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!