Well, I know that I am subject to public flogging because I haven't updated this thing in so long... but here at long last is a new entry for those waiting with bated breath and hook to hear about what mischief I've been up to. I haven't written about my previous 10-day break (to France, Spain, and Portugal) largely because Spain wasn't a great experience and partly because there wasn't enough time to write. I've taken two additional trips since that 10-day, one to Milan, Italy, and the other to Venice (a third trip to Switzerland fell through but it gives me a reason to come back to Europe some day), on my way to the other 10-day break: this time, a school-sponsored pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. I arrived back at the Kartause safely last evening after a 14 (I think) hour bus ride back from the trip. I will be writing separate entries to cover the undiscussed trips I just mentioned.

Our accomodations, provided by the University, were nicely located within walking distance of a chapel where we held nightly Eucharistic Adoration hours - because frankly, after a long day in Rome, you need some peace and quiet just to recover from it, let alone pray. The students occupied a nice chunk of the wing of our 4-star hotel, and enjoyed a variety of Italian dishes in the hotel dining room each night. Often we would have visitors from Rome come and dine with us, most especially alumni of the University who have gone on to study and attend seminary in Rome!

Our first full day in Rome was this past Sunday, November 12th. On that day we went to St. Peter's in the morning for Mass, with plenty of time to wonder and explore the enormous basilica. I saw the original Pieta, and the incorruptible body of Blessed Pope John the 23rd, the Pope who convened the Second Vatican Council (that means that he has been dead for decades and his body has never decomposed). I was wandering with Marcus and Brian, and while Marcus and I waited for Brian to get out of Confession - we completely missed our opportunity to get a seat for Mass and thought they weren't going to be allowed in at all. The guards barricade the sanctuary off when Mass starts because they don't want tourists coming through during the liturgy taking photos. However, Marcus and I made it in after the celebrating priests processed in, only we had to stand in a crowded spot without a view for Mass... which made it a little difficult since the Mass was in Italian to begin with. But, it was nonetheless a beautiful privelege to go to Mass in St. Pete's... and we were only a few feet away from the main altar built over the very bones of Peter himself!

After the Mass concluded we rushed outside to catch a glimpse of Our Holy Father, Benedict XVI, who was giving his Sunday Angelus address from his apartment window (yes, that famous window you see on the news). I've never heard the sound of his voice before, and I have to say it is rather cute - exactly the kind of voice you'd expect an old German pope to have. When the Angelus was over, a group of us wandered to find some lunch and wound up getting slightly ripped off at this place but were so starving we hardly cared. In the afternoon we received a tour of several of the churches in Rome by one of our very own alumni, my friend and future priest, Joe Gill!! He took us to the church of St. Peter in Chains, which houses not only the chains which once held Peter in prison (yeah, that story in Acts is not just a story anymore, it's something tangible that I saw for myself), but also Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses. We also went to St. Mary Major's, and a small church nearby called St. Propessa's. This parish was my absolute favorite, though I can't quite put my finger on why. It houses the relics of 2300 unknown martyrs from the early Church persecutions, and has an absolutely gorgeous midnight blue mosaic ceiling. We don't see mosaics much in American parishes (at least not pretty ones), but this took my breath away. After touring these places, we finished up at the church of St. Clemente which, in addition to the lovely mosaic interior, also sits on top of 4th and 1st century church ruins, which we were allowed to go down and walk through. I've taken some church history courses, but nothing makes it real like seeing it for yourself. It made the universality and the continuity of the Church very real for me, in way it couldn't have without being there myself.

On our second full day in Rome, I decided to sleep in since 1) I was positively exhausted, and 2) Was certain I wouldn't be able to squeeze into the Scavi tours being given at the Vatican that morning (only 90 spots had been available for us, and I wasn't one of the first 90 to sign up). I wandered down to St. Peter's, making a stop at Soprani's - possibly the cheapest religious goods store ever. I got a Holy Family medal for 7 cents, and a good size poster of the Pieta that I payed 20 bucks for at the bookstore @ FUS, and got for 1.50. I decided impuslively to walk by where the students were going to the Scavi tour to see if by some freaky chance there was a spot available, and you wouldn't believe it -there WAS! I got to go!!!

So, what the heck is the Scavi tour, you ask? Well, when Pope Pius the 11th was dying, he requested to be buried as close as possible to the bones of St. Peter, and while tradition had always held that Constantine built the Vatican over Peter's real tomb, excavations began to determine if this was in fact true. What the archaeologists found was an entire pagan cemetery, which at it's time was above ground, much like the masoleums we occasionally see today. They found Christian graves as they continued, and eventually the tomb they believed to be Peter's burial place. However, when they examined the bones they found inside, discovered that the remains belonged to seven different people, including women. So, where was Peter? Was St. Peter's a sham?

Excavations continued under the direction of Pope Pius the 12th, who hid what was going on from the Nazis by hiding the dirt they removed in the Vatican gardens. Eventually, they found an obscure Christian graffiti wall near St. Peter's trophy, and breaking a part of it, found the skeleton of a man inside. They called in a specialist to decipher the graffiti wall, and discovered that one of the broken pieces in fact said, "Peter is here". Testing on the bones revealed them to belong to one man, aged 60-70 years, and of robust build - like a fisherman's would be. They checked the DNA with another relic in Rome that claimed to be a piece of Peter's bones, and it was a MATCH. Not long after these investigations, Pope Paul the VI announced officially that the bones could be venerated as truly belonging to St. Peter, and that brought home the words of Christ to Peter: "You are Peter/Cephas/Rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church" - LITERALLY! The main altar of St. Peter's, the center of the Catholic Church, is really and truly built above the tomb of Peter the apostle. And I got to see those bones - the jaw that said all that STUPID stuff in the Gospel... I don't know about y'all, but I have so many moments when I roll my eyes at the dumb stuff Peter says... but then again, I do the same thing with a lot of the dumb things I say... and so there is hope for all of us! Holiness is possible, love wins!

After leaving that tour and scoping out some of the Swiss guards (they actually have to qualify as 'pleasing to look at' to get the job, and they ALL fulfill that requirement!), I hopped on board for another tour given by another alumni/future priest friend of mine, Mike Silloway - who used to order batches of brownies from me when he lived on main campus. He gave us a detailed tour of the inside of St. Peter's, and I learned more than I could ever write down here, but the coolest part of that experience was this outrageous story:

While waiting in line to receive our headsets, some construction workers were drilling on one of the front pillars of the building. One of the workers picked up a handful of the rubble, walked over to me and said "somethin-something bella" in Italian and HANDED IT TO ME! Which means, in case you didn't catch that, that I have a chunk of St. Peter's to bring home!!! Pretty outrageous, huh?

The rest of the day after that I floated around - I mean, who wouldn't having seen St. Peter's bones and walking around with a chunk of the Vatican in their pocket?

Okay, we are halfway through my time in Rome and then I will tell you about Assisi, too, but I really have to go and myself some nourishment!!!