To Assisi

Today we head off to Assisi for our canonical retreat.  Our time in the Eternal City is complete (except for having to fly out next week).  It will be a blessing to spend time in the peaceful city of St. Francis and St. Clare.

We are also blessed to have Bishop Andrew Cozzens as the director of our retreat.  He arrived to Rome last night.  He joined us for a nice meal and Mass.

This morning we had Mass one more time at St. Peter's Basilica.  We were in one of the crypt chapels.  Deacon Michael Barsness preached about how we must be grateful for all we have received here in the Eternal City and throughout our vocational journey.  This message is very true.  We are grateful for everything we have received from the bounty of our Lord.  We are grateful to our family and friends.  We are grateful for our benefactors.  We are grateful to every person who faithfully holds us in prayer.  We are grateful to our seminary staff and formation directors.  We are grateful to our holy bishops and priests that have been wonderful examples of how to live sacrificial lives in imitation of our Savior.  The list goes on . . .

We hope you have enjoyed this blog.  The blog is now complete.

Please pray for us during our retreat.  Pray that we may be holy priests of God.

Bishop Cozzens celebrating Mass for us at St. Peter's.

Goodbye to our lovely residence!

Surprise! Surprise!

Today our beloved rector, Monsignor Callaghan, and the Dean of Seminarians, Fr. Floeder, appeared at our residence and brought us out for a wonderful Italian meal.  We enjoyed the full Italian experience - it was a 3 hour plus affair.  It is a blessing to have this time with Monsignor as we approach ordination.

Tomorrow evening we will celebrate Mass with Monsignor and Fr. Floeder.  We will continue to pray for all who have made this trip possible and our various dioceses.

Besides for spending time with our rector, we will also be scrambling in our free time to see whatever else we strongly desire to see before we leave Rome - trust me, we're not going to be seeing everything! Our shopping endeavors will also be finishing up as we prepare for our canonical retreat in Assisi.

The much venerated statue of St. Peter in St. Peter's Basilica

Dominican Sisters at S. Sabina and S. Cecilia

We are now in our final week in Rome before heading to Assisi for our retreat for priestly ministry. We have concluded our academic portion of our trip, and now just have a few places to visit this week before heading to Assisi on Thursday.

Yesterday, we traveled to the Aventine Hill area of Rome to visit the Basilica of S. Sabina, where there is a group of Dominicans (OP) Sisters of S. Cecilia ("Nashville Dominicans") in residence. One of the sisters gave us a short tour of the outside of the Basilica, where there is a door that has one of the earliest depictions of the crucifixion that has survived to today.

The door to S. Sabina;
The crucifixion is in the
top, upper-left panel.

Then she gave us a tour of the inside of the Basilica, which looks a bit bleak but has all its dimensions based on one measurement found in the apse. It is very similar to our very own SPS chapel in S. Paul, Minn.

After this, we were able to celebrate Mass in the cell that S. Dominic used when he stayed in residence; it wasn't his personal cell per se, but he used it when he stayed there. It is a very small space, especially for a priest, 16 deacons, and three sisters. Dn. Kevin Manthey preached and did well; I'm going to attribute the quality of his preaching to Our Lord and S. Dominic, whose order (OP) was founded with preaching as one of its main charisms.

After Mass, we got a quick tour of some other notable items: a framed listing of some well-known Dominicans who have been in residence at S. Sabina, the room Pope S. Pius V, and the window the Dominicans used to sneak peeks at S. Dominic when he was at prayer in the main church nave.

After this, we descended the Aventine Hill to the Trastevere area of Rome to the Basilica of S. Cecilia (virgin, martyr), the patroness of this particular order of Dominican Sisters. Under the altar is a sculpture of how S. Cecilia's body was found in the 1600s after it was exhumed and found to be incorrupt (see below)

Sculpture of S. Cecilia's body
underneath the altar at S. Cecilia's Basilica.

Today we celebrated Mass at S. Peter's Basilica at the altar dedicated to S. Joseph.

Post by Dn. Grant Gerlach.

Quick Update

Yesterday we were able to pray Evening Prayer with the Holy Father and many other people in the packed St. Paul's Basilica outside the walls. Pope Francis is a pretty popular guy.

After Evening Prayer, Cardinal James Michael Harvey took us out for supper. His Eminence is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, he has lived and worked in the Vatican most of his life. Among many other things, he was the Prefect for the Papal Household for both blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

If taking us out for supper wasn't enough, he offered to give us a tour of the Apostolic Palace. We met him today at 3:30, and he showed us around for 2 1/2 hours. Nice tour. However, we still only saw a little bit of the Palace. It is huge! A lot of things happen in this establishment. We are very grateful to the Cardinal for his generosity.

Happy Sunday!

His Eminence giving us the grand tour.

A Place of Early Christian Witness -- the Catacombs

Today we made our way outside of the city wall of Rome to the Catacombs of S. Callisto (description also from Wikipedia), S. Callisto being Saint Callixtus. The catacombs (meaning "near the hollow," as in hollowed-out ground) are an ancient underground burial structure for early century Christians. Lost for centuries, they were re-discovered by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in the mid-1800s. There are many, many, many (now empty) tombs in these catacombs, along with miles of walking paths. I'm sure this would have been an impressive sight in its full glory. The tombs would have been sealed with stone slabs with engravings of the name (if known) of the deceased along with some other description, almost assuredly including a reference to the deceased's Christian faith. Along with air shafts (to remove dirt and provide a source of air), there would have been sweet-smelling oils to not only combat the stench of death but to remind the living visitors of the fragrant odor of Christ's victory over death.

We celebrated the Eucharist in one of the larger rooms with tombs. Dn. Marcus Milless preached on the stench of death -- palpable in the catacombs' heyday -- and paralleled that with the stench of sin, and the sweet-smelling oils and paralleled that with the fragrance of Christian charity rooted in the Trinitarian love revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

No pictures are available of the catacombs, as photographs were not allowed, but you can find some online if you search for them.

Tomorrow we are privileged to pray Vespers (evening prayer) with the Pope! We will be at S. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, fitting, since we are far removed from the walls of S. Paul, Minn.

Post by Dn. Grant Gerlach.

Up, down, & around the Vatican

Time to showcase a few more photos, but first, a little info about our day.  Once again, we began our day with Mass at St. Peter's basilica.  This time we celebrated Mass at the Mater Ecclesiae altar (i.e. Mother of the Church).  Archbishop Jorge Patron Wong celebrated the Mass.  What a guy!  His joy is contagious.  He is the Archbishop whom we met the other day.  He heads the Congregation for Clergy.  After Mass, we enjoyed breakfast with him and two of his close collaborators.  These collaborators are originally from the United States.

A picture of the Archbishop which I took off the internet.  It beautifully captures his personality.

After lunch, we participated in the Scavi tour.  It is quite remarkable to see what was found in the excavation process under St. Peter's basilica- most prominently, of course, the bones of St. Peter.  Though seeing more closely the tomb of St. Peter was the main highlight, we also saw portions of ancient pagan burial sites.  Great tour but definitely not for people who are claustrophobic.  We prayed at St. Peter's tomb for the Pope, our dioceses, our families, our friends, and benefactors.

After the Scavi tour, we headed to the office for the Secretary of State.  The Secretary of State is basically the second in command at the Vatican.  He and his office handle diplomatic relations, among many other things.  For instance, the Secretary and his office will be assisting with President Obama's visit to the Vatican.  Though we did not meet with the Secretary, we were able to meet with one of the english-speaking officials.  We also met with the Monsignor who made possible the visit to the office.  The Monsignor is actually a friend of Monsignor Callaghan.  These officials answered many questions and gave us a wonderful tour, as you will see below.

Meeting at the office for the Secretary of State

This door leads to quarters where the Pope works during the day. (No, we did not try to get in.)

Nice panorama of St. Peter's Square from the terrace.

This Cardinal (whose name I forget - my apologies), shown in the middle of this photo, walked by to show another group the terrace.  We were told he was in charge of the last Conclave.  In other words, he was in charge of the process which elected Pope Francis.  Wow!  (For the reader's info, I imagined a conversation between me and the Cardinal, where he told me that he was in charge of the Conclave and I responded by saying, "I've been in charge of a concession stand at my high school hockey arena."  I am sure he would have been equally impressed - but in a different way.)

Fr. Juan Miguel looking over the terrace.  It appeared as though some group coming out of the basilica thought he was the Holy Father.  They were all of sudden gathering together and taking pictures in the vicinity of the terrace.  It was quite humorous.

This is simply a picture of your bloggers.  Deacon Grant, on the left, and me, Deacon Blake.

Hope you are also having an enjoyable day!

Mass with JP-II, Council for Laity, and Missionary Priests

We had another privilege to celebrate Mass this morning at the altar where a soon-to-be Saint is located. We were in S. Peter's Basilica at the altar where B. Pope John Paul II is buried. (I'm sure this space will look a bit different after April's official canonization occurs.) I had the assignment to preach at the Mass, and it proved to be difficult in some ways, but still a blessing to preach to my brother deacons and in the close proximity of such a recent witness to Christian holiness in B. Pope JP-II.

Some of the deacons venerating the altar and
B. Pope John Paul II's body, inside the altar.

After breakfast, we visited the Pontifical Council for the Laity (description also from their own Official Web site), where again we had some of their officials present to us some details of their dicastery and also fielded some questions we had for them. An interesting note was that the Council has four "sections": Associations & Movements (of the lay faithful), Youth, Women in the Church, and something called "Church and Sport," which I think threw most of us for a loop. (It was similar to finding out for the first time that the there is a Vatican Observatory.) However, the best piece of information was the reason for the dicastery's existence: to promote the apostolate of the lay faithfaul, which is rooted in the baptismal call to holiness in the Church and the mission to transform society by the Gospel.

In the evening we visited the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, a group of men being formed to be ordained priests within the charisms of the MCs. The various men of the house are at various stages of formation, but are addressed as "brothers," just as in any other religious order, except for those already ordained priest or deacon. We arrived, were welcomed (by two newly-ordained deacons), and then prayed with Our Lord in Eucharistic adoration followed by Vespers (evening prayer) for an hour. After prayer with MCs, they treated us to a fantastic meal (see picture below). They treated us to a delicious lasagna and even gave us ice cream bars for dessert. But the best part was conversing with the men from many places around the world being formed to be priests with a specific missionary charism. I spoke at dinner with one of the two newly-ordained deacons of the group, and he spoke of the path that led him to the MC Fathers -- it was a beautiful reflection of God's grace and his openness to be led by the Holy Spirit. Many of my brothers had similar good conversations.

Dining with the MCs. Dn. Sam (left) loves the camera.

During dinner, Fr. Betancourt had an unusual guest park itself on his scapular of the habit he wears.


The great "Magnifi-Cat" warming its feet,
and perhaps trying to pray the Rosary?

Apparently it was attracted to all the great conversations we were having at the dinner table...


Zzz...

Or maybe not...

Tomorrow we have Mass again in S. Peter's Basilica, and in the afternoon we tour the Scavi and meet with the Vatican Secretary of State.

Post by Dn. Grant Gerlach.

A few meetings at the Vatican

We had three meetings today. Our first meeting was with the Congregation for the Clergy. Our second meeting was with the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. Our third meeting was with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

We learned a lot about the mission and tasks of each of these dicasteries.  The first part of each presentation was given by an english-speaking official from the dicastery and the second part allowed us to ask questions.

It is quite remarkable to get a glimpse of how the Church works universally.

Tomorrow morning we have Mass at the tomb of John Paul II. Exciting!

Sant'Egidio Community

This evening we visited the Community of Sant'Egidio (Sant'Egidio = S. Giles; description also from Wikipedia) near S. Maria in Trastevere. One of the members of the Community, a man named Paolo, gave us a description of the Community, how it was formed, and what it does. It has three key elements: prayer, service to the poor, and community, but they are also rooted in other areas of Christian discipleship. Paolo had a wonderful joy about him as he discussed the Community. The founder, Andrea Riccardi, was only 18-years-old when he formed it in 1968. The Community's relationship with their bishop, the Pope, has gradually grown over the years, from Paul VI to Francis. B. John Paul II was instrumental in the Community's established relationship with the Pope, and Benedict XVI often visited them (visiting them more time during his pontificate than B. John Paul II).

After he fielded some questions from us, he lead us to the Basilica of S. Maria, where there was a prayer service at 20.30 (8:30pm). It was in Italian and very similar to what we pray from the Liturgy of the Hours. This week begins an ecumenical effort at Christian unity (mostly rooted in prayer), and there was a homily from an invited Christian brother. He spoke (in Italian, but translated in English in our headsets), of the Gospel passage read (1 Cor 1:11-16), where the Christians in Corinth were divided by different names. He then applied that to today, when he stated that Christians are still divided (in names other than Jesus Christ) but also united (in the name of Jesus Christ). It was an interesting homily, and good content for us to reflect on.

Post by Dn. Grant Gerlach.

Early Morning Musings: Mass at St. Peter's & Apostolic Signatura Visit

We have a bit of a gap today in our schedule: early morning activities and late evening visit. I'll submit another post this evening after we return.

This morning began with Mass celebrated at S. Peter's Basilica at the altar of S. Jerome, where B. Pope John XXIII's tomb is located just under the altar. Our "deacon-in-residence" this year, Dn. Touchard Tignou, preached for the first time to our class. Fr. Betancourt was "excited" to be able to celebrate Mass at this particular altar. Wednesday we are celebrating Mass at the altar of the tomb of B. Pope John Paul II; we are very privileged to be able to be at the tombs of two Blesseds who will be officially proclaimed as Saints in April.

Altar of S. Jerome with
B. Pope John XXIII below

After a quick jaunt back to our house (in the pouring rain) for breakfast, we made our way to the Apostolic Signatura (A.S.) (descriptions from Catholic-Hierarchy.org, Wikipedia.org), which is one of three Papal Tribunals in the Roman Curia (the offices created to assist the Pope in his governance of the Church universal). Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke gave us the skinny on the workings of the A.S., where it is in relation to the other Papal dicasteries, and it's scope. The A.S. is the supreme tribunal and also ensures administrative justice within the Church universal. They handle appeals from other tribunals (being the supreme tribunal) and also handle cases concerning administrative acts within the Church around the world.

Post by Dn. Grant Gerlach.

Mary Major, NAC, & Gesu

Yesterday we were able to spend a good amount of time in Mary Major.  St. Matthew is venerated under the main altar.  St. Jerome is found in a side chapel.  Also, Bernini, much to my surprise, has a very modest tomb off to the side of the main sanctuary.  For the many masterpieces he is responsible for here in Rome, I thought he would have a more grandiose tomb.  He must have been a very humble man.  It was a blessing to celebrate Mass in this basilica.

We went to the North American College for lunch.  It was great to see a lot of familiar faces of men who attended college seminary and pre-theology with us.  The place has more than double the number of guys of St. Paul Seminary.

Playing a yard game at the NAC.  (For your information, Deacon Paul Shovelain and I were victorious.  Dcn. Kevin Manthey and seminarian Nick Hagen were on the losing end.)

In the early evening, we were given a tour of the beautiful Gesu church and were able to see the place where St. Ignatius of Loyola lived and died.  Fr. Joseph Carola led the tour.  He is a man who is very dear to many of us because he was our chaplain for our Rome semester in college seminary.  He is holy, and he inspires us to be holy.

The heavenly ceiling in the Gesu.

The place where St. Ignatius of Loyola died.

Wednesday with Francis & Joyous Emmanuel

A late post today. We've experienced some spotty wireless Internet connectivity here in Rome. I wasn't able to post last night...

Wednesday we again experienced the early-morning schedule of attending an event with the Pope. It was the weekly Papal Audience, in which the Pope gives a short teaching on a subject of the faith. Prior to the teaching, the Pope makes his way through the members of the faithful in S. Peter's Square in his customized "Pope mobile." The teaching was about baptism, the sacrament which makes us, among other things, "missionary disciples" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Due to the many pilgrims in attendance from various parts of the world, the teaching was also summarized by a clergy-man (a priest, bishop, or cardinal) in the many languages of those in attendance; there were nine languages represented (Arabic, Croatian, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish).

After a long morning in chilly conditions, we went back to our house for lunch and had most of the afternoon open. In the evening we visited a community of the faithful called the "Emmanuel School of Mission" (ESM), Rome (there are other ESMs elsewhere), a house of study for young Catholics who take a year off from school or work to be formed in the faith in a certain manner; the nine-month program offers missionary, spiritual, and doctrinal formation for young adults between 18 and 30 years old. This house of formation is run by members of the "Emmanuel Community" (EC), of which one of our classmates is a member, Dn. Kevin Manthey. The EC is a public association of the faithful that has three focuses: adoration, compassion, and evangelization.

We began the evening with some time in private prayer, then celebrated the Eucharist with the 18 ESM students (along with the priests and a deacon with them). One of our classmates preached the homily amidst these new brothers and sisters in Christ. They then treated us to dinner, gave some information on the EC and the ESM, and three gave their witness to us. The 18 ESM students are from various parts of the world: Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, Australia, among others. They all spoke English, so communication was fairly easy. They treated us to some of their singing, and it was evident to most, if not all, of us that their house is full of authentic joy -- it was good to be in their presence and parting from the joy they shared with us was a bit difficult. Authentic Christian joy is contagious and buoys those who come into contact with it -- an important piece to remember as "missionary disciples" of Jesus Christ.

Post by Dn. Grant Gerlach.

Rome-ing in the rain

Dr. Lev led our morning tour again today.  This time we explored the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, and the church of San Clemente.  Dr. Lev gave us a basic, yet very captivating, history lesson about the beginning of the city of Rome.  It was a very rainy day, but the rain did not stop us from learning.  As we soaked up the rain, we did our best to soak up information.  If our brains today were anything like our shoes, we did quite well!  

In the afternoon, we toured the Casa Santa Maria.  It is a house where priests live when they are sent to Rome to do additional studies.  Our leader, Fr. Juan Miguel Betancourt, lived four years in this establishment.  He helped give the tour of the place.  He even showed us the location of his napkin holder. 

Main chapel at Casa Santa Maria

I could briefly tell you about each of the sites listed above, but I have decided to share instead a spiritual conundrum that I am dealing with.  I am sure this is a conundrum many people deal with in touring this great city.  This past weekend I decided to stop into a few different churches in the Trastevere area of Rome.  As I stopped into the different churches, I encountered many different things that captured my heart - an amazing piece of spiritual art, a statue of a saint, a mosaic apse, etc.  As something struck me and brought to my heart such blessed consolation, I recalled a bit of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual wisdom: when in a state of consolation, remain with the consolation because the Lord is blessing you in this particular experience.  For example, if you are reading Scripture and a certain line positively strikes you from the text, remain there.  The Lord desires to speak to you there.  Do not move forward too quickly.

Now this advice is spectacular and has enriched my prayer, but in this particular situation, it is difficult to remain with a certain experience too long because a person realizes there is soooooo much more amazingness yet to see in Rome.  It is a great conundrum that I am dealing with.

We continue to be grateful to all who have made this trip possible.  Know of our prayers.

The holy sister speaking to us yesterday.

The Pope's Chair, Some Holy Stairs, Relics of the Passion, and Missionaries of Charity

Today we returned from a weekend break from official J-Term activities. We had the weekend to explore on our own. Some stayed in the Eternal City while others traveled outside the gates to other areas of Italy.

Today we were treated to celebrate Mass at St. John Lateran's Basilica -- the Pope's cathedral, e.g., where his bishop's chair resides -- and have a small look around the building. St. John Lateran is not a person, St. John is (as in St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, to whom the basilica is dedicated), but the "Lateran" part refers not to a person but to a place. The basilica is built in an area called Lateran, thus the addition of that part to the name of the basilica.

Afterwards, we crossed the street to Santa Sanctorum -- the Pope's private chapel -- where the Scala Santa (the "holy steps") are located. Tradition states that S. Helena brought the steps -- from the praetorium where Jesus had his trial with Pontius Pilate -- from Jerusalem to Rome. Those who enter the building and desire to ascend the steps must do so on their knees, which several of us did. To protect the very old stone steps, they are now covered with wood. Afterwards, we make a short trek to San Croce in Gerusalemme (the Holy Cross in Jerusalem), where some relics of the Passion are located: wood from the Cross, a nail, a pair of thorns, the inscription, among others. When we entered the building, the nave was being worked on, so it seems they were either repairing or refurbishing something in the main part of the building.

In the afternoon, we were treated to a visit to the Missionaries of Charity (MC) house in Rome. We were greeted by Sister Victoria, who graciously spoke with us for around an hour, recalling some stories of her time with Bl. Mother Teresa, with whom she lived and worked for a time. She is celebrating 50 years an MC this year. She related a previous message Mother Teresa gave to seminarians who visited her: "be holy" -- that was it. Sister was very hospitable and well-spoken.

Post by Dn. Grant Gerlach. Note: I did not have access to pictures for this post. If and when I do, I'll post them later.

Tour of St. Peter's & CDF

Yesterday we went to St. Peter's Basilica with Dr. Elizabeth Lev.  She is an American-born art historian who lives in Rome (see her website here ==> http://www.elizabeth-lev.com/).  It was such a blessing to listen to her.  She has a lively faith and has a great passion for her work.  In listening to her, it is easy for a person to desire to learn more about the faith, the Church, art history, etc.  She shared about how St. Peter's Basilica came to be the way it is today, in all its glory!  We will be seeing Dr. Lev again before our time is complete in Rome.

A masterpiece of Bernini, found at the back of St. Peter's Basilica.

In the afternoon, we were able to learn about the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  This Congregation does a number of things, including examination of crimes against faith, morals, the celebration of the Sacraments, etc.  The Congregation carries out its work to aid in the salvation of souls.

Missionary Sisters & Inside the Pontiff's Bishop Dicastery

Today we were treated to a visit to the Missionary Sisters of Saint Peter Claver (MSSPC, for short), who have their North American headquarters in St. Paul, Minn.! We traveled by bus (a common theme on our trip here in Rome) to their residence nearby Saint Mary Major, a "papal basilica" (virtual reality tour available), where we stopped for a short visit beforehand. At the Sisters' residence, they gave a presentation on their foundress, Bl. Mary Theresa Ledochowska, and their mission as a religious congregation. We celebrated Mass (and my blogger co-hort Dn. Blake Rozier preached) in their chapel, which also includes a tomb shrine to their foundress. They then treated us to "coffee," which consisted of various goodies -- sodas, teas, cakes, cookies. They also gave us a "World Mission Rosary," distinct by its coloring of the decades for specific continents. Afterward, we took a picture with them and they gave us a tour of their chapel, Bl. Mary Theresa's private room, and a nativity scene built by one of the sisters. A summary of our visit there: have a heart for missionary charity and pray for all missionaries and their endeavors throughout the world.

After hopping on a bus back to our residence, we lunched, while Fr. Betancourt dined with Msgr. John Cihak, a priest who serves in the papal dicastery of the Congregation for Bishops (more thorough description of them available on Wikipedia). After lunch, Msgr. Cihak gave us some insights into papal dicasteries -- created to assist the Pope in his ministry of the Church universal -- and the inner-workings of his Cong. for Bishops. Most insightful was the process that occurs when an episcopal see becomes vacant (i.e., how a bishop is selected). He is originally a priest from the diocese of Portland, Oregon, and he certainly didn't expect serving in this capacity when he was being formed in seminary. However, he seemed to enjoy being with us and discussing his priestly service for the Pope.

After that, we were able to have time on our own. We need to read some documents for our assignment this week -- this Rome excursion isn't all traveling and visits to really awesome places. We also throw some learning in there as well, too!

Post by Dn. Grant Gerlach.

St. Paul Outside the Walls & the Vatican Museum

Our day began with about a half-hour journey to the church of San Paolo fuori le mura (i.e. Outside the Walls), which is one of the four patriarchal basilicas.  The place is remarkable.  (This probably will not be the last time I make this statement.)  Some highlights of the journey include: praying at the tomb of St. Paul for our local dioceses; seeing the papal medallions on the upper interior of the church - including a medallion of Pope Francis; seeing some of the chain which held St. Paul as a prisoner.

Praying at the tomb of St. Paul

Dcn. Sam Wagner preached about trusting in the Lord in order to provide proper nourishment to the people we will serve.  It was an especially good day for Dcn. Paul Shovelain.  He was also able to serve as deacon in the place where one of his patron saints is entombed - quite the blessing!

Mass at San Paulo fuori le mura in the chapel of St. Benedict

In the afternoon, we went to the Vatican Museum.  Lots to see!  From Egyptian artifacts to spiritually-enriching paintings and tapestries of the different centuries to the Sistine Chapel - the list is long.  We definitely could not fully appreciate all the different things in the few hours that we were there. Michelangelo is amazing!  Wow!  I can hardly draw stick-figures.

The SPS class of 2014

We See the Light -- an Epiphany! -- and it's the Christ Child

My classmates and I attended Mass at S. Peter's Basilica today. Some guy named "Francesco" was the presiding celebrant. Below is a picture of what he looks like:

Francesco preached, and it was a good one. Now, I didn't understand much of it because it was delivered in Italian, but the English translation of the homily references the experience of the Magi and the light they followed, and then contrasted that with the darkness surrounding King Herod. In essence, a Child was born and is the Light for a world in darkness!

So, here's an interesting note: to get into the Papal Mass, you have to arrive early... really early! We arrived at 8am for the scheduled 10:30am start. To get into the place, we had our own version of a "golden ticket" -- a gray-colored, postcard-sized invitation complete with papal insignia and even a papal seal stamp. If we didn't have this on our person at all times, the "maestro" would get really mad, yell at us in Italian, and escort us out of the premises. Thankfully, that didn't happen to any of us. Oh, and when we got to our seats, we were treated with a nicely-bound worship aid. It had instructions in Italian, the Latin texts of the Mass on the right-hand pages, and English and Italian translations of those texts on the left-hand pages. It must be nice when your parish church has the Vatican Press at its disposal for printing worship aids.

Afterwards, we were treated to a special feast-day message (in Italian, of course; video link available) from Francesco from his papal residence window. We also prayed the Angelus with "Il Papa," he greeted a couple of visiting pilgrim groups, and then finally wished us a good lunch and afternoon.

Note: this post by Dn. Grant Gerlach. This is my first post on this blog, so bear with me as I get acclimated with this endeavor.

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts...

Pope Francis addressing hundreds at the Sunday Angelus, including a girl with a very pink jacket.

We took a stroll to St. Peter's Square to listen to and pray with Pope Francis.  He informed the faithful that he will be taking a trip to the Holy Land in May.  According to the Vatican News Agency, he also said that "Jesus does not give up on us and never ceases to offer himself and his grace that saves us." As men about to be ordained priests, this is precisely the Good News that we look forward to sharing with everyone we encounter. I had to quote the Vatican News Agency because Pope Francis was speaking in Italian. "Thank you" seems to be the only phrase I understand.  Some of my classmates are in the same situation as me.  Other guys are picking up the language rather quickly.

(For the reader's information, I, Dcn. Blake Rozier, will be alternating blog posts every other day with Dcn. Grant Gerlach.  There may be a few occasions where we have a guest blogger.  Let us know if you have any questions.  Grazie!)

Arrival

St. Peter's Basilica

Today is our official arrival date.  Our residence is just a block down from St. Peter's Basilica. Temperature: around 60º (that is, above zero).  No complaints!  We are grateful to be living in Rome.

Destination: Rome

The calendar almost reads 2014.  We, the deacon class of St. Paul Seminary, begin this year of our Lord in the Eternal City.   We look forward to sharing our experience with you.