Holy Rome

Sunday October 12, 2008

Yes, we know we have been going to a lot of churches but there are just so many here. Seems like there is at least one on every block. But this was the visit to see the Pope at the BIG one here, St. Peter’s. Through some advance online research, Mel found out that the pope would be saying an outdoor mass today at 9:30 to canonize or recognize as saints four people, so we had to join in.

And it was interesting, indeed. The four new saints were from Italy, Ecuador, India, and Switzerland. We sat in a mixed section of people, some from India and some from Italy. Whenever one of the new saints was mentioned a cheer would go up from people of that country, who would wave flags and banners, kind of like your typical international soccer match. We were amazed at the number of people from the different countries, especially the large contingent from Ecuador. We voted the Swiss to be the best behaved and the Italians (Neapolitans, of course!) the most spirited. It was pretty uplifting to be among so many people who had come so far as pilgrims for to witness a ceremony in honor of one of their own. (Personal note from Mel to any of our readers who think they might be headed for sainthood themselves: You might want to have some kind of codicil in your will stipulating who [or what worthy cause] should receive the royalties from the sale of t-shirts, tote bags, baseball caps, scarves, flags, and banners emblazoned with your name and likeness. I am afraid that the heirs of the new Saint Gaetano missed out on a good thing here. As one of my beloved high school teachers, Mother Genevieve Marie, used to admonish her charges, “A word to the wise ought to be sufficient”.)

With the size of the square there, and it was full, we were about in the center so we got to watch the Mass on TV and listen to the readings in any of the languages of the participants, including English and Greek. Once again, our Latin and Gregorian Chant came back to us from the far recesses of our memories. At the end, the pope got into the popemobile and drove through the crowd. We were within about 20 feet for the pictures we have.

After Mass, the enormous crowd was headed either to the subway or into the Basilica, so we, of course, went elsewhere. A little lunch and a stroll before getting on the subway for the trip down to the other end of the city and an attempt to find Via Appia Antica. This was the old road that the Romans built to link Rome with the rest of the world. It ran all the way down the boot to a port on the east coast and is renowned as the place Romans go on Sunday for a little walk. It is also supposed to have some of the monuments that were put up along the road and maybe an aqueduct or two. We have looked for it before with limited success (ask our boys about the Death March) and we did about as well this time finding a path with a few monuments and little explanation. Anyway it was a fairly pleasant stroll but we did get to wait for a bus for about 40 minutes to return us to the 21st century.

Back home for some wine and dinner. We will have to go back to Vatican City on Tuesday to visit St. Peter’s but tomorrow’s destination will be Ostia Antica, the original port city for Rome.

Ciao!
Tom and Mel