of the nave by 200%. For Michaelangelo who always thought in terms of the human form, even in architecture, saw his dome as the head rising above the shoulders of the basilica. In the basilica are the statues of the saints, depictions of the human elements of the church, and burial vaults of all those awating the resurrection. In the dome are the angels, the blue sky, and the light radiating down to enlighten the world in its quest to reach that eternal life promised by the God incarnate.

Liz, began by explaining to us what this art would have meant to the ancient people through modern times. This art and these images would have had an impact on them not unlike the impact of television, cinema, and now the internet has in our culture. Art was information, education, political propaganda, news, and it defined social structures and order. It was not exclusive, because most of it was public. It was on display in public buildings and open spaces, on facades of buildings. There were private collections, but for the most part, art was accessible to the average person who would have been moved, excited, terrified, warned, and would have learned religion, culture, and stories of one's world. It is difficult for us to comprehend how much impact a single piece of art would have because we are inundated with images and media every day. We take it for granted. But a new work of art could take decades and people would wait expectantly for an unveiling, and if it was good art, it would move them and change them. A single work of art could change the course of history. This was the nature of Christian art particularly. For greats like Michaelangelo, it was all about telling a story of faith.

To begin, Liz took us to the first museum of Pre-Christian Art, especially the Roman region. Below is a photo of the start of this tour.

The series of museums are arranged for one purpose: to get us into the summit of all Christian Art; the Sistine Chapel. And so we begin with pagan pre-Christian art. People have asked why would the church preserve art from a culture that was trying to eradicate the faith. As the curator of the Ancient Christian Museum told us as he happened to walk by, (Liz snagged him. It was a real treat.) The church wants us to see what it was that we triumphed over. And so above, in the Pre-Christian Museum, these are mosaics of the floor taken from the baths of Caracala. These ruins show a huge complex of baths with both hot and cold running water and pools where wealthy Romans wold go every day. It was for bathing, exercise, gymnastics, everything was designed to glorify the human body alone as the summit of creation. Human perfection was achievable by the perfection of the body. So these figures are super muscular, super human. The goal was to achieve the perfection of the gods. Humans who looked like the ideal of the gods was the achievements of life.

This was the unattainable ideal. The god Apollo stands with his perfect mathematically precise form and proportions. His gaze is uninterested in the mortals below. His casual stance is typical and says to humans, "This is untouchable for you". The realm of the gods is not for humans and it is impossible to make a connection visually with this being. This was the pagan notion of the world, where all there is the physical and satisfying the physical urges and the glorification of the human being. There was no concept of heaven so perfection needed to be achieved in the here and now.

Michaelangelo would have seen this statue and it would have formed his early understanding of what sculpture whould be. But then there was the discovery of this other statue. "Lacoon and his sons".

Group of Laocoon and his sons. According to Greek mythology, Laocoon was a priest seer of the god Apollo. He tried to warn the Greeks not to accept the gift of the Trojan horse. For this he angered the gods and they sent sea serpents to destroy him and his sons. This statue was discovered in 1506 and changed Michaelangelo's vision of sculpure forever. The face of Laocoon is visible in the face of Adam when God sends Adam and Eve out of the Garden after their original sin. The forms in this sculpture are not the perfect, disinterested, faces of gods, but of real human suffering. These are the kinds of shapes, lines and images that Michaelangelo will use on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and his greatest work, the Last Judgement, also in the Sistine Chapel. 

After visiting the pre-Christian Museum, we get a chance to visit the early Christian Museum. The earliest Christian art is mostly in the catacombs, wall frescoes, burial plaques, and especially the sarcophagi. These relics tell us that there were very wealthy early Christians buried alongside the poor who did not have the elaborate tombs. The first Christian art was in the form of symbols - fish, ship, lamp, the acronym in Greek spelling the Name of Christ. These symbols told stories. But later the carvings in the catacombs and the sarcophagi tell the complete story of salvation. This is the pat of the tour that was totally new for me. It was curious that there was no evidence of a cross on any of the examples of early Christian art. The early christians were horrified by this instrument of torture and death. Again it was not until the persecutions ended and Christianity decriminalized that the cross began to take on a new meaning for the church.

I will try my best to describe the details of the tomb portrayed in my photograph below.

You have to read the two levels simultaneously. It is the entire story of salvation. In the upper left hand is the depiction of the Trinity. (and remember, this is 220 years before the council of the church which defined the Trinity in our creed.) The three figures to the upper left are the Spirit, Father, and Son. The Son's hands are on two children, representing creation. Next three figures are Adam and Eve, with God between them instructing them not to take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent and the tree are visible next to Eve. On the lower level is Joseph, barely visible behind seated Mary, holding the infant Jesus. Coming to them are the wise men. The first one is pointing not to 1 star, but 3 stars, not visible in this photo. Each star is directly below one of the persons of the Trinity. These are the wise and learned people who are seeking the truth in this child and the Trinity. The naked figure in the lower center is Daniel coming out of the lion's den. This is a powerful figure for these early Christians, many of whom had seen their fellow Christians thrown to the lions themselves. Survival from the lions was a powerful force and a sign of hope in the faith life of these early Christians. Next to the scene of Daniel, are scenes of stories in Jesus' life: Jesus welcomes the child, on the upper level, the miracle at Cana, and below, the denial of Peter, (see the rooster on the ground), and Jesus' arrest. Remember many early Christians were being arrested as Jesus was. This was seen as a sharing in the suffering of Jesus that would win them the crown in heaven. The large medalion in the center is probably the images of the couple who were buried in this tomb.

This finely crafted carving is the beginning of Christian art as it would evolve. We need to remember that until 321AD when it was still a capital offense to be a Christian, most Christian art was funerary. After the legalization of Christianity, the art begins to change dramatically to include images of salvation which were huge by comparison. Now Christian art could be displayed publicly and the scale begins to grow dramatically.

One of the favorite stories of the early Christians in Jonah. It was understood as a prefiguration of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It was stories like this one that gave the early christians hope in the resurrection, not the cross as we know it today. The following sarcophagus is a magnificent telling of the Jonah story for this person buried in the hope of rising again. I decided to photograph it in three sections. It will be clearer to view and there are actually three scenes depicted here.

Jonah is thrown overboard because he tells the crew he is running away from his God. They blame him for the storm that threatens to destroy them all. The head of the fish is ready to swallow him.

The figure of the fish is now turned around and is spewing out Jonah onto the land. You can see only the upper half of Jonah's body coming out of the mouth of the fish, his lower body is still in the fish's mouth.

Jonah is lying under the fig tree whitch eventually withers and forces him to do as God asks of him. In the sand, you can see a crab, and a snail on the beach. Also there are two scenes; one of a man and boy fishing, and a shepherd with his flock to serve as a precursor to Jesus' ministry and his call to his disciples as shepehrds and fishers of men.

The Good Shepherd. This is one of the earliest depictions of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. He is the youthful worker with his face coincidentally matching the face of Apollo. But it is smiling, not a disinterested gaze, and joyful at finding the lost sheep which he holds up on his shoulders.

And speaking of faces, here is the enthusiastic and brilliant tour guide, Liz Lev. I had to show you some of the great expressions as she shared this knowledge that she loves so much.

The tour continues for another 2 hours before we finally got to the Sistine Chapel. There are no pictures because photographing in the Sistine Chapel is forbidden. Flash and frescoes do not mix. 

What you ought to do, as I try to recall some of her descriptions of the ceiling and the last judgement, is to Google an image of the Sistine Chapel to try to understand it.

Michaelangelo was not trained as a painter, he was a sculptor. He thought in three dimensions. He thought always the human body. He was fascinated by what he considered to be the epitome of God's creation. And unlike what many think that his obsession with the human figure was some kind of "Freudian thing", as Liz called it, Michaelangelo believed that portraying the human body was to glorify God. His figures in both the ceiling and in the Last Judgement are sculptural in vision and in form. The ceiling tells a story. This is a first in the history of art. Until now, ceilings were to finish a room, blue sky, stars, and an occasional medallion in the center, or corners, surrounded by architectural shapes as frames. No one had ever attempted to tell a story on the ceiling. The original commission was to paint portraits of the 12 apostles. Michaelangelo came back with another proposal - to tell the story of Creation in Genesis. He was able to convince the pope that he could do it. Oh by the way, Michaelangelo did not paint the ceiling lying on his back, he stood through the whole thing. He wrote a sonnet describing his technique, and even supplied a drawing of himself doing the work while standing.

The days of creation begin with God being an almost opaque figure, as he creates the light, the sun, stars, and separates the sea from the land. Now as he creates the man, God is seen in full detail. In the very center of the room is the fall from grace. The scenes continue through the prophets who would fortell the coming mystery of the incarnation. These all come down the center axis of the room. Then is the story of Noah, Abraham and Isaac. The prophet Zechariah, who tells of the God who will enter our life once and for all, sends the eye back towards the front of the room with the prophets and the gentile sybils until we come to the last of the prophets portrayed - our friend Jonah again.

This leads our eyes back to the Last Judgement. In this masterpiece, there is virtually no landscape, no architecture, no animals, only 421 human bodies engaged in the struggle towards salvation, and some to eternal damnation.

I have seen the before and after of the 10 year restoration of this chapel. The stories that have come from the new view of this work are remarkable. Liz mentioned one today. In the center of the image, there are two figures being pulled up into heaven as they are grasping on to a rosary. It was always thought before the restoration that these figures are a male and female. As it turns out, they are both men, one white, the other black. We are talking mid 16th century when slavery was just getting into high gear in the Americas. Another detail, is St. Bartholomew who was martyred by being skinned alive, is holding his skin. But Michaelangelo put a caricature of his own face on the skin. Also, one of the Vatican Cardinals hated this work and demanded that it be covered over and repainted. Michaelangelo painted his face on the person at the lowest point in hell at the lower right hand corner. He added donkey ears for special effect. The pope must have really disliked this cardinal because he declared that it should stay.

I don't have the space, the time, or frankly the memory to tell you more of these stories. I'm sure I'll think of them as I go on. I just think this one is significant enough to give you a good idea of not just the MIchaelangelo's genius, but of his spiritual and social consciousness, his humility and his sense of humor.

Starting a New Week

Blog posting for Sunday, February 27th.

Yesterday, 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Relaxing Day. As I said in my last posting, I would not set my alarm for Sunday morning. When I had said good night to Fr. Joe Porpiglia, from Buffalo, NY after our trip to Viterbo,  we agreed to just do a lazy lunch somewhere in Trastevere. At about 10:30, we both wandered into the kitchen, poured ourselves a coffee and wondered where would celebrate Mass. We tossed around the names of a few churches in the area, but not knowing schedules, that would be tricky. We thought that maybe if we just hit the streets, we would come upon a church somewhere. After all, there are 900 churches in Rome. Instead we decided to just say Mass for ourselves in our own chapel. Most of the house was empty. Many of the priests had gone down earlier to concelebrate at the main chapel at the seminary and were eating brunch in the main refectory, others had gone away for the weekend. So we vested and went to the altar to celebrate Eucharist for the both of us.

After the conclusion of Mass, we headed out towards Trastevere. If you recall, Trastevere is the neighborhood between the bottom of the hill where we live and the banks of the Tiber River. In ancient times, it was a kind of slum, always flooding. It was the predominantly Jewish area, and where many poor and servants of the wealthy families lived. Today it is a posh area with many houses dating to early days of Rome. There are some of the best restaraunts, chic shops, and beautiful churches.

This is the cortile, or cloister, of the Church of the Martyr St. Onofrio, which is located a few steps away from the seminary. I did not get pictures of the church because there was Mass in progress.  

One of the street leading down from the Gianicolo hill where the seminary is located into the Trastevere neighborhood. Walking up and down all these streets justifies all the delicious bread and pasta.  

Fr. Joe and I wandered up and down the streets. He knew of a place from a former visit and he was looking for it. When we came to a spot around the corner from our destination, we encountered three young people, two women and a man with a baby on his back. He was very frustrated and made his frustration known to the women, as we were to soon learn, his wife and sister-in-law. Fr. Joe spoke right up and asked them what they were looking for. "Good pasta" they said.  We rounded the corner and there was a little place with awnings. We went in. They followed and were seated at a table beside us.

We learned that the wife was here on business and her husband and sister were along for the travel. She works for a major credit card company that is trying to break into the Italian market. She was here doing business research. This card is not accepted in Italy. So I thought here is my chance. I have had some very frustrating experiences with American credit cards, especially on my last trip to France when I had to purchase gas for the car every couple of days. The credit card readers on the pumps do not read the magnetic strip on US credit cards, but only the small computer chip embedded in the edge of the card which all Europeans have. On Sundays, when there are no cashiers at the pumps, I had to ask a frenchman if he would consider using his card and I would give him the cash. Luckily, it worked or we would have been stranded until Monday morning. I told my gripe and tale of woe. I asked why haven't US credit card companies kept up with that technology. It is much safer than our card system which anyone can use, now that we are all swiping our own cards at checkouts. This chip system can only be used with a pin. No one can use your card that way. I was told that they are considering it.

When we finally got to the menu, it really was a little mom and pop place. There was no menu translation. The waiter and waitress were engaging both our tables at a time. They wanted pasta and asked for the house specialties. She rattled off three sauces; All'amatriciana, Carbonara, and Norcini. I was behind the waiter and signaled to them - take all three and share. Thats what they did. Fr. Joe asked for house specialties in appetizers. Meat and cheese platter, fried stuffed zucchini flowers, and braised stuffed artichokes. We just kept saying, "si". So we had all three. We followed that by splitting a plate of pasta with red sauce, and we split a roast pork dish.

In our conversation, with our new dining companions, we told them that we are priests on sabbatical. I learned from the husband and wife that they had met through activities with the Catholic Campus Ministry when they were in college at Loyola in Chicago. (Are you reading this Mike and Lucia) and how much campus ministry had helped their faith to grow. They are active in their parish and were bemoaning the fact that a favorite priest of theirs had just been transfered. "Why do they do that?" she asked.

In the meantime, the table behind them was filled with four people who joined in the conversation when they heard English. Two were Italians with limited English, one other was an Italian who had studied in America, the only woman was an ex-patriot from California who has been in Italy for 10 years. One of the non-English speaking men was interested in the scribbling that the couple's 18month boy was doing in a notebook. He asked to see the book and looked at intently. He came back with an offer: Give me this book and I will give you one of my paintings. The people were bit surprised. My thought was "go for it". But they were very hesitant. I had the idea running through my head, look at the painting at least. You might end up with something that will put this kid through medical school someday. But they didn't bite. Instead the artist asked to draw something in the notebook, which they let him. So who knows, maybe this sketch will be valuable someday.

The three young people left, with my business card. Unfortunately we did not get all their names. Guess what! The babies name in Nolin. Isn't it strange that after sitting in the presence of child for a while, you always learn the child's name. The father is Kevin. (If you folks read this, email me with your names, please.)

They left and the conversation switched to the foursome at the other table. Our plans to wander around Trasever for the aftenoon were drenched by heavy rains that started just about now. The two English speaking, folks, Jodi and Pierre, invited us over to the bar next door for a grappa after our meal. Partly because they were interesting and we needed to wait out the rain, we accepted. Long discussions about church, spirituality, and a you-ask-me-a question, I'll-ask-you-a-question session ensued. (Grappa can do funny things to people). We covered everything from "Do you like this pope?" to "Why don't they let you guys get married?" Jodi is a wholistic health worker. My questions to her was "Why do you smoke?"

Well nearly four hours later, and thankful that we were walking, after 3/4 liter of wine, limoncello, and grappa, we headed back to the "casa'. We got back and we were glad there was nothing on the rest of the day.

It was an early night.

New Pictures

Today was another great day of visiting the city of Viterbo, about one and half hour train ride north of Rome. But before I get to that, I want to upload a few pictures from the privious couple of days.

First, our tour of St. Peter's Basilica with Liz Lev. I have to apologize that I did not take many pictures on this tour. It was just so awesome, and Liz's explanations so inspiring, that I forgot I had my camera with me. It was not a typical tourist's visit. So many of the tour guides treat these churches like museums because they are non-believers, or very marginal believers; or they secularize the religious art in the interest of political correctness, or simply have an anti-Catholic ax to grind. Liz is a brilliant scholar and woman of great faith. She understands that these are not mere art collections but expressions of the faith of a community in particular time and place. She knows and understands what was happening in the life of the particular religious community and why they chose to commission a work of art and place it in its location. The people of past times did not always express their faith in ways that resonate with our time. Their expressions of faith may not even be appropriate for our time, but that is why history is so important. And so to judge the spiritual actions and gestures of past generations based upon modern criteria is to miss very important insights in our history of faith. Our ancestors were not perfect, but they were not ingorant either. They accomplished things that remain a challenge even in our own day with our technology. They certainly accomplished spiritual heights that can serve as valid examples of discipleship for our time.

This is one of three pictures that I took on Thursday's tour of St. Peter's Basilica. Let me cite a few statistics to give you some idea of the scale of this building. The baldachino, that is the canopy, over the main altar is as high as a 5 story building and it only reaches one fifth of the way to the top of the dome. It has the spiral columns to deliberately match the spiral columns that you can faintly see in the two niches mid-way up the walls to the right and left. There are four more of these out of sight facing forward. These marble columns are among the few items that were saved from the first St. Peter's Basilica built by the emperor Constantine in the early 400's. Bernini who designed the baldachino chose to mirror the design of the smaller columns for both artistic and historic consistency. The letters that are visible at the top of the walls and that run around the entire church (nearly 2500 linear feet) are all the Gospel passages that mention Peter. Not seen in this photo are the letters that encircle the base of the dome which cites Jesus instruction to Peter, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Those letters are 6 feet tall. The nave is 714 meters in length (Thats longer than 3 football fields end to end). St. Peter's is no longer the largest church in the world, but remains the center of the Christian world with the authenticated tomb of Peter under the main altar. All Christians who recognize the role of Peter in the spread of the Gospel must acknowledge that this is a unique and special site.

The site of St. Peter's martyrdom and burial are undisputable. There were witnesses to his martyrdom, and they wrote about it, they preached about, they encouraged the faithful to gather and pray in this site. And the faithful did. We have records of their writings and preaching. Some of them even pre-date the gospels and the letters of St. Paul. Even when these subsequent witnesses were martyred themselves, the knowledge of this site was not forgotten. When Christianity was decriminalized in 321 AD, the first act of the church was to build a memorial chapel on this site. Within a decade, the emperor Constantine began the construction of a church on this site which stood for centuries until it deteriorated to the extent that it could not be saved. It was replaced with the current basilica.

A view of St. Peter's stading a bit farther back. Here, the lettering at the base of the dome is visible.

We have not completed our tour of the basilica.  On Friday, March 11th, we will tour the "scavi", the excavations of St. Peter's tomb under the main altar. This is a tour I have been waiting for for years.

On Friday, February 25th, we traveled to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.  This remains the oldest standing church dedicated to Mary in the World and the primary church dedicated to the Mother of God. The nave was built in 488AD and is the same construction visible today. There have been additions and modernization, but the columns and many of the mosaics are 5th century.

The facade of Santa Maria Maggiore. The nave was built in 488AD after a previous church built on this site and stood only 58 years was considered too small for the multitudes who came here to honor Mary. The facade is a 16th Century addition. The buildings on either side of the facade were papal residences before St. Peter's Basilica was built and the Popes moved across the river to the Vatican Hill site. It is estimated that over 6000 people visit this church every day.

Preparing to celebrate Mass with Cardinal Law in the Mary Chapel of St. Maria Maggiore. The cabinets that are visible around this sacristy have been in use since 40 years before the Mayflower landed in Plymouth.

My "Institute for Continuing Theological Education" colleagues gathered in Rome from around the USA, processing to the altar to begin our celebration of Eucharist.

Cardinal Law preaching and presiding as pastor of the largest inner-city parish in the Diocese of Rome.

The nave in which the faithful have been worshipping for nearly 1600 years. The small mosaics between the tops of the columns and below the windows are from the previous basilica standing on this site. They depict major stories of the old testament. They are considered so valuable and important in the Christian tradition of art, that they are the subject of doctoral disertations by academics all over the world.  They date from the early 5th century.

The mosaic floors designed to look like area carpets sacttered around the basilica.

Pope Pius IX had a great devotion to Mary and to relics of the crib of Bethlehem which are enshrined in this crypt chapel. He came to this place to pray and meditate every day of his pontificate. When he died, the parish commissioned this sculpture to be placed in the crypt chapel in the identical position he occupied for many years as pope.

Reliquary containing wooden boards of the manger of Bethlehem. These were given to the Pope in the early 8th Century by the patriarch of Constantinople as gestures of fraternity at a time when tensions between the east and west were growing. This relic has been venerated in the east from the earliest days of the church.

The apse of the basilica behind the main altar. The orignal basilica ended at the grand arch visible in the picture. The semi-circular apse and the mosaic were added in the 12th century. The mosaic on the front face of the arch dates back to the 5th century.

12th century mosaic in the apse of the church depicting the coronation of Mary in heaven by Jesus.

This was a priviledged view of the Basilica of St. Maria Maggiore and on the main altar. Msgr. McInnerny, formerly of Boston and who is now appointed a canon of the basilica gave us a priviledged tour. We were brought into areas not open to the crowds of tourists. This is a view from under the apse behind the main altar looking down the nave of the basilica. This is significant image for anyone who loves the sacred Scriptures. We have the scriptures today because of the study and work of St. Jerome in the late 4th century. St. Jerome is buried in this altar. For me, this had to be the highlight of this tour. The magnificence of the church, the teachings of the imagery of the mosaics are all to give glory to God for the witness of Mary, the apostles who knew her, and this man Jerome who devoted his life so that generations might know and love the Lord. To kneel and pray, and reflect before the relics of this saint moved me more than anything yet on this experience.

There will be more about the saints and their burial places as my experience in Rome continues.

Oh, by the way everyone. Among the relics encased in the altar of the chapel of the North American College is a relic of St. John Neumann.


And then today, Saturday, February 26th. Today was a day off. We planned to take the train to Ostia Anticha, the ancient sea port of the city of Rome. But is was so cold, we decided to wait for warmer weather to go the seashore. Instead we took the train to Viterbo. This is a very important city in the history of the Church. In the year 1145 AD, the city of Rome had been reduced from a thriving metropolis of 2 million people at the time of Peter and Paul, to a population smaller than East Freetown, by marauding tribes from the north. Pope Eugene IV moved to Viterbo for safety. The pope lived here form nearly 100 years. In 1266, Clement IV died. For three years, the cardinals could not decided on a new pope. The townspeople of Viterbo were so frustrated that they decided to lock the cardinals inside the hall until they made a decision. When the decision did not come, they reduced the cardinals' diet to bread and water. After weeks with no decision, the townspeople ripped off the roof of the hall and exposed the cardinals to sun and rain. (Let no one say the laity have no influence in the life of the church.) After three years they finally elected Gregory X. This was the origin of the term "conclave", Latin for "con" = with, and "clave" = key. In othe words, under lock and key. The term conclave has been used ever since to define the gathering of cardinals for the election of a new pope.

Here are a few pictures of today's trip.

The public square with the municipal buildings dating back to the 13th Century.

The cathedral of San Lorenzo. This church was built in the 12th and 13th centuries to replace an older church that stood on this site. The gothic style tower was added in the 14th century, and the baroque style facade was added in the 16th century.

The interior of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. It is a simple romanesque style. In the 18th century, the beamed ceiling trusses were hidden by a false ceiling in a gothic style. This was taken down in recent renovations. Quotations from scriputre painted on the bottom of the cross beams in the 13th century are visible again. Also, the capitals on the top of each column are all different, no two alike. There was a great deal of activity in the cathedral today. Flowers were being arranged, a great deal of seating was added, video and and lighting was being set up. We learned that tomorrow, on Sunday a new Bishop of the diocese of Viterbo is being installed.

I'm standing in the arches of the old loggia (porch) of the 12th century papal palace.

The medeival section of the walled city is called the Quartiere of San Pelegrino. Many streets are stairways on the steep hillside.

More street views of San Pelegrino.

And unless you might think we did not have a meal in Viterbo...

The restaurant, "Tre Re", (The three kings). As we walked around the city, we stopped a woman to ask for a restaurant that was not "touristy". She sent us up a narrow street to a tiny place called Tre Re. The painting of three kings, probably not the Magi of the Christmas Story, are visible on the wall in the back corner of the dining room. There were no more than 30 place settings.



For my "primo piatto" a new sauce and a new pasta I have never had before: Lombrichelli a la Viterbrese. It is a very thick "al dente" pasta but not bucatini; solid all through. The sauce was very much like All'amatriciana  (look it up). There was pancetta and chunks of tomato. One of the best pastas I have ever had.



For the secundo, Maialino al Porchetto: The cut of pork belly, very slow cooked, and the fatty rind cooked to a crisp with roasted potatoes. An amazing dish.

Conchetta di Ricotta e Fragole: Whipped Ricotta cheese over chunks of dark chocolate and covered with simmered strawberries. All this with a nice house red wine and ending with a limoncello.
Aren't the middle ages terrific? WHAT A DAY! 

Well, tonight's blog took 2 hours. It's 1:35AM here and I am not setting the alarm for tomorrow morning.
Buona Notte a tutti!

Busy Two Days

Hi Everyone,
It's been a very busy two days. Just so you know, to post a blog with photos takes me about one to one and half hours. There hasn't been the time in past two days.
There are some great pictures that I need to post, but I will get to it sometime over the weekend. In the meantime, here is a quick synopsis of what has been happening.

Thursday morning: a tour of St. Peter's Basilica with Liz Lev. She is considered one of the best tour guides in all of Rome. She does lot of work for the American and English speaking seminaries and colleges. She is a native of Chestnut Hill, Boston and she is the daughter of Mary Ann Glendon. All of you in the the pro-life ministries know of Dr. Glendon because of her brilliant work and speeches in support of life in the USA. She is a Harvard University law professor and former US ambassador to the Holy See. I did not know of Liz's relationship until after the tour. From the quality of the tour it is not surprising. 

The rest of Thursday was free. I went exploring around Rome. Returned to the Casa O'Toole very tired. I did a quick Skype to my mother and went to bed.

Today, Friday the 25th, was an early day. WE had to meet a bus at 8:00am to travel to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.  Of the 4 major basilicas in Rome, this is the oldest. The major structure dates back to 486 AD. There we celebrated Mass with Cardinal Law, former Cardinal Archbishop of Boston. Afte Mass we had a tour with Monsignor McInerny, formerly the secretary of Cardinal Law, and now a canon at the Basilica. He has what is considered the most comprehensive knowledge of the history of the basilica in the world. There are beautiful pictures from this tour. But they will get posted sometime over the weekend.

After the tour, we returned to the seminary for lunch. This afternoon, I had some personal financial matters to deal with online, and laundry. This evening I attended a piano recital given by Signor Aldo de Vero, pianist. He is the director of the Ischia Chamber Music Festival in which I will participate in May. I mentioned before that he informed me of this recital and invited me to come. It was a terrific program of all piano music for 4 hands. He perfomed with Giovanni Campisi. Included in the program was a Sonata for 4 hands, by Mozart, Sonata by Francis Poulenc, The Dolly Suite by Gabriel Faure, a selection of Slavonic dances by Djorak, and a transcription of the overture to Giacomo Rossini's "An Italienne in Algiers". The plan was to finally meet Mr. de Vero after emailing with him for nearly a year as I prepared for the sabbatical program. I learned that he will be back in Rome for more performances before May, AND, he has a house in Falmouth, Massachusetts and spends the latter part of the summers and early fall on Cape Cod. He invited me to join him for some music when I get back from the sabbatical. Looks like more music making in the future.

Tomorrow I am joining some priests in a day trip to who knows where. I think we may go to Ostia, the most preserved ancient city on the Italian peninsula and the sea port of Rome. Rome is actually about 20 miles inland. Entire houses, with restaurants, and even public outhouses are still standing. I suspect that there is not much new to learn about 1st century outhouses. Some human habits just don't change. Anyway, stay posted for a few interesting pictures in the next few days.

Blessings

Ciao

Touring Day

No Classes today in house. Field trip today. We celebrated Mass early and got an early start on day away. We took city buses which was a great lesson in itself. In all my trips to Rome, I have rarely used the bus system, primarily because the groups were just too large. So today was a kind of tutorial that I know will serve me well in the weeks to come.

Today, our group visited the ancient Roman Forum. This was a public area in the city of Rome, built first as a market place, but soon became the location of legal and political events as well. There are a few pictures that show the area. We met our guide at the Capitoline steps - a beautiful stairway designed by Michaelangelo leading up to the city government buildings, which he also designed. We met our guide, Cornelius. He is Dutch origin, but has lived in Rome for 35 years. He had been a teacher in Holland, but came to Rome to serve as a guide. He is also a permanent deacon for the diocese of Rome.

Our guide, Cornelius, speaking to our group in the ancient Roman Forum

Looking down into the Forum from the back of the city hall in Rome. The forum was expanded by each successive new emperor. The ground plan of one of the markets is visible to the left of the columns. You can see the bases of two rows of columns which would have held stalls under the roof supported by the columns. The high walls at the rear are the foundations of the palace of Augustus Ceasar who built massive palaces on the Palatine hill beside the forum.

A row of statues in the area of the forum designated for the vestal virgins. Women who lived a celibate life devoted to prayer to the gods. They were responsible for maintaining fires which were lit in the temples. These fires could not be allowed to go out or fear of retribution by the gods. The statues are headless because in the 15th century, the heads were broken off to serve as projectiles in catapults when the army ran out of other things to sling to an enemy.

This church was built in the 16th century on top of the ruins of the forum. The columns in front are 100AD columns that would not fall so they decided to build the church a few feet away from them. The arch in the facade of the church that be seen between the columns is the front door. But now since the excavations of the forum have taken place over the past hundred years, the front door is now 20 feet above ground level. The brick steps you see at the base of the scaffolding are modern additions. This church must be entered by a new entrance cut through the wall at the rear of the church on the modern street level. This picture is great example of how the many Romes were built one on top of the other. As the city was destroyed, in wars, fires, or earthquakes, the rubble was not cleared. It was leveled and the new buildings were built on top of the old city. Archaelogists have identified as many a 7 levels under many modern buildings. Construction is very slow in Rome because anywhere you dig, you uncover a major archaelogical find. All construction must stop until the scientists come to study which can take years.

Ruins of the last "basilica" to be added to the forum. What you see in this photo are side chambers of this building. These three arches form the side of the building. There are three more facing it. The ceiling would have been about 60 meters (198 feet) high. The building was 100 meters (328 feet)  long and 65 meters (213 feet) wide. These are the floor plans which became the model for the many large churches that were built after Christianity became legal in the empire. A "basilica" is an architectural design. The word comes from a greek word which means a place of assembly, for business. This huge building in the forum was a market place, and also a place where justice issues were decided. There were several such basilicas, but this was the last and the biggest.  

There are many triumphal arches in Rome but this one is especially important. This arch was built after the Jewish revolt was put down in Jerusalem in 68 AD. The Roman army returned to Rome carrying all the treasury of the temple. There are friezes depicting the army carrying menorahs, the ark of the covenant, candlesticks, and most importantly, slaves. The Jewish slaves were then added to the work force building the new Coloseum.

The arch of Constantine. The largest and best preserved of the arches in Rome. This one is standing beside the Coloseum. It was built to commemorate the victory of Constantine against his enemies in his fight for the throne of the empire. It has a particular prominece now because much the area around it was cleared, and a wide avenue was built leading up to it so Adolph Hitler could drive through it after Italy fell to the Nazis in World War II.

One of the most famous sights in Rome. Trajan's stadium or the Coloseum. This is the portion with the wall at their original height. Some of the marble facing over the brick structural form is still visible. The coloseum was used as a quarry for the building of many early churches in Rome. The church used stone from pagan temples and roman buildings extensively for new churches. So the site does not have much rubble on the ground because it did not collapse, it was taken down stone by stone.

Next to the froum is the basilica of Sts. Cosmas and Damien, 3rd century Roman martyrs. This small white facade is all that is visible of the church from the outside. But the beautiful church opens up behind this deceptively small entrance.

The sanctuary of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. The apse of the church is totally decorated in mosaics which date from the 4th Century. They are as vivid today as they were 1700 years ago when they were created. There are workers in the lower left who are in process of restoring the wooden choir stalls which line the rear of the sanctuary. The colors of my photograph do not do this justice. The background behind the central figure of Jesus is really a bright cobalt blue. Notice the 12 sheep at the base of the mosaic. They depict the 12 apostles. Behind the top of the altar is the traditional "lamb of God" with the sheep holding the white banner with the red cross.

The Ceiling at Sts. Cosmas and Damian.

Lunch break: After leaving the area of the forum, I went with Fr. Joe Porpiglia, from the diocese of Buffalo, NY to visit the Farnese museum. We had walked by it on the tour of the Via Giulia the day before but did not have the time to go in. Today we made a point of it. And Father Rodney recommended it highly. Fr. Joe knew of this restaurant called Il Ponentino in the Trastevere section. Trastevere means tras =  across, tevere = Tiber river, which flows through Rome. This is one of the oldest sections of Rome. It was a slum in early days, a place where the slaves and servants lived, mostly a swamp. But today, it is a very exclusive residential area with some of the really chic shops and great restaurants. We had a great lunch, Buccatini All'amatriciana, (Just look it up on line. Easiest thing in the world to make.) We split this delicious pizza with tomato, olives, mushroom, hard boiled egg, artichoke, and prosciutto. This was followed by a fresh salad. Southern Europeans mostly enjoy their salads at the end of the meal. Of course, a bit of red wine. This filled in the time until the museum opened again. Everything closes for 2 - 3 hours in early afternoon. We arrived at the Farnese at about 3:30 ready to see this beautiful art collection by one of Rome's most wealthy and prestigious families. Today, the Farnese Palace is France's embassy to Italy. The first floor is embassy offices, the top floor is the embassy residence and the middle floor houses the Museum collection.   

On the way back to the seminary, we crossed back over the river and made sure we stopped at what is one of my favorite churches in Rome - Santa Maria in Trastevere. In my first visit to this church about 22 years ago, it was undergoing extensive restoration. That work is complete and the result is breathtaking.

The sanctuary of Santa Maria in Trastevere. The entire wall space is covered in mosaics. Notice the motif again of the sheep at the base of the half-dome. Here the image of the "lamb of God" is visible because the baldichino over the altar is not blocking it as in Sts. Cosmas and Damian. Also notice that the field behind Jesus is not blue but gold. This indicates that it is later mosaic when the tastes changed and the blue field was used much less.

A better view of the mosaic over the altar. Notice the "lamb of God" image in the center.

And finally, the best view I could get of the nave of the church. The gold-leafed coffered ceiling is one of the most beautiful in all of the Rome churches in my estimation.

We headed back to the seminary. It was a long day of walking and my feet were aching, and my bad knee is screaming at me. But is was worth it. A bit of comaraderie before dinner and as usual, a good time at table.

After dinner we had a brief meeting with Colin Wen, a seminarian from the Diocese of Sacramento, CA. He is a third year theology student and is the coordinator of the program for the 40 stational churches which we will visit in Rome during Lent. Everyday, we walk to a different church to celebrate Mass. This means a departure of about 6:00am. It is a practice that goes back nearly 1600 years. It was abandoned for centuries and revived by the students at the North American College about 50 years ago. Today it includes the seminarians and priests from all the English-speaking seminaries in Rome, as well as English-speaking lay people living and studying in Rome.

I am looking forward to my participation in these daily celebrations of Mass. Our trip to the Holy Land will prevent me from visiting all 40 of the stational churches in Rome. However, there will the opportunity to celebrate daily Mass in some amazing places in Israel too.

Hope you enjoyed my field trip today.