Fr. Rick's Sabbatical

Went for a Hike Today

2011-06-23T17:31:00.001-04:00

Today, I hiked not to just the grotto of St. Mary Magdelene, but all the way to the summit of the crest of the cliffs.

There is a group of pilgrims from the city of Langres in the northeast of France who are on pilgrimage here at La Sainte-Baume. They have a local parish priest and - get this - the diocesan director of pilgrimages. Here is an innovation that we can benefit from in the US.

They about 40 people travelling by bus to this region. I met some of folks last night and they spoke with the priest, Pere Phillipe and the pilgrimage director and they invited me to join them on the hike. Again, divine providence. I was intending to hike this trail alone today. But hiking this kind of trail with others is usually more prudent.

Here is the group sitting on the steps in front of the grotto. Frere Thomas, whose book, the Novena to St. Mary Magdelene I translated for you months ago, is teaching the group.

After the brief instruction by Frere Thomas, we went into the grotto for the celebration of Mass. Following we hiked up the additional 300 meters to the crest of the cliffs.
Yesterday I included a photo of the small chapel built at the summit. Today I have pictures looking down from that height onto the plain and the hotellerie.

From the summit looking down into the valley. The hotellerie is next to the green field beyond the woods at the upper center of the picture.

The 4th century chapel, St. Pilon, on the summit of the crest of La Sainte-Baume.

The chapel of St. Pilon perched on the cliff.

The trail along the summit.

The cliffs of La Sainte-Baume

The small group of the pilrims from Langres who continued past the grotto to climb to St. Pilon.

And just to remind you of where these last photos were taken, this is the cliff from the Hotellerie. The chapel of St. Pilon is the tiny square structure at the top of the cliff. The grotto is the small cluster of buildings just above the treeline at the base of the cliffs.

Tomorrow, after Mass and lunch at the Hotellerie, I will return to Marseille for two nights. I came to really enjoy Marseille so I want to spend another two nights there. On Sunday I will travel back to Paris.

I talked to Frere Thomas after compline tonight. I told him that I was thinking of taking the train for the day from Paris to Chartres, the last major cathedral yet to visit. He went on for about half-hour about the neccessity of visiting that cathedral and the surrounding town. Tuesday, I will take the train to Chartres and visit one of the greatest cathedrals of all.

Morning prayer at 7:30am. It is now 11:30pm.
Bonne nuit.

Lovely Summer Day at La Sainte-Bame

2011-06-22T17:27:00.000-04:00

This morning started with my oversleeping. I knew the bells would wake me in time for morning prayer. But apparently the bells somehow do not reach this room. The only bell I heard was the bell that the sisters ring at the bottom of the stairs to announce 5 minutes before a meal. So I rushed out of bed and made it in time for the Petit Dejeuner. But it was still the start of a good day.

Another day of catechesis at the tables of the Sainte-Baume. Another nature-loving non-believer to ply me with all kinds of questions. These are people who never get to talk to a priest. So the 8:00am petit dejeuner turned into a session until 10:30. It left me just enough time to walk faster than I hoped to to reach the grotto in time for Mass. About five minutes away from the grotto, the bells rang call to worship. I arrived at the grotto just as the first reading began. One might say, "the 11:05 bus arrived". Need I say more, SJN folks?

After Mass I hiked back down the trail in time for lunch at the dining room. The afternoon was quiet. I took one of the little pamphlets that Frere Yves-Henri gave me at Fanjeaux for some afternoon reading. "St. Dominic's 9 ways of prayer."

There is a seminarian here from Paris. He is part of a missionary order that will send him to Southeast Asia after ordination for the rest of his life. His is a real gift. We had some interesting discussions at lunch and again at dinner this evening. I learned that he is returning to Paris by train at the same time I am driving to Paris. I invited him to join me in the drive, but he already has his "no-refund, no-exchange ticket" for the TGV. I can't blame him really. He will make tthe trip in 3 hours; I will make the trip in 8 hours.
I don't think my little Citroen C3 will do 350 KM/hour.

At dinner tonight there was a group of French pilgrims who are planning to hike to the grotto and then up to the crest of the cliffs tomorrow. It should be interesting since I really think I will be the youngest among them.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be photos of that jaunt.

Here a few before and after photos. Some taken in the winter when I first arrived here in January, and the after taken today.

January 18, 2011

June 22, 2011

January, 2011

June 2011

Here are a few more I took today.

The top of this ridge is where I will be tomorrow, Thursday, June 23.

You can barely make out the little sqaure building at the very edge of the cliff. This is the monastery built by the Cassianites in the 5th century. That is my destination tomorrow.

Well that's all for tonight.
I'm sure after the hike tomorrow there will be more photos.
Bonne nuit all!

Back a La Sainte-Baume

2011-06-21T09:40:00.000-04:00

I am back in the Hotellerie at La Sainte-Baume. I am looking forward to the three days of quiet here. Thanks to Frere Yves-Henri, I have some wonderful reading material, not that I haven't collected lots of things. I am especially going to concentrate on the little pamphlet he gave me by St. Dominic on the 9 ways of Prayer. There is something about going back to seminal writings by the great saints and mystics. I have done some of that in these 6 months. Dominic's writings are certainly among those that I should delve into.
The blog will be relatively quiet in the next 3 days. But just know that I am really ready to come homed.

Blessings all

Nantes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Montpellier

2011-06-20T14:26:00.000-04:00

Since my visit to Mont St. Michel, it's been long driving days. One night in Nantes, another important college town. They host many American students. American Universities have "french" campuses there. Maybe they are worries about letting them loose in Paris.

Then it was Bordeaux for one night. I had stopped into Bordeaux a few years ago, but not this Bordeaux. I had a hotel in a very different "quartier" and it made all the difference in the world. Tonight was a nice long walk along the quai of the rivers and canals. Bordeaux, which is a variance on an old french name which literally mean, "on the water's edge" is an apt name for the place. Bordeaux is located at the head of the Gironde, a huge wedge shaped bay which opens up into the Atlantic Ocean and it is at the convergence of 4 major rivers which drain most of central France - the Dordogne, the Lot, the Vezere, and the Garonne. A nice dinner and a quiet evening in.

From Bordeaux, it was a 5 hour drive to Toulouse. I had three evenings in Toulouse. Toulouse is another great college town. It is also very important in the tradition of the Domincans. St. Thomas Aquinas in buried there in the Church of the Jacobins. Here are some photos.

The austere exterior of L'Eglise des Jacobins. This is the abbey church for the Toulouse Dominican community in its early years. Dominic founded the Dominican Order, or the Order of Preachers, in 1216. Construction of this church began in 1229 and continued through 1350.

It is a relatively simple contruction of two naves suppoted by a single central row of columns. The main altar is in along the side of the church and not at the end of a nave.

Under the main altar lies the remains of St. Thomas Aquinas, OP. Teacher and Preacher. 1215-1274. His writings form the basis of most of the catechism and theology taught in the church for 600 years.

An interesting way to look at the ceiling. Around the base of one of the pillars, there is a large circular mirror which reflects the ceiling.

The cloister of the abbey.

The bell tower from the cloister.

A stained glass window in a small chapel off the cloister.

A very simple entrance to this beautiful place.

The minimal decoration at the entrance of the Jacobins Church

On Saturday, as I was wandering around the city, I came upon posters announcing an organ recital at the Church of Notre Dame du Taur. I was in the neighborhood and the concert was to begin in an hour, so I went. The organ recital was the last in a series, every Saturday from the first week of Easter to Trinity Sunday.

This church is built on the place where St. Sernin, the first bishop of Toulouse, was martyred in 250. Actually his martyrdom covered lot of ground in a manner of speaking. He was dragged by his feet behind an angry bull through the streets of Toulouse. This church is built on the place where his body was deposited after his death. And so the name of the this church is really, Our Lady of the Bull. "taur" the latin word from which we get the english word taurus.

On Sunday morning, I returned to Notre Dame du Taur for Mass. Again I was asked to do a reading as I entered the church. This Mass at 11:30am had many catechumens attending. I spoke to a parishioner after Mass who he catechumenate is very active in France with nearly 3 generations of unchurched French. The "new evangelization" proposed by Blessed Pope John Paul II is an important part of the life of the church here.

After Mass I continued walking down Rue du Taur towards the Basilica of St. Sernin, where St Sernin is buried. There was a huge market going on; four rows of vendors completely encircling the basilica - a big place. So I made the rounds of the market. I think this is where most people in the city buy clothes, fabric, housewares, and everything under the sun. There was surprisingly little food except for a couple of bakers, and people selling snacks to eat on the run.

The basilica was open.

Basilica of St. Sernin.

This pre-gothic architecture shows the heaviness and bulkiness that was replaced by the light and soaring gothic styles of two centurieds later.

The choir stall in the sanctuary at St. Sernin. Most cathedrals of this period have this seating at the side or behind the main altar. Cathedrals were staffed by "canons", from which we get the word "canonical", refering to something within the structure of the church. The canons were priests, brothers, and occasionally laymen who would run the day to day operation of the cathedral and the ministry from the cathedral. In many cases they were employees of the local town, who in most cases owned the cathedrals. In France today, the government owns all the major cathedrals.

There was a museum across the street from the basilica which picked my curiosity. The museum of St. Raymond, which occupies an old hospital from the 15th century. Today it is the municipal museum of Toulouse. The large banner hanging in front of the museum was announcing an "'Ex-pot' de restauration". With this little play on words I was ancious to get into to see this exhibition of the history of restaurants. I paid my entrance and found myself in the middle of huge rom filled with hundreds of pieces of ancient greek pottery. The exhibit was not about restaurants at all It was about the "restoration" process of the ancient pottery found in archaelogical digs all over the Mediteranean. Oh well! It was a fascinating visit and I learned new things.

But I was now hungry and found a nice little brasserie.

Today I left Toulouse and headed towards Montpellier. Again I got sidetracked. There are just too many surprises happening on this experience. My GPS started to scream at one point. IT had detected an 85 minute delay ahead on the highway. If I took the next exit, I would cut the delay to only 20 minutes. That 20 minute delay turned into 3 hours. I took the exit and came across the sign pointing to Fanjeaux. Something in head said that this was vaguely familiar. And then it came to me. Sr. Joseph Marie asked me before I left if I was going to visit Fanjeaux. Frere Henri-Dominique at La Sainte-Baume had talked about Fanjeaux. A quick look in the guide book and there it was. St. Dominic had served as the parish priest there. The town is a classic small hill town in the French country side. The center of the cluster of buildings crowned of course by the tower of the church. It was 12:30pm and of course anything that would have been opened on a Monday was shut tight for repos. As I turned the corner near the church, a Domincan priest drove by. He stopped and I asked him if Dominic's house was open. He said no but he would open it for me. I introduced my self, and told him about my January/February retreat and my upcoming gthree days at La Sainte-Baume. He of course knows all the brothers there very well. My unexpected detour turned into a nearly two hour visit of the house, and the village. Fr. Yves-Henri Riviere, op. He showed the little oratory that is built in the house where Dominc is believed to have lived during his time in Fanjeaux. All that remains of the house is a large fireplace and some beams known to be 13th century.

The tiny oratory with its huge fireplace and beautiful old tabernacle made from gilt panels from the Basilica of St. Maximin. (Look up the blog from late February when I concelebrated Mass there with Bishop Dominique Rey.)

The altar in the Oratory in the St. Dominic House. The altar is facing the big fireplace of the last photo.

The garden at the rear of the house.

After my tour, Fr. Yves-Henri and I exchanged information and he very kindly gave me some books as a gift. "St. Dominic en Lauragais" (The account of St. Dominic in the Lauragais region, Fanjeaux.), "St. Dominic, the Apostolic Life", "Saint Dominic and his brothers, Evangelization or Crusade?" and little panphlet, " The Nine Ways of Praying of St. Dominic". Also a prayer card with a photo of the beautifully carved door in the restoration of the Oratory.

Merci, Frere Yves-Henri, pour une belle visite cette apresmidi et pour le cadeau de les livres. Ces petites evenements qui ne sont pas part du plan de mon sabbatique sont les plus memorables. Je vous offert mes prieres pendant mon petit sejour a La Sainte-Baume cette semaine.

Frere Yves-Henri Riviere. OP

Here are few pictures of the little village of Fanjeaux.

The church in Fanjeaux

Fanjeaux Main Street.

Le Halle: the covered market place a block away from the church.

The rest of the afternoon was on the road to Montpellier where I will spend the night before leaving for La Sainte-Baume Tuesday monrning.

As I'm thinking I am winding down on this sabbatical, the new discoveries and surprising events just keep happening.
Blessings all of them!

A demain.

2011-06-20T13:02:00.001-04:00

Mont St. Michel

2011-06-17T17:13:00.000-04:00

This has to be one of the most extraordinary places I have ever visited in the world.

Mont St. Michel is located in the north of France right at the border of Normandie and Bretagne. It is an island which was has had a monastery built on it since the 8th century. For centuries it stood in resitance to all the wars waged against Normandy and northern France. It has never once been the victim of attacks by anyone until the Second World War. The primary reason is that until hu,anity had the technology to drop bombs, it could not be successfully attacked because of the tides. Every twelve hours, the tides, some of the highest in the world, rise up to 12 meters and inundates the marshes which separate it from the coast of France. IN modern times a causeway has been built and that is no longer an issue. But in the days before mchanized war, no army could succeed in taking it in the short time required by the tides. And so it is safe.

I have tons of pictures. I will simply post them with brief captions. I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

Mont St. Michel. The monastery and the abbey church are built at the crest of this rock island starting in the 8th century. Later the village surrounding the base was built in the 11th and 12 centuries.

The gate which millions of visitors must pass through to get into the village and climb up to the abbey and church.

Looking down on the main street from the ramparts.

Major side streets look like this.

After passing all the restaurants, tourist trap shops, and hotels, the street becomes a stairway with about 200 steps up to the entrance of the abbey.

The abbey entrance perched on the edge of the cliffs.

Once inside, more steps up to the terraces in front of the abbey church.

The terraces in front of the abbey church with the tidal basins below.

Terraces in front of the abbey church.

Parking lots are not my favorite things to photograph. But I think this is important to give you a sense of the height which the ground floors of the abbey church are located. Tour buses below.

The church and tower.

Nave of the abbey church with the tower.

Facade of the Abbey Church. The facade is 16th century so it has the later classical lines rather than the medieval austerity.

This photo shows the two styles which co-exist in a wonderful way. The nave, foreground, is the 11th century roman style. The sanctuary at the rear is the early gothic of the 12th century.

The sanctuary. The utter simplicity of the rows of arches with no ornamentation emphasizes the height and draws the eye upawards to the light provided by large expanses of windows. It is very reminiscent of La Sainte Chapelle in Paris.

Detail of the nave with the round romanesque arches and the simple wooden barrel vault at the ceiling.
This is very rare and was used here to simplify the building process of carrying wood rather than stone across the tidal flats.

Views down to the tidal flats rom the terraces.

ONe of the most beautiful cloisters I have seen in all of my travels. The gardens ofo this cloister were replanted when the benedictine sisters, who now staff the abbey returned.

To understand the history of these amzing monuments requires knowledge of the events of the French revolution. The religious imagery on the right, an image of St. John the Baptist was destroyed, while the the floral design was left. This is the case all over France. There was a systematic effort to blot out the signs of faith all over the country.

The roof of the cloister is supported by very slender columns. They are doubled, alternating one after the other to give great support but with the illusion of lightness.

The beautiful cloister. Notice the double rows of slender columns holding up a very heavy roof.

The refectory of the ancient abbey.

Now that's a fireplace. And there are two of them. These are in the Pilgrim's Hall which were used to feed the thousands of pilgrims who came to St. Michel. St. Michel was both a stopping place for pilgrims on the way to Spain to Santiago Compostelle, and a destination unto itself.

Here is something you don't see every day. This huge wheel (see the man standing behind it) was used to operate an elevator to bring supplies and building materials up to the abbey. Men would walk inside this wheel and it would turn to raise the sleds up an incline on the side of the mountain. Think of human hamster wheel.

This is the ramp which guided the specially built sled which was hoisted up by the wheel located in the openning which you can see in the wall at the top of the picture.

Views of the ramparts built right down to the edge of the sea.

The abbey gardens below the terraces in front of the abbey church.

Rooftops of the village looking down from the stairs approaching the abbey entrance.

Village scenes.

Village street.

Looking up the steps approaching the abbey from the village.

A look back at the island as I am leaving to head down to Bordeaux.

This was a remarkable day. Mont St. Michel will be one of the highlights of this whole experience. I was at Motn St. Michel on Wednesday, June 15th.
Incase you may have noticed that I have slowed down in the postings on the blog, you are right. I am counting day at this point. There are so many things I wanted to see. It is becoming clear that I won't get to all of it. It just may require a return to Europe at some point in the near future. Quel surprise!

Tonight I am in Toulouse. I will visit the tomb of St. Thomas Aquinas tomorrow. Then I head back to La Sainte Baume for a few days of final retreat. Before coming home on the 29th, I will spend three nights in Paris.

I am not promising any more blogs after this - well maybe after the tomb of Thomas Aquinas tomorrow.

The three days at La Sainte Baume will be one's of quiet.

Three nights of Paris will not!

In any case. I will home next week.

Blessings to all

A bientot.

Famous and Not So Famous Cathedrals

2011-06-13T14:07:00.000-04:00

My posting this evening will include three locations. Lille, a lively university city in the north of France not far from the Belgian border; Amiens, a medieval city with rich history; and Lisieux, site of the new basilica in honor of St. Therese of Lisieux.

I took myself to Lille because of the things I heard and read. The churches are rather average considering the others in France. It sustained huge damage in WW II and so most of the pre-war buildings are gone. The churches, those that survived the French Revolution, sustained some damage, but none that required building new structures.

Here is the view from my hotel room, the Citadine Apart'hotel chain. I have come to really enjoy these places which includes a full kitchen in every unit. Very nice for breakfast and late night snack. The silver dome in the foreground is a large mall which includes the big flat roof below my window. The hotel is connected to that along with about 6 other hotels and a huge parking area. The building with the steep sloped roof with two rows of gables to the middle left is a medieval guild hall, one of the few 12th century buildings to survive. The tall tower in the center is the Hotel de Ville, or City Hall. The square dome is the Lille OPera house.

The main square of Lille. The blue glow of dusk oer the building shows how late it gets dark at this northern latitude. This picture was taken at 11:00pm. Its nearly two weeks away from the longest day of the year. The 45th parallel, the point on the earth that is halfway between the north pole and the equator is roughly the border between northern Vermont and Canada. The 45th parallel is nearly 250 miles south of me here.

I visited the Musee des Beaux Arts in Lille. There was a special exhibit called "L'art de la Pensee". or The Art of Thinking". It was a series of paintings from Madrid, Utrecht, and Naples, by artists who painted the portraits of some of the great thinkers of the world - starting with the ancient Greek philosophers, Saints, like Paul and Jerome, and then into the Middle ages with Thomas Aquinas, Dominic, and many more. The exhibit was beautifully done. At first glance, one is looking at a collection of portraits. But the trained art observer will see much more. And the genius of these artists is the ability to convey the philosophy, theology, and ideas of great writers and thinkers with subtleties of color, light, texture and subject. It was a real education in my appreciation of art and art exhibits.

After my visit to the art museum, I attended the Saturday Vigil Mass at the church of St. Etienne. This renaissance style church was originally the chapel of the Jesuit University in Lille. The original St. Etienne was destroyed by the French Revolution. They never attempted to rebuild and simply started to use the Jesuit Chapel which was actually next door the original parish church. Like most of the other Masses I have ever attended in France, 15 to 20 minutes before the Mass begins, a few parishioners who look like the run the place are frantically running around recruiting lectors, collectors, Eucharistic minister, and tonight 12 people to form a procession to retire the Paschal candle from the sanctuary to the baptistry with the end of the Easter season. So I accepted the invitation to do that. It seemed like an interesting idea. I know need to do some research in the instructions of the Roman Missal to seed if there any reference to this ritual. It just made a great deal of sense to me: We process solemnly with the Paschal candle into the Easter Vigil; why not solemnly process out with it to the place where it will be used in baptisms? We'll see. Good ideas are to be found everywhere.

The busy streets of the Uniersity City of Lille.

Sunday the 12th was a long day of driving - about 4.5 hours. But I decided that I would make the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens my major stop of the day. I left the hotel about 10 am and arrived in Amiens about noon. I knew a few things about this wonderful cathedral. One fact is that its gothic nave is the highest in all Europe.

Approaching the Cathedral of Amiens. Amiens was another city that sustained a great deal of damage in WW II. But here the bombing was done by the Allies, therefore the great churches and monuments were spared.

This cathedral's facade is known for its great symmetry until you get to the height of the towers.

The arched "porches" are deeper than most of the other gothic cathedrals and allow for greater detail and storytelling in the design. One of the commentaries I read about this church inludes a reference to Marcel Proust writing about a journal by John Ruskin. Ruskin was an architect, furniture designer, publisher, artist, social philosopher, and atheist, who spent a great deal of time studying this cathedral. He called it, "the Bible in Stone". I have read some Ruskin in the past and now I have to research this particular reference. "The Bible in Stone" is an appropriate way to describe all these places.

The angels and saints greet you as you enter the central door of the Cathedral.

The nave looking back towards the central door of the facade.

The angel crowning the top of the high pulpit holds an open book and points to the words, (in Latin), "Do this and you will live". The platform of the pulpit is supported by the figures of Moses, Isaiah, and St. Paul.

Four Figures in the proch of the south transept each hold an item important to the liturgy, from left o right, a scroll for the Old Testament, a book for the New Testament, a ciborium for the Eucharist, and a Thurible, incense signifying our prayers rising up to heaven.

A veiw of the apse and the main altar.

The transepts are extra deep to provide the additional support to the very high central nave. Consequently the crossing of the nave and transepts is much brighter because the additional wall space left more room for windows.

A view of the north side of the Ameins Cathedral from about 2 blocks away. Not only is it the highest gothic nave in Europe, it also sits on a rise of land that makes it even more dramatic.

Two blocks away from the cathedral, old homes and shops line a system of canals. These are at the back of the buildings. The fronts are on small streets. The canals were used to transport items to the homes and shops from the warehouses on the larger canals and riverfront, thus keeping the streets more passable.

After my visit to Amiens, I continued on the remainder 2.5 hour ride to Caen.

I checked in my hotel and asked about the state archives that I hope to visit on Monday to do some genealogy research. "Oh, they won't be open tomorrow. It's a holiday." I was told. Now I love France and enjoy being here, but there are a few thing that are just hard for me to figure out. Less than 1% of this Catholic country is practicing, a significant percentage claim to be atheists. The feast that closed most of the country on Monday is Pentecost. GO FIGURE!!!

So the change of agenda for today was to visit Lisieux. If they closed the basilica of St. Therese of Lisieux on Pentecost, we are in trouble.

The Basilica of St. Theresa of Lisieux consecrated in 1954

The interior is draped with the banners of the Vatican colors in honor of Blessed Pope John Paul II, beatified on May 1, 2011. In 2000, Blessed John Paul II declared Therese of Lisieux a doctor of the church along with Theresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and Edith Stein.

The interior of the dome and mosaics which cover every flat surface of the building.

The mosaics of the apse.

From the basilica, I walked around the grounds for a while. The Carmelites, the order to which St Theres belonged, have a large convent here and the is located just at the edge of the city. There are beautiful grounds and they are very peaceful for walking, meditation and prayer. I visited the book shop, of course, and I purchased "Les Oeuvres Complete de Therese of Liseux". You may recall the lectures at Rome on the Women Doctors of the Church. I decided then that I will read some of their writings. The book I purchased to today is in French. I took with me out into the basilica gardens and spent some time reading Therese's poetry. It is not complicated French, after all, as the introduction says, she received no formal training in poetry, or writing other than the compositions expected of every shool girl in France at the time. So I enjoyed reading and reflecting on some of them.

After leaving the area of the Basilica, I found my way into the center of town. I wanted to visit the Cathedral of St Peter in Lisieux, and because the road approaching the town today was plastered with posters and signs anouncing a street festival, I had a dual agenda.

I found street parking since after all its Pentecost, a national holiday. The street festival was taking place in the large square right in front on the cathedral. I found a few food booths, and enjoyed some local delicacies sitting on a park bench with local children running all around me. There were small kiddy carnival rides there too.

After a bit of lunch, local Andouillette sausage, delicious regional cheese, bread, and handful of homemade fudge caramels with raisins inside, I headed to the door to the cathedral.

The approach to St. Peter Cathedral in Lisiex. The style is a Norman/gothic style of the 12th century. The architecture of early Normandy is characterizd by lower, more squat rounded arches. They have not yet discovered that rows of higher, narrower, pointed top arches can carry just as much weight as the short fat arches of the older style. This church shows an integration of the two styles as they were learning the techniques.

The nave looking towards the sanctuary and the rear chapel. The windows you see at the back of the church are on the end of another chapel behind the altar that extends about another 100 feet beyond the wall of the apse.

The side of nave shows how the combination of round and only slightly pointed arches indicates a transition from the pure Normand, into the gothic period.

I was driving back to my hotel in Caen, about 45 KM distance from Lisieux. I needed a bit of diversion from Romanesque, Normand, Gothic, High Gothic, Baroque. I decided to stop in LeroyMerlin, France's "Home Depot". I was actually surprised to see that it was open on Pentecost Monday. Anyway, it was fun. Home Depot in the US needs to get a bit a bit more style.

So tomorrow I will spend the day at the "Archives Departementale". After the time there I will drive to a small country hotel about 10 KM from Mont St. Michel. The camera battery is charging as I complete this posting this evening. I am taking no chances. Wait till you see this place.

A demain
Bonne nuit a tous.

My Day in Reims

2011-06-09T13:23:00.001-04:00

Today was another entertaining, educational, and inspiring day - as many have been. With only one full day in each city from now on, I will have to choose carefully what I want to see.

I started today with a visit to the Basilica of Saint Remi. I had not heard of it before. But Antoine, the sacristan at St. Jacques church, told me with such enthusiasm that I should not miss it. So I took his advice. What a treat!

Saint Remi was Bishop of Reims in the 5th century. He was known for his great intellect, his skill in preaching, and his great kindness and charity. He baptized the Clovis, King of the Francs in the baptistry of a cathedral that existed on the same place as the 12th century current basilica. Recent archaeology onder the cathedral has discovered the site of the baptistry and today there is a small plaque in the floor in the center of the nave marking the place. Clovis' wife, Saint Clothilda was already a believer and the conversion of the King is credited to her prayer and the bishop's ministry. This set into motion the place of the church in the future nation of France.

I arrived just as the 11:15 Mass was ending. A few minutes after the priest had left the altar, the organ music began. a group of about 40 people were seated in the center of the nave in front of the big pipe organ. I later learned that it was a group of German organists and organ enthusiasts on "pilgrimage" visiting the great organs of northern France. Traveling with them are organists of some reputation in Germany who each take a turn giving a short recital. That was a real bonus. I decided to just walk around the church, let the sounds and sights inspire.

The facade of the basilica of St. Remi. This church is considered one of the great examples of an integrated Romanesque and Gothic styles of the early 12th century Romanesque is generally characterized by the round arches; Gothic by the pointed arches. In this style, while the arches are pointed, they are not the tall points of the later pure gothic to be used in the cathedral. You'll see below when I get to the visit of the Cathedral.

A view of the nave towards the sanctuary. The vaulting of the ceiling is a les pointed arch. The rows of arches at the lower level are round. This is typical of the blended Roman/Gothic style.

A better view of the sides of the nave with the round arches inside the pointed gothic details above.

The grand organ suspended from the side of the nave. Most of the pipes are actually on the gallery behind the pipes. This gallery runs all along the side of the nave. The organist is seated behind the lower set of pipes. Where you see the light glowing between the levels of pipes, there is the console.

The main altar and the apse with the ambulatory surrounding it. The small structure in the center behind the altar is the mausoleum of Saint Remi.

In the midst of the grandeur, the soaring vaults, the massive columns, the huge space, one finds everywhere small spaces tucked away in the edges of the side chapels. This one especially moved me. A tiny chapel off the transept contains only a votive candle stand and a medieval sculpture of the suffering Christ, head crowned with thorns, hands and feet bound, whip marks across his body, and pain evident in his face. He is alone. There is no other figure with him. I am guessing, because I found no commentary in the guide book about it, that it is the moment after the scourging and crowning with thorns. It is as though He is alone with his thoughts and the knowledge that the fullfillment of his earthly ministry is about to come to an end. Home-prepared bouquets and a potted plant were the only ornaments in this space smaller than our adoration chapel at SJN.
Magnificent!

Another "Calvaire" in another small side chapel.

The Ambulatory. In an architectural basilica, the side ailes continue around the back of the sanctuary. It allows you to walk around the back of the altar and reach the other side of the church. The only example of this we have in the Fall River Diocese is St. Anne's Church, Fall River.

The "crown", the only light hanging in the basilica is about 15 feet in diameter. It contains 96 candles, one for every year of St. Remi's life.

A sculpture behind the tomb of St. Remi depicting him anointing Clovis after his baptism.

The baptistry in the basilica. The sign hanging on the wall says, "pierres vivantes". It is the second of two sign, the other hanging out of view on the left wall. The whole phrase says, "Vous etes les pierres vivantes" which means, You are the living stones. In a space where you are surrounded with all this masonry, it is an apt image for reflection in the space where initiation into the church occurs.

After the visit to St. Remi, I had a bit of lunch at another great little discovery, a piano bar located across the sreet from the basilica. The staff was very friendly and welcoming. A little light jazz and piano music starting tonight at 9. I may have found my venue for dinner.

After lunch, I took the bus towards the cathedral.

I am going to add on to this post later. Check in again for the rest of it.
I'm heading out for dinner.
A bientot.

WEnt out for dinner last night to the same spot I had lunch.

Had a wonderful time. I got a table right next to the pianist, who was a university student majoring in music. Played both piano and the acordion. After we started to chat, he segued into "New York, New York", which brought about 5 patron from the other room to stand around the piano. Not knowing there was an American there, they struggled through the verses.
I had had enough. I went up to stand next to the pianist who was grinning at what was about to happen. I said, "On commence encore". And the pianist and I started in on the song all over again. Anyway, I spent the rest of the evening with these folks.

The highlight was at 11PM, when it finally got dark out, the "spectacle" was a out to begin. The whole bar emptied and went out into the street facing the Cathedral which is only one block away. To celebreate the 800th Anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral, there is a lazer show on the facade. It lasted about 30 minutes and included images of the whole cathedral in beautiful color. One thing I learned today, is that most of the grey stone cathedrals we see today were not first built that way. They polychrome, that is painted in bright colors. Statues highlighted, arches defined, reliefs, windows, all brightly colored. The light show included a range of music including chant, medieval organum, rennaissance polyphony, and contemporary original compositions. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

Here is a picture that I had to take my life in my hands to obtain. Standing in the middle of the busy street facing the cathedral, I had to wait for the traffic lights to change and the busses to get out of the way.

Reims Cathedral

On the south side.

The north-west corner showing the recent cleaning. It was purposely left this way to show people the future effect of the restoration. The work has begun at the rear of the cathedral.

Detail of the portal in the facade.

The nave

I took the tower tour. There was the guide, Pauline, and two young women. It gave us lenty of time to explore and ask many questions. This is the attic. In WW I, the Germans bombed the cathedral, for two reasons. The towers provided a strategic lookout point to observe the movement of troops, and the cathedral's destruction was a symbolic strike at the heart of the city. In the fire, the roof collapsed but most of the walls remained intact. Our tour guide, Pauline, explained that the cost of the reconstrution of the roof was underwritten by a donation from John D. Rockefeller, JR. In the donation, there were two stipulations: The materials to be used must be modern and non-combustible. So an intricates system of steel reinforced plates, pieced together like a 3-D puzzle forms the "inverted ship hull" designed in the traditional gothic arch to support the roof. The stone vaulting seen inside from the floor is below this catwalk. The second stipulation was that the peak of the roof must be decorated with a row of "fleur-de-lis".

The space above the crossing of the nave and transepts. This supports the central tower housing the 14 bells, the largest weighing 2 tons.

View of the city from the roof.

Looking down on the flying buttresses.

Lest we think the medieval's had no sense of humor. The workers were allowed to carve and place caricatures of their own faces as their signature on the masterpiece they helped create.

The north side.

Our guide, Pauline, did a wonderful job in her explanations. She took this photo standing on the south transept.

The double rose windows in the facade. View from the interior.

The organ free-standing in the nave.

Today I head farther north to Lille, then its west-bound to Normandy and Brittany.

I'm in Reims

2011-06-08T18:41:00.000-04:00

The day of travel was another one filled with exciting discoveries. As I am driving from one city to another I am deliberately avoiding the toll highways. Two reasons. Actually three reasons. So far I have saved about $100 in two days from not paying tolls. The car gets much better gas milage at the lower speeds than at the 130km/hour speed limits on the toll highways. And third, I get to turn off the road at will to check out anything that remotely seems interesting to me.

Let me continue with last nights posting because I was not sucessful in uploading all the pics I wanted to.

Before arriving at Reims last night, I pulled into a small town called Beaujeu. The signs about a medeival town and an 11th century church caught my attention. I drove into a charming town and pulled up to a beautiful church. There was notice in the parish bulletin asking for volunteers for a newly formed committee. They are planning the anniversary of the parish's founding. Would you believe - 1000 years. A PARISH MILLENIUM CELEBRATION. The parish of Notre Dame in Beaujeu, France was founded in 1013. My God!!! We worked hard over a 25th anniversary.

Anyway, here is pic of the inside of their church. Another beaitful 12th century gothic, wonderfully intact.

Notre Dame de Beaujeu in the Beaujolais region.

As I turned to leave, I put my hand in the holy water font and noticed a sign that I had missed on the way in. It says a great deal about this parish community.

Its a small sign in plexiglass over the holy water font at the entrance of the church. It translates, "In passing, allow yourself to be (literally) "penetrated" (meaning filled to the core) by the beauty of this holy place. Look, and be silent. The Lord and these stones have something to say to you."

Driving into Reims, I stopped at the village on Cluny. It was already late in the afternoon. Unfortunately, as I got there,, the skies opened up. I was looking forward to visiting the remains of the Abbey. In its heyday, it was one of the largest and most influential abbeys in Europe. But like many of these great places, it was destroyed in the French revolution. Many of the monks were executed. Today, of course the French goverment that was formed by the revolution now heralds the value of this place as a major example of patrimony in the French history, as they collect entrance fees to the ruins of what was the largest church in Christendom before St. Peter's in Rome. Ironic, isn't it?

Before arriving in Reims, I stopped in a small town to find a place for lunch. Joinville, France. A sign with the picture of the street running alongside the canal caught my attention.

Joinville, France. The canal that joins the Saone and the Marne rivers runs along the central street. This canal is an important economic tool for this area. The Saone River clows into the Mediteranean, the Marne flows into the English Channel. With this canal built in the 15th century, you could take a boat from England to the Mediteranean without entering the Atlantic Ocean. The steeple above the rooftops is - you guessed it - another 12th century gothic church.

The interior of Notre Dame Church, Joinville.

IN the rear of this church is a 13th century "calvaire" of calvary. It is a traditional grouping of persons, always including, Mary, Mary Magdelene, and St. John, over the dead body of Jesus. But they also include figures of people who could not be there, Because they are contemporaries of when the statue was carved. In this case, St. King Louis the 9th of France, Jean Joinville, the titled lady of the town who gave the art piece, as well as other personages from the time the statue was carved.

The stained glass windows in the clerestory, or the high wall above the arches in the nave are all of the Jerusalem Cross, from the crusades, and the "fleur de lis", the symbol of the Monarchy in France, as well the symbol for the Virgin Mary.

Reliquary containing the "sash" of St. Joseph, husband of Mary. This band of tapestry cloth which is wrapped around the roll was given to this parish by St. Louis de France, on his return from the crusades.

After I get back, remind me that we have to some classes on the use of relics in the church. This band of cloth purported to be the sash of St. Joseph, cannot possibly authentic. It is embroidered with French words, has the fleur de lis all over it, and includes images of France that could not possibly be known at the time of Jesus. And still this "relic" is the center of a huge annual celebration. Let's talk about this when I get back.

Today I arrived in Reims at about 3:30pm. Checked in to my hotel and headed out as soon as possible. I decided to wait until tomorrow when I would have more time to visit the Cathedral. Instead, I found a "coiffeur" and had my hair cut. (I think the last one in Europe before I get home). I wandered into the Church of St. Jacques Compostello. It is another magnificent 12th century gothic, beautifully preserved. It is another living parish. As I walked, there were three elderly ladies sitting at a table right in the entrance. There was a sign, "Acceuil". Welcoming area, or reception. They were distributing leaflets about the church and thier parish. And of course asking where people are from. I had a great time with. In a short while, as I was walking around the church, a gentleman approached me and said the ladies at the entrance told him I am a priest. He is the sacristan. He invited me to the Mass at 5:00pm tomorrow.

The nave of St. James Church, Reims. This is in a high gothic style. It has the balustrade above the arches, which the other examples I have pictured in the past days do not. Also the size and style of the pillars alternates as the arches are set towards the front of the church.

The transept chapel containing the altar of the Blessed Sacrament.

I was told by the sacristan that I had to visit the Church of St. Francis in Reims. He seemd to imply that he thought it is more beautiful than the Cathedral which draws hundreds of thousands of people to Reims.

I will report on that tomorrow.

Glad to be back on line.

Blessings everyone.

I'm back. Visited Ars today

2011-06-07T17:25:00.008-04:00

I am back. After a few days of being locked out of the blog, I again have access. The problem with the blog was exactly what my computer techie friend at CTS Computers in Taunton (Sound like a Commercial? It is. They are the best.) said it would be. The WiFi server at the Lyon hotel where I was staying had filters set up. I am on the road again and the Wifi here is fine. There are no interruptions.

And I'm glad, because I had a terrific day. It was one of the highlights of the experience so far. Ars-sur-Formans is the fulll name of the town, St. Philomena is the parish. St. John-Marie Vianney, the patron saint of all pastors, served 41 years there. I arrived at 10:30am in time for the 11:00am Mass. One of the Benedictine Sisters at the Pilgrim's reception area had all the information I needed. So I presented myself in the sacristy with 5 other priests. The basilica was full. The celebrant introduced us all and noted that I was here because of six month sabbatical and that I was here to celebrate my 29th anniversary of ordination. I explained that it was really 2 days ago, but travel issues as they were caused the delay. It was a joyful celebration. The music was accompanied by one of the sister on a cithara, and instrument similar to a dulcimer. I thought the sound would be lost in the big space, but the accoustics took care of that. It was heavenly.

Another surprise that made it very special was because of a young Polish priest who arrived a few minutes before Mass would start. The celebrant said that in honor of the Polish priest we would use Blessed Pope John Paul II's chalice. When the venerable Holy Father died, he bequeathed his chalice to the basilica at Ars to be used by priests from all over the world who come there to celebrate Mass.

Blessed Pope John Paul II chalice from which I shared Holy Communion with other priests today.

The Exterior of the basilica dedicated to the memory of St. John-Marie Vianney and also the parish church of St. Philomena's parish in the village of Ars.

The interior of the basilica. It is not a very large space. In square feet, it is not a whole lot bigger that St. John Neumann. Of course the space divided by columns and side chapels makes it look really bigger than it is. The basilica consists of an octagonal space below the dome about 25 feet in diameter and small side chapels. The place where the congregations sits holds about 100 people.

The side altar with the body of St. John-Marie Vianney lying at the altar. At the time of his cannonization, his body was exhumed and found to be intact. His body is clothed in Mass vestments with a wax mask on his face.

Another view of the center.

The courtyard of the rectory next to the church

An open shed and stable in the back.

St. John-Marie Vianney's library

His bedroom and bed where he died.

Just pictures of mountain flowers

2011-06-03T17:19:00.000-04:00

I was struck as always by the variety of flowers blooimg in this high country. It is still very early spring in this region and this elevation. In another two weeks, these mountain meadows will be in full bloom. Planning is everything, isn't it?

Some of the flowers I can identify, others that are nameless are still beautiful.

Anemone

These look like tiny peonies, but the leaves say that they are another plant.

Add caption

Aster

And Finally

Escargo on the hoof.

To Grenoble and the visit to LaSalette.

2011-06-03T16:55:00.001-04:00

It appears that once I log on to this internet server, I have a total of 30 minutes before it shuts off. 30 minutes is not a lot of time to do a blog. So there will be a series of short blogs again. Be sure to look back.

The drive from Torino to Grenoble took me through some more rugged mountain terrain and very narrow and curving roads.

Here is what they look like.

Highway E-74 between Torino and Grenoble.

Highway E 74

HIghway E 74

The fortress of Exilles. This fortress stands on a ridge in the middle of a valley formed by near shear cliffs on both sides. It has been considered a strategic location since the 9th century when the first forstress was built here. It has been expanded many times over the years and was in constant use until after WW II. It was abandoned in the late 1940 after WW II. In 1990's the Italian government began a restauration and turned it into a national monument open to the public. Here are a views inside and out.

The central courtyard and parade grounds.

The approached is a maze of ramps and gates separated by moats. Sucessive kings and nations who have controlled this site continued to add defenses to make it harder to lay siege.

Continuing along the route, the highway hugs the side of the cliffs and passes through tunnels like the one in the picture.

Grenoble is located on a large plain formd by the Isere river. The "old city" is tiny for a city of this size. The rest of the city is unremarkable in everyway. Blocks of early 20th century buildings, and beyond, blocks of 1960's and 1970's apartment buildings. I was glad to use this place only as the base for visiting the mountain and village of LaSalette and the LaSalette Shrine.

Here is the approach to the village of LaSalette, about 40 mile south of Grenoble.

The Basilica built in the 1860's to commemorate the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to two shepherd children on this mountain.

The interior of the Basilica

The romanesque interior of the basilica.

This is the view of the Mountian of the aparation of LaSalette that I have been seeing as a poster in the lobby of the retreat center of LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro, MA. When I first was this picture, I said, "I will go there someday" TODAY WAS THE DAY.

From this rock outcropping and the trail approaching it - YES, that clump of rock hanging off the side of the slope is the trail, and YES, I hiked it - I spent about an hour in prayer and reflection. Here are the pictures rom this spot.

The view of the basilica from my rock perch, 2 Km by winding trail.

And to prove I really was there:

Two young German hikers were glad to take this photo for me.

In front of the Basilica.

I am going to post this now. But check out the posting of the close-ups of the mountain flowers that were just starting to bloom in the alpine spring. You saw the snow still on some places of the very high country.

To be continued.

Lots of Information

2011-06-03T16:14:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone. I am in Grenoble. I spent a beautiful day at the LaSalette Shrine. I have loads of pictures but I am onloy hoping I can post them. The internet service here at this hotel is very strange. What's more. Yahoo.france has comandeered my computer it seems. It wants to overide all my settings and so prevents me from getting on line to the sites that I need for travel, personal matters, and blogging. So here goes.

Two nights ago I was in Turin, or Torino, in Italian. It is a beautiful city. Even though it was raining it was a pleasure to walk around because, like Bologna, many of the sidewalks are covered. Here is a pic.

Hundreds of city blocks all covered with these beautiful arcades. Even the cross streets are covered in most places.

I went to two museums. One at the Academia del'arte. It is the major art school in this city and has been training artists for nearly 6 centuries. The museum has great works and many of the best copies of major works from all over Italy. These are used for training students in the techiniques of the masters. I also went to the Galleria Sabauda, two floors in the Museum of Natural History. This collection was a donation from the Bishop of Torino in the 16th Century. It includes some of the most important religious art outside of the Vatican Mueums. Of Course, No Pictures.

There was one painting call "the Passion of the Christ", three centuries before Mel Gibson used the same title for his movie. It is relatively small painting about 2.5 feet long by 2 feet high. One starts at the upper left corner where the scene is the Triumphal Entray into Jerusalem. YOu then follow once scene after another and it tell the entire passion story - all the way to the upper left hand corner where there is a scene of Jesus appearing to the Disciples at the Sea of Galilee. That scene is less than half inch long and about 1 one third inch high. The whole canvas is a series of miniatures. As I was studying the canvas, a small group was led by a guide who, in my estimation, left out many of th details. One of the women in the group asked about certain scene, Herod and Pilate, riding horses side by side. So I chimed in saying that was the part of the story that says Herod and Pilate became friends after this incident. So the guide asked me how I came to know this painting. I responded, "I don't. I know the Gospels". And then proceeded to name about 12 more of the miniature scenes the tour guide missed, or simply didn't know. I had a great time.

Here are a few more scenes of Torino.

The royal palace, now the center of the regional government of the state to which Torino belongs.

A gallery covering a series of streets like the one in Naples, although a bit smaller scale.

The one disappointment was the visit to the cathedral and the display of the Holy Shroud. The cathedral is rather uninteresting and the shroud is not usually open for display. The shroud is the reason I put Torino on my agenda in the first place. However, I discovered a beautiful city which deserves a return visit sometime.

The Cathedral of Torino.

I'm going to save this post now. The internet is starting to do some strange things. So I will log off and log on again. Be sure to check back.

Drive to Torino

2011-06-01T03:17:00.001-04:00

I got the camera to download properly, but the photos from yesterday's posting are still lost in computer limbo. I will continue to work on it because those photos with the Garde's are worth seeing.
M. et Mme. Garde, je suis desole que les photos de notre belle soiree a la cote de Marseille ne fonctionne pas. Alors, je vous les envoie par e-mail.

Now onto the drive to Torino.

This is what parts of France looks like.

Most people think of France as roling hills covered with grape vines, sunflower fields, and acres of lavender. Here is another view of France - at the Italian border in the southeast. This is the road - 200 Kms long from Menton, the eastern most city on the the French riviera, as it travels north back into Italy towards Torino.

Here are some other views.

The road follows this stream through this gorge for nearly 50 km.

The town of Tende. Any relatively flat space usually has a small town built on it. This is Tende, the largest town on the route north on the E74. Tende is famous for the tunnel through the mountain named the Tended tunnel. It is 15km long, or approximately 11 miles.

This is the view back down the valley taken while I was waiting for my turn to enter the tunnel. It is a one-way travel. Cars and small trucks have to wait in line for the light to change letteing you pass through. The wait was about 20 minutes with about 30 cars ahead of me.

More of Torino later today. What a beautiful city!

Visit with the Garde's and in Sanremo, Italy

2011-05-31T03:22:00.000-04:00

This posting has no picdtures because somehow the settings of my download from my camera got changed. I have the pictures in the camera but I can't seem to get to download properly. That is disappointing because I have great photos of the Garde's and I at table, the spectacular coastal land and seascape of Marseille. I will try to get these posted somehow.

Saturday, I checked out of the hotel and drove to Auriol to visit M. and Mme. Garde. It was good to see them again. Their hospitality continues to be so gracious. I arrived and Mme. Garde had hoped to visit Notre Dame de la Garde. But they had read my blog as they have been faithful followers. They saw the pictures I posted the day before. So they were now switching to plan B. We left for the waterfront section of Marseille that I had only seen from the small tourist "train" that took me up to the basilica the day before.

While Marseille is a very large city, there are sections of it that you would swear were miles away in remote areas. East of the city is a rugger coastline that has small fishing villages, intlet, and coves with crashing waves, caves, and rocky islands.

After touring around the coastal road, we stopped in a little fishing village to one of the Garde's favorite pizzeria. We had a table right at the edge of the dock. You would never know you were within the boundaries of a city of nearly 3 million.

More later. Hopefully I can get those photos up on line.

Visit to Notre Dame de la Garde

2011-05-27T13:22:00.000-04:00

Today, I visited one of the great Marseille landmarks, the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde. I have seen it years ago, but since then all the mosaics have been restored. When I was at La SAinte-Baume, you may recall that I met two people working on the restoration of the HOtellerie refectory floor. They had worked on the mosaics of the Basilica.

The cornerstone of the basilica was laid in 1853. It is a memorial for sailors lost at sea and a call to the Blessed Mother to protect sailors. It stands on a rocky hill overlooking the whole city.
Here are a few views.

View of Notre Dame de la Garde from the Old Port. It is about a mile away.

Closer view.

From the terrace in front.

View of the old port.

View to the north.

View to the south-east.

View of the nave and sanctuary.

The ceiling vaults - all mosaics

Sanctuary

Models of ships hanging from the ceiling

More ship models

Detail of the Apse mosaic.

The mosaic floors.

View into the dome.

This evening I will take myself to the Old Port. There is a square that is filled with restaurants.

I will be driving into Italy again this week. Destination is Turin to see the shroud. I will then turn west over the alps towards Grenoble and the LaSalette shrine. More to come soon.

And for all of you who may be following the blog and don't know about the St. John Neumann Lakeside Family Festival, go to http://www.sjnfreetown.org/ and click on Lakeside Festival. There are many pictures of past festivals. See what I am missing this spring.

A bientot.

Today is blog catch up.

2011-05-27T11:40:00.002-04:00

I am in Marseille.
Tomorrow I am visiting overnight with the Garde's. Then I hit the road.
In the meantime, I am thinking about everyone with the Festival. Praying for nice weather because I understand that its been a rainy spring back home. Good luck everyone!

So let me backtrack a bit. I had a great 5 days with Bob and Inez Roy and their friends in Pernes-les-Fontaines. It seems like the Roy's are meeting people on their own and introducing them to the other people. So now because of Bob and INez, it appears that there are French people who did not know each other before the Roy's came along and now they are good friends. Is anyone surprised?

Here are a few pictures from the days in Pernes.

The Paella that Max prepared for all of us.

Bob and Inez and I headed out one day on a field trip. North of Pernes in Mont Ventoux. WE visited a little village, Brante, perched on the side of a mountain facing Ventoux. This is the view from the terrace of the little place where we had lunch.

The terrace at La Poterne in Brante.

Another view from the terrace and towards the slopes of Mont Ventoux.

A typical house in this area of hillside towns.

In the center of the little twon of Bannon is a bookstore, 3 stories of books. It is a destination for people all the way from Paris. I'm standing next to terrific sculpture of books carved out of a tree trunk.

Nothing like a cold one on a steamy afternoon. It's even more fun when the name of the place is "La bar de la paroisse", or, The Bar of the Parish.

Years ago, Bob's interest in cars took him into a small car museum. The owner, Pierre, and his family have become good friends. The museum has expanded to include a wonderful little cafe with an automotive theme. Bob and Inez hosted a party there on the last night of their 2011 France stay. Julie and Gregoire are to Inez's left. They are a couple who staff the tourist office in Pernes-les-Fontaines.

Right to left: Georges, and Jeanine, who have visited in East Freetown, and Marie-line, the proprietor of the "gites" where the Roy stay.

On the left is Max, Marie-line's husband.

Suzette and Patrice, relatives of the Museum and Cafe owner.

One morning, we were taught by Natalie, Marie-line's sister to make fresh mayonnaise. So delicious! Another recipe to add to the repertoire.

Mayonnaise class going well

Success!

Preparing dinner for Max and Mari-line - Traditional New England Fish chowder.

At table for traditional New England fare in France.

I left Bob and Inez at the airport. I figure they must be home by now.

Wishing everyone a great time at the festival. SJN at its best.

Blessings everyone

At Pernes-les-Fontaines with Bob and Inez

2011-05-23T09:43:00.000-04:00

After a great week of cooking and touring in Siena, I am now in the village of Pernes-les-Fontaines with Bob and Inez doing what do you think - cooking.

I have very limited internet access, so this will be very brief.

Our hosts, Marie-line and Max Hermann are gone for a few days to a family reunion. We expect them back later today and they are expecting dinner.

Yesterday and again this morning, Bob and Inez and I hit a few of the local daily markets and purchased what we need for dinner. I will be making a big pot of traditional New England Fish Chowder (clams are not available). This is a combination of flavors the french are not accustomed to.

So in the meantime, it is back to the kitchen.

Ciao Oops, I mean, bonne journée!

Two more great days in Siena

2011-05-19T16:36:00.001-04:00

Here are some more pictures of two great days in Siena.

Yesterday was market day. I was sitting at breakfast and two women were talking about the town market that was taking place today. I am talking about Wednesday. Every town in Europe - well at least Italy and France - have their market day. The museum ticket I bought is good for three days, so I will be going to the market today.

The town market sell everything under the sun.

It's a haven for anyone who likes to shop. I ended up buying two pairs of shoes. I saw the same shoes at an Italian store at the Prudential Mall for $100 more. What a bargain.

The lady is cutting slices of meat from a roast pork, Called "porchetta" in Italy. It is about 4 feet long and roasted with hebs and cheese. She sliced several slabs of this delicious meat and made a sandwich for me. A shady spot under a tree with a half bottle of red wine. Heaven!

This is porchetta

Only in Italy would I buy food from a market with this ad.

And don't forget the cheese.

The market was located around the base of this 16th Century fortress. At the top of the walls, and inside the fortress are a great park with sonderful views of the city.

View of the Duomo from the fortress.

The canopies of the market from the fortress walls.

After a morning of shopping and sight-seeing at the fortress, I returned to the hotel for a late afternoon reposo.
Wednesday night was another evening of cooking classes.

Who doesn't like to start with desert? Dough for almond biscotti prepared for the oven.

Cutting the hot biscotti to prepare them for the second baking.

Egg dough ready to be shaped and rolled into raviolis stuffed with spinach and mozzarela.

Making raviolis from scratch.

Enjoying our dinner.

After dinner, there was the long climb back up to the hotel. As you can see from pictures, Siena is built on the crest of a mountain. All the side streets are very steep, some of them are actually stairs up to the top. After dinner, I walked up the 100+ steps back to my hotel

Thursday morning was another gorgeous day in the town. Today was a visit to the museums that I had not seen.

The Pinacoteca, or the painting museum, was great. It was mostly religious art taken from abandoned churchs, confiscated churches, or churchse destroyed in earthquakes, fires, wars, neglect, or outright confiscation by civil authorities. It was an amazing display. I'd estimate that 90% of the art was religious. I was able to learn many of the symbols which are included with various saints. When looking at art from the middle ages or rennaisance, it become easy to identify particular saints because they are usually depicted with specific symbols. Some of the symbols are the instruments used to torture of martyr them, or symbols associated with thei ministry. For example, Stl Paul is usually protrayed as bald, holding a book and a sword. St. Peter is always holding keys. St. Catherine of Alexandria hoking a book and the wheel with knives used to execute her. St. Cecilia is usually shown with a small pipe organ. The list is endless. Seeing these in the all the art of this museum helped me to learn all these symbols. By the end of the tour, I was able to identify the saints without reading the labels.

I visited the "Opera di Duomo". this museum is dedicated to the construction of the Duomo and all its subsequent improvements and renovations. There is a tower nearby that offers a spectaculare view of the city and wurrounding areas.

Looking down onto the Duomo.

View across the rooftops of Siena into the distant hills of Tuscany.

Looking down into the Piazza di Campo

Another view of the duomo with a bright blue Tuscan sky.

Cooking class tonight. Are we sipping the wine or pouring it into the food?

Grilling vegetables.

My job was sauteeing chicken with mushrooms and onions.

A baked caprese salad with tomatoes, mozzarela, bread, and arugula.

Feasting on our creations.

Tomorrow morning, Friday, I leave Siena and return to Rome for one night. On Saturday, I fly to Marseille to meet Bob and Inez Roy. I will spend 5 days with them. When they leave to return to the states on Thursday, May 26, I will leave for my 35 days of travelling through France.

So for tonight its, pack bags again, get a good night sleep and head to the train station in the morning.

Buona notte a tutti.

A beautiful day in Siena

2011-05-17T16:35:00.002-04:00

With 5 course dinner and wines last night, this morning was a sleep in morning. But there was plenty of time to go exploring the city.

First stop was the basilica of San Francesco, which I was not able to enter yesterday. Everything closed mid day and siesta and all that.

I arrived at about 11:00am and walked around the church. There was a Mass at 11:30 so I decided to stay to offer up the Mass for Joe Martino's mother.

The inside of the San Francesco basilica is simple, even austere. With a mix of rennaisance, baroque and even some contemporary works of art, it is a very serene space which speaks only of spirituality and prayer.

After Mass, I went back to the center of the town to the Piazza di Campo. With the sun shining, people were lounging around the huge piazza and taking in the warmth of the late spring sun.

View of the piazza with its medieval tower and Palazzo Publico.

After a nice lunch of Caprese salad and a glass of wine, I headed over to the Duomo.

The combination of clouds and sun today really lit up the duomo to reveal all its beautiful colors.

Detail of the facade using a feature of my camera I didn't know I had. I thought I only had 3x zoom. Apparently it has a 12x zoom. There should be some more amazing pictures as time goes on.

The mosaic os the crowning of Mary, Queen of Heaven, on the highest peak of the duomo.

There are about 40 pictures of the interior of the duomo. I won't be able to post them all. Here are a few highlights.

View towards the altar.

A detail of the floor.

Another detail of the floor: The slaughter of the Innocents in Bethlehem.

Another image of the floor. This Basilica has one of the most unique floors in all the cathedrals of Europe. The marble of various colors was scored and a black epoxy type material filled in the grooves to make the images.

Statue of St. Jerome by Bernini.

Statue of Mary Magdelene by Bernini.

The "Picolomini" Chapel, built by Cardinal Picolomini to house the library of his uncle, Pope Pius II. Cardinal Picolomini would become Pope Pius III.

Frecoes in the "Picolomini" Chapel showing scenes of the life of Pope Pius II.

Statue of John the Baptist in the baptistry.

View of the nave.

One of 5 pipe organ cases in the Duomo.

Leaving the Duomo, I headed back to my hote. I took a route I had not taken before and crossed over a bridge which passes over some other city street. I saw a wonderful view of my hotel with the Church of San Domenico rising above it.

The Hotel Alma Domus where I am staying is the building just above the trees. My room is the second rounded arch from the left.

The setting sun offered some amazing light against the city tonight. I took this photo a short while before I headed out for dinner.

Another restful morning tomorrow, back out to visit a couple of museums and another evening of cooking classes.

Ciao everyone.

First Cooking class tonight

2011-05-16T17:53:00.000-04:00

I had a wonderful time at the cooking class tonight. Seven people in the class. Mike and Ellen from Toronto, Canada; Pam and Denise, from Michigan, Patricia from Texas, Paritosh, (call me PK), a 14 year old boy from India, and myself.

The menu:

Bruschetta con Pomodoro
Pappa con pomodoro
Pici al sugo di carne
Arista di cinta senese con patatine arrosto
Ricciarelli con Vino Santo

Here are some of the photos.

On the left, Lella Cesari Ciampoli, the owner and instructor of the cooking school, and to the right, Jackie, English translator and sometimes sous-chef.

Preparing the Pappa con Pomodoro, a tomoato soup with garlic, olive oil, two or three day old bread, and tomatoes.

Lella poking a hole through a pork loin which she will then stuff with herbs - rosemary, sage, parsley, and garlic.

Preparing the dough for fresh Pici, a traditional Sienese pasta, a thick speghetti, but made with only a combination of Yellow semolina, white flour, water and salt. Making the "well" on the counter to form a ball of dough. Knead it for 15 minutes.

Kneading the dough ball.

Hand rolling the dough.

First course: Bruschetta con pomodoro e basilico. Tomatos and basil on grilled bread.

Hand rolled pasta laid out before boiling.

Pici al sugo de carne. (Pici pasta with meat sauce)

Pam and Denise peeling potatos: the start of most good meals.

Mike and Ellen rom Toronto rolling pasta dough.

Ricciarelli: almond cookies eaten with vin santo.

Our group dining of the feast we prepared. Husbands who dropped of their wives joined us for dinner.

I had the morning and afternoon to myself to go into Siena to explore again. Here are a few pictures from around town.

A view of the duomo. There will be pictures of the interior soon.

Piazza di Campo. This is the square where the famous horse races are held every year.

Tomorrow is a total day to myself. I hope to visit a few museums and poke through some the many art shops. One my favorite souvenirs to purchase are watercolors by local artists from the places I visit.

For now its good night.
Buona notte at tutti.

In Siena

2011-05-16T03:48:00.001-04:00

The boat ride from Ischia to Naples, then the train ride from Naples to Siena went without any difficulties at all.

I arrived at the Hotel AlmaDomus, a former convent at the site of the birthplace of St. Catherine of Siena. Again I have limited internet connection, hence the delay of a couple of days. Also, I won't go into any lengthy instruction about St. Catherine. You can google that on your own. She is one of the women Doctors of the Church, and her role in returning the papacy to Rome in the 14th Century after nearly a century exile in France, is not insignificant.

Siena is absolutley charming. It is a typical medieval hillside town crowned with the Cathedral.

This is the view from my little balcony at the Hotel AlmaDomus. The cathedral, or duomo, as they are called in Italian, is in the upper right. The tower over the rooftops is in the main square of the town.

This is the main piazza in the city.

The view of the apse of the Church of St. Domenic just above my hotel. I attended Mass there yesterday. The brick construction shows how many of the churches looke before they are covered with the marble tiles that are so distinctive with the churches of Tuscany. I have not made it up to the duomo yet. Sunday it rained most of the day, so it was a really relaxing day.

A typical Siena side street. The litttle door and sign to the right is the entrance to a tiny restaurant. From that doorway, you descend a flight of stairs to a tiny courtyard with 3 tables. Inside there 20 place settings. Here are the dishes I had last night for dinner.

A little appetizer: Misto di Salume

Pici al Ragu Senese. Pici is a Sienese pasta, thick square shaped pasta, made in house. The sauce is a beef and pork tomatos sauce. A good introduction to my three days of cooking school.

Sunday morning in the rain. The cloister of the Domincan monastery next to the Basilica of St.Dominic provided a quiet time for some prayer before Mass.

The loggia of the church built on the site of St. Catherine's birthplace and home. The former convent building which is my hotel stands behind the loggia to the right.

The convent chapel at the Sanctuario of St. Catherine.

Another morning view of the duomo from my hotel room.

Tonight I take my first cooking class. I have to be at the class at 4:00pm.

I decided to post the blog this morning because many people are moving in and out of the hotel. I thought that there would be fewer people on line at this hour. The computer is in fact working faster right now. Today I want to visit the duomo, and the attached museums.

I hope I can cook and take pictures at the same time.

Ciao

Our Concert tonight

2011-05-13T17:26:00.001-04:00

Its my last night on Ischia. Our concert which we prepared for all week was this afternoon. I wish I had a video camera to show you all the music that we made today. As it is, I have video of the Mozart piece that we played. But because of the very slow internet connection here at the Hotel Grazia Terme, I will only be able to download the video in the future. But to be sure, its coming.

It is 11:15 PM. I still have to pack and then catch a taxi to the port tomorrow morning to catch the ferry in time to get a taxi to get to the train station to catch the train to Siena. I arrive on Saturday afternoon. I have all day Sunday for myself. The cooking classes begin on Monday. Hopefully I will have the time and the bandwidth to up load the movement that I was part of.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I have made some wonderful friends, some of whom live close enough to Massachusetts to get together once in a while to make some great music. Here are a few pictures from the concert.

The string quartet from University of Pensylvania who performed in the the church of San Giuseppe in Frango last night.

Aldo de Vero, Director of the Ischia Muwsic Festival; Shane, Kathleeen, Olivia, and Chris, Students of University of Pensylvania; David Yang, Director of the Chamber Music Program at U of Penn.

Group playing a Haydn String Quartet

Our whole group posing after the concert today.

University of Pennsylvania Quartet. Chris, Kathleen, Olivia, Shane

Short posting tonight. Stay tuned in the next couple of days. Anticipating a better internet connection to relate a more complete picture of the week's events.

Ciao

Into some serious music-making

2011-05-09T16:09:00.002-04:00

I woke up to the first rainy day in a long time here in Italy. But that's ok because I knew it was going to be an inside day, rain or shine. I was almost glad for the rain.

It was a very busy day today for music. All three of my performance groups met. Luckily the easiest and the least challenging one met first. It gave me time to get the fingers limbered up, stretched and ready to play the tough stuff.

The next two sessions were a tremendous amount of work but I believe I made some real progress in my chamber music playing. We are getting to the point where we are turning notes into real music. There was a lot of extremely technical criticism that was offered by the coaches. I was worried that my lack of experience was holding back some of the very experienced players, including one of the ivy-league student musicians. But he was receiving almost as much advice as I was.

One of bit of advice that was offered was a change in some of the fingerings of a particularly tough passage that I just could not get to sound properly. Correct fingerings means literally choosing which fingers will play which notes and marking the musical score to insure it is played properly. It is important in the "ergonomics" of playing to enable a pianist to play musical phrases, bring out a melody, accent one note over another, or to position the hand to be in the right place on the keyboard at the right time in order to play very fast passages with the least amount of wrist or forearm motion. Changing the fingerings that I had practiced for a month meant relearning portions of the music. After our coaching session, there was little time for the pool today. It meant practicing to prepare the music for tomorrow's session. I may need to live with these changes another day or so before they set in.

During a free hour, I was invited by one of the Israeli participants, a clarinetist, to play an arrangement of Georg Fredrich Handel pieces for clarinet and piano. It was a good time. I video recorded a portion of the session and will post it here if I have any success downloading it onto YouTube.

From the nearly thirty works being prepared here, some will be chosen to be included in the public concert this Friday night. I was told by one participant today that every person who wants to perform will be included in the concert.

I am going to try to download the video I took. I have posted my blog tonight and I will return to it with the video when I manage to download it.

Good night for now.

P.S. Here is the link to the hotel and center I am staying in.

http://www.hotelgrazia.it/

Another Great Day of Music

2011-05-08T16:46:00.002-04:00

Today is Sunday and I awoke wondering how I would get to Mass if at all. The bottom line is - I celebrated Mass in Italian for the first time. Here's what happened. I made the walk from my hotel to the performance center which requires that I go past the small church in this village. At 8:30 as I was going by, the doors were already open for the 9:00am Mass. I was scheduled for a music rehearsal and coaching session at 9:00am. For me to change that would have required the directors to change the schedules of 25 other people as well. So I entered the church and was directed by a little old lady in the back pew to the "sagrestia". There was the pastor in his chinos and t-shirt and sandals. (Part of me is really glad to be outside of Rome.) He spoke only Italian. So we did the best to communicate. He invited me to concelebrate the 9:00am Mass with him. I explained that was not possible. He asked if I wanted to return later to celebrate Mass myself. I asked him about noon time. He stepped out of the sacristy and called an elderly gentleman, Vincenzo, to come in. He asked Vincenzo to return later to open the church, and set up the altar for me. I returned at noon and found everything ready, including the Italian sacramentary and lectionary. So I began the Mass in Italian. Knowing the words in two other languages was how I got through it. Signor Vincenzo stayed with me, did the readings, and served Mass. Just the two of us in church. Asked him aftewards, "Mio Italiano? Bene?" He just shrugged his shoulders, gestured with his hands and just said "Eh". So that was my first experience with Mass in Italian.

Now the music program.

I played chamber music with any kind of proficiency today for the first time. I have done a great deal of accompanying in the past, but that is about supporting a soloist. Chamber music means that you are part of an ensemble and you are not neccesarily subordinate to the other instruments. It requires a great deal of listening, non-verbal communicating, and understanding what everyone else is doing.

I am meeting some very interesting people. There are participants from USA, Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Israel. I also learned the the director, Mr. Aldo DeVero and his American wife have just purchased a home in Falmouth, Mass. He will be back in the USA to play some recitals in August. Aldo did the coaching today in my groups for the Mozart Trio, the Haydn Trio, and the Mozart 4 hands Sonata. Also mentioned to the Haydn Trio group that this was my first time playing chamber music. They said they would never have guessed that because they were very comfortable playing with me. But I know I still have a lot to learn.

I also have met a professor, David Yang, from the University of Pennsylvania who is coaching the strings. There is a string quartet made up of some his students who are here with us. The student violist is performing with me in the Mozart Trio. David Yang also directs a chamber music festival in Rockport, Mass every summer. I'm sure I will be back to hear him perform. He also told me he wants to expand the Rockport concerts by touring other areas in eastern Mass. There is a chance that St. John Neumann could be hosting a chamber music concert at some point in the future.

These chamber music festivals happen all over the world. I think I have discovered a new reason for traveling. As I am getting to know more of the participants, I am getting invitations to travel to play music. There are three paticipants from Israel. I had dinner with them this evening. We talked about my recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They want to come to visit and we will play chamber music and to see other places in Israel.

I've hesitated to get too many pictures of the groups playing. They are working hard and I don't want to disrupt their rehearsals by entering the room to photograph them. But I will see what I can come up with. I'd also like to video some my own sessions.

I complained about the internet to the owner of this facility today. He asked me how everything was going. "All is going well, but your internet system is very inconvenient", I said. We chatted a bit about the issue and all seems well tonight.

I have three coaching sessions tomorrow, and its midnight.

Buona notte a tutti.

Series of Mini-Postings

2011-05-07T09:11:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone. The unreliability of the internet connection is maddening. So be prepared for a series of what I will call mini-postings. There may be 3 - 4 each day. Look in the column to the right under the images of the followers and you will more than one posting on the same date. Be sure to check them all.

By the way, if you have not registered as a follower, please do so.

We began our music sessions today. It is 3:00pm right now. I just returned from lunch with Anne, a lovely lady, retired physician from NYC, and a cellist. We sightread a number of easy pieces together this morning. She has been playing the cello for only 5 years since her retirement. For lunch we walked up the hill across the street from the performance center. The tomatoes are already being harvested here. It's the tomato flavor of New England in August. Delicious! Here is photo of the view from the place.

From the terrace of "La Beccaccia" Restaurant. We crashed a wedding reception that was taking place, but they seated us anyway.

This morning, I was not scheduled for a group, so I had the chance to practice for a while. I had access to three of the fours pianos here. After two hours of practice, Noe, a violinst approached me with some Beethoven Sonatas for Violin/Piano and invited me to play. So we picked out an easier one that neither of us had seen before and had a great time. We had to give up the space after 45 minutes. It was scheduled for a session for a string quartet.

Playing a Dvorak Quartet. This group invited me to play a Robert Schumann Quintet but the piano part was missing.

Now I'm going poolside for an hour. Then its back to the performance center for my session with another NYer, Robert Berman in the Mozart Sonata in Bflat for 4 hands. If you go to YouTube and search for this piece, you will find several performances of it.
Actually, here is a performance of it on harpsichord.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ79dUvhrXs

Have fun listening. I am having fun playing.

Be back sooner than later.
Ciao.

VERY UNRELIABLE INTERNET SERVICE

2011-05-07T00:37:00.001-04:00

I am posting this very briefly early this morning - 6:30am here - because the internet here is very unreliable. The last posting showing pictures of my arrival took me an hour to prepare. At the critical moment, the internet service cut out. I thought I had lost it all. Fortunately, most of it was there when I managed to log on this morning. It seems to stay on for 20 minutes, off for an hour, on 10 minutes, off for half-hour. So my blogs will be shorter, and seem less regular at least this week. There may be more than one posting for a day so be sure to look back a couple of days.

This music experience will be lots of fun. There will be great pictures too. So please stay posted with me.

I've arrived to Ischia

2011-05-07T00:33:00.000-04:00

This morning was another beautiful sunny Mediteranean day. I took a noon ferry, a high speed catamaran vessel, that made the trip in one hour, as opposed to the traditional ferry that takes nearly three hours.

I have not practiced in three days. I can feel it in my fingers. So that added to a bit of apprehension about this whole experience. I have never done anything like this before. I feel I am prepared but some passages of the music could use some more practice. Anyway, tonight all that changed. I met everyone.

But first, a few pictures of where I am staying and working for the next week.

Leaving the harbor at Naples. I was on the wrong side of the ship to get the historic port. But this is Naples too - a bustling industrial port that carries most of the shipping for Italy.

A bit farther out, the view of Naples expanding up the slope of the volcano, Mt Vesuvius.

The region west of Naples, on the peninsula that extends west into the Mediteranean. Off the tip of this peninsula are the islands of Procida and then Ischia. Apartment buildings are built up the slope of the land giving most apratments, even lower ones, a great sea view.

The Island of Procida with the medeival fortress perched high up on a cliff to guard the straights between the mainland and the islands. Procida is about one tenth the size of Ischia.

Approaching the port of Ischia

Coming into harbor.

Views from my terrace.

A view inland

Poolside at the Hotel Grazia Terme

After arriving, I sat poolside for a bit of lunch. Many of the festival participants have not arrived yet - not even the director. So I took a little siesta and looked over my music. I attempted to log on to the internet with the codes the hotel gave. It was a real project. Anyway I delayed that until later. The schedule called for a gathering of our group at 6:00PM. The facility where the music will be done is about half Kilometer up the road. So I took the walk of the half-kilometer. The center is actually an apartment complex owned by the same people as the hotel. There are 8 rooms for rehearsals. It also has quite a view (more pictures to come)

Dinner followed, and retire for the evening.

Three days in Naples

2011-05-05T18:09:00.000-04:00

I am back everyone. After the Beatification of John Paul II, there were closing festivities of the Institute. Monday morning, we celebrated Mass with the Rector of the seminary, Msgr, James Checcio. The Mass was followed with a reception and special pranzo. The rest of the day, I spent packing, practicing a couple of hours, and out to dinner with some of the men.

Tuesday was my departure day. We celebrated Mass at 9:00am. I did my final packing. I met Deacon Riley for some breakfast. He was on his way to class and I needed to get a haircut before leaving Rome. I boarded a train to Naples at 3:00PM. I must say one thing about Italy. If anything is on time and efficient, it is the train system. I arrived at the Stazione Centrale exactly as scheduled - 4:10. I was in my hotel room at 4:30.

Since there is no piano at my disposal for a coupole of days, I logged onto YouTube where there are several perfomrnaces of all the pieces that will perform next week. I need to listen to the pieces with all three instruments playing. I've done well playing them, but now comes the ensemble part. After listening to a few performances of each of them, I went to a little trattoria across the street for one of the famous Napolitani pizzas. I could smell it from my room. I could also smell the wood smoke from the oven. Wonderful aroma! Great Pizza!

Wednesday, I went out to the harbor to purchase my tickets for the hydrofoil that will sail to Ischia on Friday. I have a noon departure. That will give me leisurely morning and a quick cab ride to the pier will get me there on time.

The harbor is also the site of the Palazzo Real, or the Royal Palace. Today, much of it is government offices, but there is also a great museum there. I took in the museum, but no pictures unfortunately. The museums that have published guidbooks, do not allow photography of anything. This is because of copyrights of the art work. The royal private rooms and the private chapel are beautiful. There are many churches in Naples which have been abandoned or have been taken over by the state. The art work from these churches are in the city museums now. Its sad not to be able to see them in their intended locations. Often times, the art was created with a certain setting in mind, with specific lighting conditions, and visual vantage points. These are usually lost in a museum display.

Here some of the highlights of things I have seen in the past couple of days.

This is the church where Scarlatti, a great 18th century Italian composer studied as a boy in the choir school. This is an important find for me. I love the music of Scarlatti and play a great deal of it on the piano. It was a real treat to find this place. It is not the most beautiful I have seen in this experience, but even many of the less than ideal churches from an artistic point of view has some amazing history attached to it.

Santa Maria Del Aiuto. A wonderful church with the marble inlay that I remember at MonteCassino. The red posts in the center of the nave are supporting mirrors to enable you to see the remarkable ceiling without straining your neck.

The beautiful ceiling of Santa Maria del Aiuto

The traditional Neapolitan "praesepio". or the nativity scene as we would call it. The scene includes not only the traditional HOly Family, 3 Kings, and shepherds. It also includes a host of medeival townspeople, craftsmen, trades, merchants, children, and all sorts of characters never mentioned in the gospel account of Jesus' birth. I blogged about this a few weeks ago. I saw back on the street where there are dozens of shops where craftesmen make these figurines. I gave serious thought to buying some, but with two months of expenses left, I thought twice. Maybe someday I will come back to Naples and invest in a beautiful Neapolitan creche.

The facade and bell tower of the Basilica of Santa Chiara (St. Clare) is in the center of Naples. It is staffed by the Franciscans. It is a mix of building periods, but mostly in the medieval style. The original church dates back to the 11th century with many additions since then.

The simple clean lines of the interior of Santa Chiara.

Is it a church or a fortress? A bit of both actually. The stones are shaped into these small pyramids protruding out of the facade because they deflect canon balls more easily. The exterior does nothing to indicate what one sees inside.

The nave of the Church of the Nuovo Gesu

The altar of the Nuovo Gesu,the church of the Jesuits in Naples.

A view into the dome.

A wal of reliquaries. This bronze panel features a relief of the bust of many saints from the Neapolitan region. Below each of the figures is a small glassed in compartment holding the bones of the saints.

The oposite wall of the reliquary chapel.

At noon all the churches close for siesta. I found myself in this charming little piazza, Piazza San Pietro. Not exactly similar to the one in Rome. Today was very warm but this piazza had a very comfortable cool breeze blowing through it. Enjoyed a nice lunch here.

The basilica of San Domenico. Here is the Dominican Church in Naples. The Gothic style is highlighted with the gold leaf on the details of the arches and vaults.

The main altar with the pipe organ behind. Between the altar and organ is the choir where the friars chant the office.

After visiting the basilicas of the three major religious orders, Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans, I returned to the hotel and took a rest. I headind out to find the little seafood restaurant I happened upon on my last trip to Naples. I found it more easily than I thought. I sat at the same table. Beside me were three young English speakers, two from the UK and one from California. Because of the waiter, we ended up striking up a conversation. It was a good dinner, the food and the company.

Here I am back at the hotel completing the blog for today. Its up at 8 to prepare to catch the ferry over to Ischia. The adventure continues.

The Beatification was a blessed day.

2011-05-01T18:47:00.000-04:00

The alarm rang at 6:30am this morning. Today was the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Given what I had witnessed trying to get back to the seminary from dinner last night, I knew it was already late to get a good seat. First thing I did was to turn on the computer. The Italian headline on the Yahoo page was that the barriers into St. Peter's Square had already been opened and the crowds had filled every available space in the piazza. Luckily I had a ticket into the priests' general seating area.

By 7:30 I was approaching the piazza. I walked towards the gate which my ticket instructed me to do. I was told there that this was not the correct entrance. I went to the place where I was instructed, and there again told I was at the wrong gate.

I have not said anything about this in any of my blogs, but this is Italy. Minor officials think they rule the world. This gate was their kingdom and no matter what any pirnted instructions said on the card, a change had been made with no notification. So it took me 45 minutes to find the correct entrance. I will not miss this part of my experience - total Italian inefficiency.

Once I arrived at the location for our seating, a group of us from the Institute found some seats and made a claim on out location. It was out spot until 12:30pm when the Mass ended.

All in all, it was an exciting experience. The crowds, especially the huge number of Polish pilgrims waving their flags was inspiring. I could not move around very well so I tried to get some interesting pictures from where I was sitting. Here they are.

The pope arrived at his chair. The story of John Paul II was read by the Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome immediately following the penetential rite of the Mass.

The Holy Father then read the statement proclaiming Pope John Paul II blessed.

At the end of Mass, as the Pope was leaving, the banners and flags went up again, especially the Polish flag.

As I returned to the seminary, a met Bishop Dominque Rey, of the Diocese of Frejus-Toulon. I spoke about him in my blog (go back to the end of January) He was the bishop who I met on retreat at La Sainte-Baume, and with whom I spent a night at his residence, and visited his seminary. He was again very pleasant and invited me to return when I travel through his region in a few weeks.

The experience of today was remarkable. Pope John Paul II was pope for almost my entire seminary time and the first 20 years of my priesthood. He was first pope to travel so extensively. He greeted more people than any other in the history of the Vatican. He was a pope in our living rooms through the media. We reflected a bit at dinner tonight how for many younger priests, and through the formative years of all the current seminarians, he was the only pope they ever knew.

The message of Pope John Paul II that was chosen to emblazen across the pillars of the colonade was "Open wide the doors for Christ". Certainly a model for us all.

Some of the itstitute priests gathered on the balcony of one room for a bit of late afternoon cheer.

A bunch of "cheer" filled priests

The days of the Spring semester Institute for Continuing Theological Education is coming to a close. Tomorrow we have Mass with the rector of the seminary, a brief reception, and then Pranzo. The rest of the day will be packing and making final preparations to leave. I'm sure there will be a group of us going out for a dinner somewhere in Rome.

It is unbelievable how fast the 12 weeks have gone by here. Many of my colleagues leave Tuesday and are back in their parish on Wednesday. My sabbatical based on our diocesan program continues for another 8 weeks.

Stay tuned and Keep posted.

I met Cardinal Sean O'Malley today

2011-04-30T18:56:00.001-04:00

Deacon Riley Williams and I just returned from dinner. We decided to walk down to St. Peter's Sqaure, cross it, and go to a street filled with restaurants, including one called Osteria Mozzone - a family-run place that is beyond all the more tourist places. We really wanted to see what was going on at the Piazza. As we approached the Piazza, we were met by Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston. He was very pleased to see us. We had a nice chat. He asked me, "When did you arrive in Rome?", I answered, "February 13, Your Emminence. I am in the sabbatical program at the NAC". I told him a bit more of my program and the Lilly Grant. After he congratulated Riley on his upcoming ordination, we continued on our way to the restaurant.

After a lovely dinner, and solving all the problems of the church, we started back to the NAC.

STOP!!!!!

All the streets that would take us back towards the Gianicolo Hill where the NAC is located are closed. People are approaching the barricades in a swarm. Many Italians police speak English and French. Almost none speak Polish. Now Riley and I have to backtrack, walk all the way around the Castel St. Angelo - a circuitous route about one mile longer than we need to. All the way, we are climbing over people lying in sleeping bags across the sidewalks ready to spend the night. These people are not going to get any closer than this. I can only imagine the rush of people as they are allowed to enter the Square tomorrow morning.

I have a ticket into the beatification which must be supported with a picture ID - my passport has to come with me in the morning. And the weather is unstable. I am seriously considering, as are many of the priests here, whether 6 hours in the rain, ending up with a soaking wet cassock, will gain us any graces.

We'll see.

Earlier today, I participated in the last of our Institute field trips - the Basilica of San Sebastiano and the Cistercian Abbey of Tre Fontane. The tradition says that Tre-Fontane is the location of the beheading of St. Paul. The tradition also says that after he was killed, his head rolled down a hill, bouncing three times. At each place where his head landed on the ground, a fresh water spring welled up. The three springs still run beneath the church built to mark Paul's execution and the remarkable phenomenon.

This is the typically simple structure of a Cistercian Abbey Church. Liz Lev, the art historian who has directed many of our tours spoke of this church some weeks ago. As we looked at all the baroque churches with marble exteriors and richly decorated interiors of marble, mosaics, and frescoes, she told us about this Abbey Church of Tre. Fontane. If you strip away all the marble, mosaics, and frescoes, what you get is Tre-Fontane. Most of the churches in Rome started their life as a brick structure to which all the decoration was added.

Next to the Abbey Church is the later baroque church built over the three fountains or springs brought to surface by the bouncing of St. Paul's head on the ground.

The sanctuary of the church of the Tre-Fontane.

We celebrated Mass together in this church. Our celebrant today was Monsignor Robert Lawrence, who today, marked his 45th Anniversary of ordination to Priesthood.

Monsignor Robert Lawrence of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania celebrating Mass on the 45th Anniversary of priesthood. Ad Multo Annos!

In his thoughtful homily, Msgr. Lawrence spoke of how Rome was the place where the faith and culture of the 1st century world came together in the persons of Peter and Paul, and in the community which formed under their leadership and teaching. One an undecated Jewish fisherman, the other, an intellectual and Roman citizen. In this city, they met the same fate - martyrdom for Christ as each one proclaimed the good news of the risen Lord. From this city, the faith was spread throughout the world. Our sabbatical program in the city of Rome brought together a diverse group of priests devoted to proclaiming the same message of Peter and Paul. And from this city we will return to our homes and parishes where the work of spreading the good news will continue.
Thanks, Bob.

The mosaic in the apse of the church

Next we moved onto San Sebastiano:
It is one of the famous seven churches of St. Philip Neri, who began the practice of visiting the seven churches as a lenten devotion. St. Sebastian is a 1st century martyr, a centurion of the Roman arny who converted to Christianity. For this he was martyred by the archers of his own regiment. He was buried here in the catacombs over which the basilica was built. Now his remains have been placed in the altar of a chapel in the basilica that bears his name.

San Sebastiano

The side chapel where Saint Sebastian' body lies for the devotion of the curch.

The basilica contains two significant works of art. The first is the sculpture of San Sebastian lying in death. It is located in the base of the altar above his tomb. The concept for this statue and the initial drawings of the design are by Bernini. The statue was carved by his student, Giorgietti.

The Body of San Sebastian, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, carved by his student Giorgietti.

Also in the basilica is the sculpture of a bust of Jesus, called "Il Salvatore". This was done by Bernini himself.

"Il Salvatore" by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

After visiting the Abbey and the Basilica, we stopped at an Italian National Monument marking atrocities from WW II. It is the site of a mass grave of 335 Italian civilians who were executed after the Italian underground resistance killed 32 german troops. The civilians were rounded up at random, many were Jews, and one priest, some as young as 14, and shot at this site of a quarry. Because the young german soldiers who were to perfrom the excutions had troubled conscineces about this act, their officers gave them liquor. Unfortunately, it reduced the accuracy of their firing. Many of the victims were merely wounded. The bodies, some still alive were thrown into the quarry, and the quarry was detonated, burying the victims. Shortly after the war, the site was excavated, and eveidence shows clearly that not all had died before the quarry was caved in. Pope Pius XII dedicated this site in 1948.

Monument at Mausoleo delle Fosse Ardeantine

Underground passages where the bodies of 335 Italian civilians were buried.

The Mausoleum.
Most of the victims havebeen identified, but some, like the first one on the left labeled "ignoto" remain nameless.

Our day continued with much more joy than the tombs and mausolea that filled our morning.

The final banquet of our Institute.

Gathering at the restaurant "Cecilia Metella"

At table

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The rest of us.

Seated at the head of the table.

Carol Salfa, the Institute's Secretary

Fr. Mike Wensing, the Institute Director. This will be Fr. Mike's last semester. He is returning to his diocese in South Dakota.

Hoping for nice weather tomorrow for the beatication of Pope John Paul II.
Say a prayer.

I think I'm ready to perform.

2011-04-29T15:11:00.001-04:00

I've been alone here at the Casa O'Toole with the other priests gone to Assisi for 5 days.

I spent the time practicing and I think I am ready. There are still passages which will require some serious concentration, but I will manage I think.

I practiced mostly in the mornings and had the afternoons to myself. Yesterday, I went to the Capitoline Museum. It is one of the major municipal museums of Rome. The collections were mostly donated by Italian nobility, Popes, cardinals, and private families. It is fascinating to read about how these sculptures were discovered buried under rubble and revealed when they were doing construction, or excavations of other sites.

I have a few other pictures to post here tonight

The Casa O'Toole, where I have been residing for 3 months.

My room is fourth from the left on the 4th floor.

The seminarians' garden. Grape vines, and assorted vegetables, with tables and chairs for quiet study and rest.

The seminary building. That small box extending from the building towards the playing field is a 300 seat auditorium. Just to give you an idea of the scale of this place.

The road leading up to the Casa O'Toole. The main seminary building is to the right.

Today, after practicing, I walked down to St. Peter's Square. The huge crowds are already in Rome, and more arriving by the hour. The beatification on Sunday will be huge. There are festivities starting already. The Circus Maximus, the site of the ancient Roman track, will the site tomorrow night of a candlelight vigil. The square is already buzzing with activity. There a lift trucks, moving equipment, technicians of all kinds working to get everything set up. Huge banners are haging from the colonade. I don't know if my pictures will be adquate but here goes.

This is the scaffolding covering the restoration project of Bernini's colonade. Even that is decorated.

The huge portrait of John Paul II beside one of his frequent sayings, "Splancate le porte a Cristo", (Open wide the doors for Christ)

The altar being prepared.

The view of the altar I will hopefully have on Sunday morning.

The section of seating for priests.

Look for me somewhere in here.

As I walked around St. Peter's Square, I came across and exhibit that I did not know was going to happen. Pope Benedict XVI sponsored this exhibit of memoribilia of Pope John Paul II. It was a great exhibit including some of his books, letters, and films of him as a young priest on camping trips. There are going to be some very unusual relics of this new blessed man, and God willing, new saint.

Pope John Paul II's kayak.

His skis, daypack and waterbottle.

His bicycle. It was right out in the open, atteched to the wall. But people could grab the handlebars, and many rubbing the leather seat.

The prie-dieu and painting of Jesus from his private chapel.

The cope and stole he wore when he opened the jubilee door in the year 2000.

As the line moved through the exhibit, there was book for prayer intentions. So I stood in line to make an entry.

I'm not sure how this book will be used, but a prayer intention for me, my family, and St. John Neumann Parish is now included among the hundreds of thousands of other prayers that will fill this book.

I'm Glad this picture came out.

It's a busy weekend coming up. Although the beatification of Pope John Paul II was not part of the original ICTE agenda, it is a terrific way to bring this portion of my sabbatical experience to a close. One of the many unexpected treats of this six months.

Practicing this week.

2011-04-26T12:56:00.000-04:00

Well the Holy Week is over and we are into the Easter Season. The churches are still beautifully decorated. Easter Monday is an Italian holiday. All church offices and many businesses close for the day. So the city was quiet yesterday.

The Casa O'Toole is quiet too. All the priests have gone to Assisi. As I shared with you before, I opted to remain behind. I have been to Assisi a few times before and I have made an extended retreat before coming to Rome. I have made arrangements to return to La Sainte-Baume at the end of June before returning home. I figured this would be a good opportunity to take the time for my final preparations for the Ischia Chamber Music Festival. The seminary is also on break, so it is quiet there too. At Pranzo today there were only 8 table; there are usually about 35. The seminarians are traveling.

I have gotten 4 - 5 hours of pacticingt yesterday and today. The weather has not been copperative, so I have taken advantage of the rainy days and the readily available pianos (there are several pianists among the students who all try to get some practicing done each day.) The remainder of the week should be drier and I will work at the piano in the mornings, and after pranzo, head out into the city to visit some museums that I did not get to, The Capitoline, the Corsini, and Doria-Pamphyllia. Its about 7PM right now and the sky seems to be clearing somewhat. I may venture out for a bit of dinner.

Thanks everyone for the e-mails wishing me a Happy Easter. It was great to hear from folks. And of course everyone was raving about the Triduum and Easter Sunday celebration at St. John Neumann. I hope there are lots of pictures.

Continued blessings of the Easter Season to everyone.
Fr. Rick

"The Lord is risen! It is true!

2011-04-24T18:17:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter Everyone.

After the Vigil last night, it was a late night. The Easter Vigil lasted 3 hours - 9pm to midnight. After the Vigil we all returned to the Casa O'Toole where some traditional Italian sweet bread and digestivi (assorted liquors) were waiting for us.

This morning, it was ack to St. Peter's Basilica for Easter Sunday morning.

Here are a few pictures of the before and after. There were no pictures during the Mass.

The main aisle created across St. Peter's Sqaure leading up to the altar. A message for Ray Galuska: There are some great ideas I picked up for future decorations.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica. It is strange being in there with no crowds. As I was making my way to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel to vest for service as a Eucharistic Minister at the Mass, Fr. Joe Porpiglia got this photo of me standing many feet away from the high altar under which is the tomb of St. Peter.

A closer view of the high altar decorated for Easter.

The Mass was a beautiful celebration. The piazza was filled. Seminarians who were in the crowd said that the crowds went all the way back to the Tiber River along the Via di Conciliazione. This is the lasrge avenue that leads into St. Peter's Square.

After Mass we were passing through the basilica as the Holy Father was moving to take his position in the loggia above the main door of the church for his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" Easter message. (translated as "city and the world")

After Mass, I returned to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel to return the ciborium with the hosts, and to return the Vatican issued surplice and stole. That is when I was detained in the basilica to wait for the Holy Father to pass. When I was allowed to exit the basilica, I went to a place in the square to wait for the pope to come out onto the loggia.

The Holy Father greeting the crowds at the end of Mass. He generally does not give a homily during the Easter Mass, but waits until this time. He gave his Easter Message and then his tradition Easter greeting, "The Lord is risen! He is truly risen" This message is given in dozens of languages from all aver the world.

Here are a few other views of the square from where I was standing.

The facade of St. Peter's Basilica and the Pope in the loggia.

Some of the crowds in Piazza San Pietro

View into St. Peter's Square.

The Swiss guard with the crowds behind.

After the festivities at St. Peter's I returned to the college with the other priests and seminarians for pronzo. There were several tables of guests, mostly family memebers of the seminarians who had come to Rome for an Easter visit.

After pronzo, I took my reposo. It had been a short night of sleep and three-hour Mass was exciting but tiring. At around 6PM went to the room of one of my colleagues. He has one of the rooms with a balcony. This has become a usual spot for a bit of happy hour before dinner each day. We gathered there while the sun went down with a great show of color. The view to St. Peter's from there is breathtaking.

The view from Fr. Mike Carter's balcony.

Sunset on St. Peter's and Holy Week 2011.

Happy Easter Everyone.
My prayer for all of you is that the blessings of this Holiest of Weeks, The triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, his passion, death and resurrection, remain with us always.

Sacred Triduum

2011-04-23T09:54:00.000-04:00

It is Holy Saturday. The windows are wide open in my room and city of Rome seems very quiet today. I usually hear traffic up the Via Gianicolo, just beyond the wall. Last night, I attended the celebration of the Lord's Passion at St. Peter's Basilica. There are no pictures from last night. I was running a bit late. Sopme of the priests were waiting for me and so I forgot the camera. Even so, there would have very limited opportunity to take pictures.

All the priests who were invited to distribute Holy Communion were again gathered in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The tabernacle was still dcorated with all the candles and flowers. (There was a white Hydrangea with a fuller flower and crinkled edges to the petals. I have never seen them before. I made a mental note to check out the florists when I get home to locate a supply of them.) The fathers were much lest talkative, and were seated in a spirit of prayer and reflection. Not a good setting for standing and clicking cameras. After a short while, the cardinals - about 20 of them - joined us in the chapel as they were preparing to vest for the liturgy.

We walked out into the basilica and this time, I was seated behind the altar with a completely obstructed view of the Holy Father. His chair was placed along the side of the nave at the base of one the pillars supporting the dome. Just about where I was seated for Holy Thursday. So I thought it would be tedious. But then came the chanting of the Passion. I could not see any of the deacons, or the choir - only the glorious sound of the chanting resonnating in the vast space of St. Peter's

The highlight of the service was the chanting of the Passion of John. Three deacons and the choir joined in the proclamation of the Passion. When it came time for the crowds to speak, the choir sang full voice in at least 6 parts. The chanting by the three deacons was unbelievable. Everything I has learned in music school about the origin of harmony in music was happening. In the days when single line chant was sung in large open spaces, it was noticed that the echo would provide harmony as various ptiches were sung into the space. Tonight, the lines of the chant would end with a descending three-note pattern and the building's acoustics returned a perfectly tuned three-note chord. I'm still getting chills from the experience. Unfortunately it is a combination of "you had to be there" and "familiarity with history of music." In the chant setting, the narrator was a baritone, Jesus was a bass and the voices sung by a tenor.

As I followed the line of Eucharistic Ministers, I was given a place in the center aisle. The rows were occupied by several bishops, and major superiors of religious orders. After I gave them Holy Communion, I went to the back of the church and there, distributed communion to the faithful. Again, a powerful experience of young people, parents holding children, the many religious - a huge crowd with a great reverence; the act of receiving the Lord while standing in the one of the most amazing places on earth, doing one of the simplest gestures on earth.

As I was leaving the Blessed Sacrament chapel, the service was just about to end. I said to one of the priests, "I wish I knew what route the Holy Father will take as he leaves the basilica." One of the Swiss guards was standing close enough to hear me, and said, "Father, follow me" He took us all the way the back of the basilica. The crowds parted like the Red Sea before Moses. He pointed to a railing that was still vacant. Then he said, "don't move from here". In about 10 minutes, I was 6 feet away from Pope Benedict.

Back at the seminary, it was a light supper of the traditional Italian tuna salad with white beans. A quiet evening of reading and bit of online research.

It is now 4:00PM Rome time on Holy Saturday. I spent about 5 hours practicing today. Im going to rest a bit and get ready to go to St. Peter's for the Great Vigil.

I sent home some incense which I bought in Jerusalem. Fr. Rodney plans on using it at the Easter Vigil at St. John Neumann. A little way of my being there with you.
Blessings everyone.

Holy Thursday in Rome

2011-04-21T18:05:00.001-04:00

Today began with a concelebration with Pope Benedict at the Chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. A few of the Institute priests discussed and we are making an educated guess of about 2 - 3 thousand priests.

Oh, and by the way, I got there too late to hear the no pictures instructions. I decided I would take some until someone came over to tell me not to.

Here they are.

Priests lined up in the narthex to enter the Basilica

Processing into the Basilica

Going up to the altar of God

Pope Benedict processing to the altar.

Beginning the Mass

The oils being brought up the aisle. The urns are too big to carry so they are moved on a wheeled table.

Some of the views of the basilica from my seat.

More views

Looking up into the dome. The letters encircling the dome are 7 feet high.

Pope Benedict in the recessional.

The Mass was a thrill to concelebreate. We did the renewal of priestly promises, led by the Holy Father.

Tonight I attended the Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Casa Santa Maria. This is the residence for US priests who are living in Rome to complete a doctorate or other advanced degrees. After Mass, Father Stan from Cleveland, and I went to dinner. After a nice meal of pasta, we started to visit churches with the intention of visiting 7 churches. I have to say we made it to 5. I was praying for our youth group and friends who are doing the "7 to 99" tonight. Most of the churches were closing by 10PM. But we did go into some beautiful churches. The crowds of people, and especially young people visiting the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament was inspiring. Wemade it to the Chuch of the Sacred Heart in the Piazza Navona, St. Louis de France, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, La Chiesa Nuova, and San Giovanni di Fiorentini.
When we realized that we would probably not find any more open churches, we decided it was time for gelato. We made our way to one of our favorite spots on the Via di Governo Vecchio. While we were walking, we were beside a group of American students. We overheard them talking about a great gelato spot. So we picked up the pace and got there just before them. We were ordering our gelato when they all piled into the shop behind us. I said to Fr. Stan in a stage whisper, "I told you they were heading for here". They all laughed. After we all had our coppa, we were standing around on the street talking. It turns out they are all 3rd year students at Notre Dame in Indiana. They are all on study abroad programs throughout Europe. The one student studying in Rome knew about this shop. And this is the best part. They made arrangements to all meet here in Rome for this weekend to attend the Sacred Triduum services with the Pope. There are about 14 of them. So we had a great chat. One young lady, Michelle, wants to come to the Boston College Law School in a couple of years. They have tickets to attend Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square. We told them we will be distributing Holy Communion and to wave if they see us.

Tomorrow is a quiet day. I will not set an alarm clock tomorrow. After a bit of breakfast, I will go down to the college to practice for a while. We must report to St. Peter's by 4pm to prepare for the Service of the Lord's Passion with the Holy Father.

In the midst of the beautiful liturgy, I have to admit, I was taken by a bit homesickness. We celebrate the Triduum well at St. John Neumann - parts are even better than at St. Peter's in Rome. So I was thinking about what will be happening in East Freetown in a few hours. It is midnight here; 6PM at home. I am certain preparations are underway to gather the people at 7:00PM.

Be assured that my prayers are with you all. Part of my heart is really in East Freetown this weekend.
Blessings everyone.

A very quiet two days

2011-04-20T16:55:00.000-04:00

Hi Everybody,
Just to let you know that all is well here in the Eternal City. There has not been much to report.
After Palm Sunday, next couple of days have been very quiet.

There was a lecture Tuesday morning on canon law. We looked at some case studies involving marriage jurisdictions, territory of parishes, and church personel issues. I am not going to bore you with the details. These issues are the reason Father Rodney was sent back to school to earn an advanced degree in this stuff. Frankly, he's welcome to it.

This of course is not to belittle or to minimize his work. I can't begin to tell you the ways he has helped the church in his work. Its just that it makes for very tedious blogging.

I have been practicing the piano quite a bit. The pieces I will be perfroming on Ischia are a somewhat more challenging than I thought. So I have been doing some serious work in preparation to perform with people I have never met before. It is all very exciting.

Most of the students and faculty at the North American College are away. There is a skeleton staff on duty, including the kitchen. So meals have been better taken at some of the local eateries. The seminary has an every other year for Holy Week program. It is celebrated one year in house, one year away. Students are allowed to travel elsewhere for Holy Week and the semester break which is alway Easter week. This year happens to be an away year. So many have taken advantage of the travel permission.

Tomorrow, I will attend the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Casa Santa Maria. This is the division of the North American College which houses the priests who have been sent back to Rome to acquire post-graduate degrees - Doctorates and Licenses.

On Friday, I will be distributing Holy Communion at the Service of the Lord's Passion at St. Peter's Basilica with the pope.

I will distribute Holy Communion for the Papal Masses at St. Peter's at the Easter Vigil and again on Easter Sunday morning. Easter Sunday will be an interesting day for us here since there will be no meals at the Seminary and all the restaraunts are closed. Also there are no cooking facilities at our Casa O'Toole. We may have to go shopping before Sunday arrives.

I know that Father Rodney was conducting rehearsals tonight for the altar servers for the Sacred Triduum. Things are underway for Holy Week. I will try to get as many pictures as I can. Remember the instruction we received on Palm Sunday? I expect the same instruction to be given for our Triduum too. But I will do what I can.

Blessings to everyone. My prayers are with you all as you come together for the holiest day of the year - the Triduum.

Fr. Rick

Beautiful start to Holy Week

2011-04-17T18:06:00.000-04:00

I don't know how I'm going to describe this morning's Passion Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Sqaure. It was one of the highlights of the sabbatical so far.
There are at least three times that I was overcome to the point of tears. I need to begin by saying that all of us who were selected to distribute Holy Communion were also instructed that we were forbidden to take pictures during the Mass. I can understand the instruction. So my pictures here are before and after the Mass. I was was told just a few minutes ago that several of our ITCE priests were shown full face on the EWTN broadcast of this mornings' Mass. I hope some of you were able to watch it.

We had to arrive at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in St. Peter's Basilica by 8:30am dressed in cassocks. Surplices and stoles were provided.

Communion Priests in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of St. Peter's Basilica awaiting instructions for Mass.

Lining up in procession preparing to enter St. Peter's Sqaure for the beginning of the Mass.

In live waiting for the procession to move into St. Peter's Sqaure. The Italians don't use palms for the most part. They use branches from Olive trees. St. Peter's Sqaure was decorated with many potted olive trees, the stairs and ramps leading up to the basilica were carpeted with live turf grass. There were great urns filled with flowers and roses.

As I walked out of the corridor leading into the Sqaure, I was first struck by the sight of the throngs of people. The people were standing in a solid mass all the say the Via di Conciliazione. The obelisk in the center of the sqaure was beautifully decorated. A stage was set up there for the Holy Father to lead us in the openinning rites for the blessing of the branches, and the first gospel. It was then that I was struck with many thoughts and feelings that became somewhat emotional.
First, I recalled the times I have told our community in East Freetown how our celebration of Eucharist was like all the other celebrations of the world - same readings, same prayers, same rituals. Our little church in East Freetown is joined to all the people of the world who are worshiping on that day. As I saw the tens of thousands of the faithful gathered there, the 30 piece orchestra, the 150 voice choir, the 300 Communion ministers, the bishops, cardinals, I was moved and realized that this huge celebration is just like all the small celebrations happening all over the world, including East Freetown. We read the same prayers, chanted the same refrains, heard the same scripture, and received the same Eucharist that was being shared in the tiniest churches around the world.

A lady standing by the railing as we walked up the aisle leading up to the altar, said in Italian, "Smile padre, it is a joyful day". As smiled at her, she took my picture.

The passion was sung. One of the most beautiful chant tones I have ever heard. Of course the fact that is was sung in Italian - the most musical language in the world - helped a great deal. When the chorus sang the crowd parts, you really felt there was a crowd because they sang the lines in 6 - 8 part harmony.

At the offertory we were escorted into the narthex of the basilica where we were given a ciborium filled with hosts. We were led to take our place near the altar to hold the ciborium while the Holy Father spoke the words of the Eucharistic Prayer. The ciboria were covered with a plexiglass cover with a swivel openning. I have never seen this kind of arrangement before. I am sure that it is to protect the hosts from being blown by gusts of wind which can be strong on the front steps of the basilica.

At the time we were to bring communion to the people, members of the Society of Sts. Peter and Paul, an army of laypeople who volunteer at the basilica as ushers, escorted each communion minister to the communion station. I was placed in front of a group of teenagers. We were instructed that we were to use the Latin formula for Communion, "Corpus Christi" since there dozens of languages present in the square. As each of the young people came to receive communion, I was moved by their reverence and their obvious enthusiasm. I think that half of the times, I could not get out the words. I was all choked up. I uttered what must have sounded like a grunt, but their answer came loud and clear - "Amen".

The Swiss Guard, dressed in their ceremonial regalia, were standing at attention at regular intervals through the open areas. As I moved through the aisle, I could see one of them was there watching me out of the corner of his eye. When I came near him, He broke out of his attention stance and held out his hand in a gesture saying to me that he wanted to receive Holy Communion. I held up the host in front of him and the steeley and stern look on his face relaxed and his eyes filled up. He looked at my teary eyes, smiled at me, said "Amen", and he returned to his position of attention.

When I was done with the distribution of Holy Communion, I was led by the gentleman who served as the usher for me to the entrance of the long hallway which runs alongside the main steps of the basilica. All the other priests were being led up the steps to the main doors of the basilica. As I approached the entrance of the passageway, the usher left me. I walked through the archway where there 8 Swiss Guards standing around there. They were not standing in any kind of formation. When they saw me approach, each one took one step, some forward, some backward, some sideways, and in one step they were arranged in two rows of four facing each other. When they saw I had the Eucharist in my hand, all of them had their eyes on the ciborium and simultaneously stood in salute. So many times, the Swiss guard is described as simply a mercenary force hired to protect the pope. What I saw this day was a deep faith marked by gestures and postures of the greatest reverence. I walked through them and proceeded up that long passageway all alone carrying the Blessed Sacrament. I don't know why I was led that way to return to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, but as I walked alone up that beautiful corridor built 500 years ago, I could only think of the many others who have walked here. I felt part of an amazing history that so often we forget or choose to ignore.

After bringing the ciborium back to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, I returned to the Square as the Holy Father was concluding the Mass. Then I was able to take out the camera to get some photos of the crowds.

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI concluding the Mass with the Angelus and the final Blessing.

The Italian pilgrims holding up their sign when the Pope addressed them.

Passion Sunday crowds in St. Peter's Sqaure.

My prayers are with everyone as we begin our celebration of Holy Week. My prayers go especially to our catechumens and candidates who will receive the Easter Sacraments at the Easter Vigil. I will be celebrating as a Communion MInister again on Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday morning.

Blessings everyone.
Fr. Rick

Another Study day

2011-04-14T17:30:00.000-04:00

Today, Thursday April 14 was another study day at the Institute. We began with Mass at our chapel followed by a day of lectures by Fr. Craig Morrison, O.Carm, professor of Biblical Studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute.

We spent the morning and afternoon looking at techniques for reading and reflecting on Sacred Scripture using a method he refers to as Narrative analysis.

This is very different from the method I learned at my own seminary education 30+ years ago. At that time the prevalent method was called the Historical - Critical Method. You have all heard the fruits of my study back then in homilies and talks I have given. It basically means that in order to know what the sacred authors meant, one must know the history of the period. Hence, the many examples I give of the daily life in the time of Jesus. Also, understanding the meaning required knowing the history of the period in which the passage was written.

Fr. Morrison offered us a method in addition to the historical - critical method which relies on a direct analysis of the narrative of the text. He claims that if you read the text deeply and raise questions from what you read, you will arrive at a meaning that is helpful for preaching and to "open up the scriptures" for people. He is not suggesting that we abandon the historical - critical method which we learned. He believes that reading the scripture as a narrative will make the scripture come alive for the modern hearer.

The technique requires a careful reading of the text and asking many questions of what is happening: who is speaking? who is observing? what is said? what is not said? What are the questions? Are the answers true? false? unanswered? Was the question evaded? Are statements true? false? relevant? What part of the narrative are extraneous to the story? What parts move the story along? What information is omitted? witheld? delayed? Does the character know more than the listener? Does the listener know more than the character(s)?

The questions go on and on.

Fr,. Morrison reminded us to be careeful not to read things into the story. And to be careful not to add details that are not there. For example: No where in the story of Adam and Eve is there a mention of an apple. None of the gospels ever say that Jesus was nailed to a cross. It says only that they crucified him. The words nail or nailed never appears in the gospel. Those details come from religious art, not the Bible.

I think that I will be purchasing Fr. Morrison's books and that my preaching, certainly the content will never be the same again.

On to other things.

Today, I needed to begin my preparation to leave the North American College. I can't beliee its almost that time. I packed up the cold weather clothes and some of the things I have purchased - books and souvenirs, and even some clerical shirts (they cost much less in Rome than in the USA). These were shipped home today.

Thursday nights are "American Nights" in the dining room. The worse french fries you ever tasted. And so it was out to a restaurant along the Borgo Pio, a side street near the St. Anne Gate of the Vatican City. Borgo Pio is almost entirely restaurants. And Thursdays in Rome is gnocchi night. Fr. Stan Klasinski and Fr. Richard Antall, both of the Archdiocese of Cleveand joined me for a search of the perfect gnocchi. (A cross between dumplings and pasta made with potatoes and wheat - surprisingly lighter than anything I find in the USA - delicious) We found a place called "A La Mozzicone", a small place with few tourists, no menu in English, and NO pictures on the menu - a sure sign they are not catering to tourists. We had a nice dinner followed by a serving of gelato at "The Bridge", the favorite gelato shop of the seminarians at the North American College.

Back at the Casa O'Toole, my next door neighbor had a group of priests in his room enjoying a nightcap. A half hour of fun and shop talk.

Here I am blogging a bit and its off to bed.

Tomorrow is a trip to the catacombs of Priscilla for a tour and Mass. In the afternoon, we have tickets to visit the Galleria Borghesi, one of the great museums in Rome. It exhibits my favorite "David" statue of all time, even better than Michaelanglo's in Florence.

More about all that tomorrow.

Ciao
Good Night.

Celebrations and audience with the Pope

2011-04-13T15:42:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone.

Tuesday began with an early morning trek to St. Peter's Basilica to concelebrate Mass with Fr. Joe Porpiglia who was ordained 25 years ago today.

Fr. Joe Porpiglia of the Diocese of Buffalo at the ofertory of Mass on his 25th Anniversary of Ordination.

Fr. Joe delivering a homily at the altar of St. Columban in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica.

Tuesday's program was presented by Dr. Donna Orsuto, S.T.D., professor at the Gregorian University, Angelicum, and other Rome schools of Theology. She offered two lectures entitled, "Three Women Doctors of the Church and their message to Priests", and in the afternoon, "Three Influential 20th Century Women of the Church."

The three doctors of the church are St. Catherine of Siena, St. Theresa of Avila, and St. Therese of Lisieux. In the afternoon, Dr. Orsuto presented the works of Dorothy Day, Edith Stein, and Blessed Mother Theresa. The power of the lessons taught by these women is in both the depth and the simplicity of the messages - which is generally true of all great spiritual teaching.

Each one cultivated a particular intimacy with Jesus and strived to give their all to the Lord who had given his all to the world.

Catherine of Siena lived in the 14th century, a time of immense turmoil in the church - plague, western schisms, and the Papacy abandoning Rome for Avignon in France. Her writings, much of which is letters, offer three themes;

Knowing the truth about love, (she uses the phrase that God is "patso d'amore" or God is madly in love, crazy in love, with all of creation, and especially with human creation.
Knowledge of self, and knowing God; this overlapping of knowledge creates a "cell" where we live and meet Christ.
NOT individualism. This is way ahead of her time. She writes that we need each other. Her spirituality is a radically ecclesial spirituality.

Pope Paul VI called her, "the saint who loved the church the most."

Catherine of Siena was influential in convincing the pope to return to Rome, stop relying on the cardinals who were controling him. She called them, "the devil incarnate".

Theresa of Avila offers the church a spirituality of prayers when she says, Prayer is 5 steps.

taking time
frequently
to be alone
with Him
who we know loves us

HOwever in the mind and heart of Theresa, all this is God's initiative, not ours.
She calls us "to do what stirs us to love"

St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897) She is also known as the Little Flower.
Therese is declared a doctor of the Church, even with the writing of one small book called "The Story of a Soul". Therese contracted Tuberculosis, as a time when there was no cure. This was the great darkness in her life - knowing that she would not survive this disease. Her spirituality can be summed up by saying she lived and proposes to us a spirituality focused on a total confidence and abandonment of oneself to the merciful love of God. It is apiritual path for those who feel that they are imperfect, weak, or little. It is a spiritual path that relies on the purifying love of God that evokes in one the desire to return love for love.

Dorothy Day is a 20th century spiritual giant who began her adult life anything but holy. A common law relationship, an abortion, and weak faith. She brought her daughter to be baptised even though she was not Catholic, and through the instruction of the priest, she herself becomes a convert. She founded the Catholic Worker movement and spent her life working on the lower East side of New York City with the poor. She is know for her activism for justice, a fierce pacifism, and her work for peace. There is a great deal of information on line about her. She was an avid letter writer, and has a huge correspondence with Thomas Merton.

Edith Stein was part of a devout Jewish family in Belgium. She was a brilliant young woman who taught philosophy. After reading St. Catherine of Siena, she declared, this is the truth. She converted to Catholicsm and entered the Carmelites. After the northern European Catholic Bishops strongly denounced Hitler and the Nazis, attacks against the Jews were stepped up. Many convents were attacked and sisters who were belived to have Jewish roots were rounded up and taken to the concentration camps. Edith Stein died in Auschwitz even as she ministered to the victims of the Nazi horror.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Well, what can we say. She lived with us in our homes via television and media. She was the first saint to part of our daily lives all around the world. Her lessons for us can be summed up in one of her most famous statements, "Do small things with great love"

Later on Tuesday, 11 of us priests joined Father Joe Porpiglia for an Anniversary celebration at the Abruzzi Restaurant in Rome. Ad Multos Annos, Joe.

Wednesday: the Papal Audience.

Here are a few pictures.

Crowds is St. Peter's Square for the audience.

Pope Benedict XVI approaching the steps of the basilica in the now famous "Popemobile"

Pope Benedict XVI approaching.

While waiting for the arrival of the Holy Father, I met Sr. Nieves, of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master. Sr. Nieves is a friend of Father John Ozug at Our Lady of Fatima and she knows several other priests of the Fall River Diocese. She has served at their center on West St. in Boston. The sisters have an apostolate of prayer, particularly for priests. They also operate stores where they sell religious goods, books, and their handmade liturgical vestments. Sister Nieves was joining about 30 others of her community at the audience while participating in their general chapter in Rome.

The Holy Father leading us in prayer.

As the Holy Father was leaving the square, I was in the right place at the right time.

I was no more than 20 feet away.

The rest of the day was spent with Deacon Riley Williams who joined me in a little shopping expedition through the liturgical supply stores around Rome. I enjoyed dinner back at the seminary and spent a quiet evening in my room writing, skyping, and blogging.

Good night everyone.

It was a quiet weekend in.

2011-04-11T16:29:00.005-04:00

This weekend was a quiet weekend in. No traveling too far away. Saturday morning, I slept in late, got up and did some practicing. I met Deacon Riley Williams at the porter's gate and we met Fr. Barry Wall for lunch. Fr. Wall has visited Rome many times and knows the city well. We walked to the area around the Piazza Navona where there are many small restaurants. We had a great lunch as always. After lunch we walked a bit. We stopped in the church of San Salvatore in Lauro. It my first time there. It is a beautiful and understated baroque church, very elegant. It dates back to the 13th century and once held one of the great libraries of the western world. a great loss in 1537 when Rome was pillaged by invaders. It has been the home of the cannons of St. George of Alga.

Returning to the college, I practiced for a while. The third movement of the Mozart Trio for clarinet, viola and piano is giving me a bit trouble. There are some very tricky passages that will require a lot of slow practice for me to learn well. I will get there.

At 5:30, Saturday, there was a presentation given by Fr. Robert Barron. Look up on line for the website for "Word on Fire". It is a wonderful website about the scriptures with commentary, explanations, and beautiful reflections. Fr. Barron is a terrific theologian, and evangelist who is from the Archdiocese of Chicago where he televises his gospel teachings on television and on podcast. He was showing the 6th segment of his 10 part video series called "The Catholicism Project". It will air on the PBS stations in the Chicago area in the Fall. The 10 video segments will be available for purchase in September. After seeing his program number 6, The Church, I intend to purchase this series for showing at St. John Neumann.

Sunday, I concelebreted Mass at the college chapel. Fr. Wall joined us and Deacon Riley and I went for lunch again with Fr. Wall. After lunch, I returned to the college and prepared to attend a lecture given by Fr. Barron. The talk had a very provacative title; "St. Thomas Aquinas and why the modern atheists are right." Fr. Barron began by sharing about conversations he has had with atheists who refuse to believe in an angry, vengeful, malicious, manipulative God. Fr. Barron says he responds, "you are absolutely right. I don't in belive in that God either." His presentation went on to discuss how we as Christians have to talk about God if we are going give true witness to our faith.

After the lecture presentation, I went out for supper with Fr. Michael Clarke of Owensboro KY, and Fr. Stan Klasinski of Cleveland OH. It was a beautiful evening and we were able to sit outside and dine "al fresco". It was a great dinner especially since we spent most of our time discussing Fr. Barron's talk.

Monday morning included a trip to St. Paul's Outside the Walls. This is the 4th major basilica which is part of the Vatican City. This one was built outside the ancient city walls of Rome at the Place where St. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was martyred and buried. This is both the most ancient and modern at the same time. Modern because the present basilica is a reproduction of the ancient basilica which was destroyed by a fire in 1855, It is the most ancient because the original church built by Constantine was replicated after the fire. Of all the basilicas, this one give us the best idea of what a Constantinian church would have looked like. It shows us how the early christians conceived of the space of a church. A popular religion of the 1st century was the cult of Mithras. They worshiped in small spaces which held about 20 to 30 people. There was also the idea of imitating the pagan temples but these places were not open to the public. There was never any place for a community to gather. All the worship took place outside the temples. The temples were built only to hold the statue or image of the god. At the same time, the Romans were building huge basilicas as gathering spaces, markets, and political arenas. This was the model used for the early christian churches when it was legal to build public spaces as christianity was decriminalized. The long walk up the nave leads one to the altar which is always more beautifully decorated. It is supposed to provide the worshipper with a vision of heaven and the heavenly banquet.

St. Paul's includes an enormous narthex. The narthex is a place designed to provide a transition from the outside world into the holy space of the church. It is envisioned as the place where the community leaves the concerns of the world outside. The world is left outside and one enters into a place that begins one's focus on the sacred action about to take place. I was so glad that Liz Lev used the word narthex. She articulated it so well. I am glad to be able to share that with you who also pass through a narthex on your way to worship.

The facade of St. Paul's Outside the Walls from the narthex. The magnificent mosaics across the front of the basilica duplicate the originals before the fire. This narthex is an open space encircled by the columns. The large statue of St. Paul stands in the center.

A view of the narthex from the colonade across the front of the basilica.

The front porch with the bronze doors at the entrance of the church. Liz Lev is explaining the history of the 13th century doors which survived the fire of 1855

A view of the nave from the rear of the church. There are four more aisles, two on each side of the columns you see.

The 18 foot tall, 4 ton pascal candle stand. It holds a candle weighing 300 pounds of wax. The scenes around the candle depict, the story of creation, the story of the prophets, the story of Jesus' life, and scenes of the resurrection. Notice the round medalions running above the arches of the nace. Each one of these is a mosaic of one of the popes. For a number of years, during the papacy of Pope John Paul II, there were only three medalions remaining. A popular story developed by tour guides with less than adequate knowledge that when the remaining three medalions were filled, it would signal the end of the world. Since I last saw St. Paul's Outside the Walls about 3 years ago, 10 more medalions were added to squelch the overactive imaginations of these guides.

The 12th century mosaic in the apse, above the altar. This is the only portion of the roof and walls that survided the catastrophic fire. The mosaic needed restoration but was essentially intact.

A wonderful holy water font showing a child accepting the blessing of the water and the devil being rejected.

The Benedictine Order has staffed the basilica for 1200 years. One of the most beautiful cloisters in the city of Rome. The columns holding up the roof around the cloister are all different. This is to emphasize the diversity of the community which makes up the church. It is a 12th century construction which still speaks a powerful message in the 21st century. We are to celebrate our diversity and not attempt to make all christians be the same.

Detail of the mosaics applied to some of the columns of the cloister.

We returned to the seminary. After lunch, Fr. Barron gave another lecture. He spoke about the Books of Samuel and the pigure of King David as a model for priesthood. It was a lively lecture with a thought-provoking subject. David was man of great contrasts. At the same time a sinner and a holy man. Fr. Barron reflected on David as a listener. In spit of his great sins, David continued to ask the question of God, "What do you want of me". This is why in the book of Chronicles, Yahweh can say, "David is a man after my own heart." David was not perfect, but he was in tune with God in his life. This is what can be held up as a model for priesthood.

I am going to get to bed now. It has to be another early morning. I am going to St. Peter's to concelebrate Mass at 8:00am with Fr. Joe Porpiglia of Buffalo NY. He is celebrating his 25th anniversary of ordination tomorrow. I'm sure there will be pictures.

Good night.

Its been a few days, but no pictures.

2011-04-09T15:34:00.000-04:00

It's Saturday evening. I just returned from supper. It's going to be a quiet evening in my room. I'm listening to some great CD's I bought in the Holy Land - the monks and sisters from the abbey of Ste. Marie de la Resurrection. These are religious from France and all their public prayer is in French. They are very inspiring antiphons from the Mass and from the Office. The title of the CD is "Il te mene au Desert" (He leads you to the desert.)

I thought I would write a few reflections on the lectures that we heard for the past few days. Thursday, April 6 we listened to Fr. Michael Monshau, OP on "The Theology of Preaching". Also Thursday, we heard Fr. Michael Galagher, SJ on "The Pastoral Approaches to Unbelief and Culture."

Fr. Munchau began his talk about talking on the revival of Preaching in the Catholic Church, especially as presented by the Second Vatican Council. When the topic of a renewal of preaching was addressed at the Council, there were three groups of bishops who voiced strong approval. Remember we are talking about 1962. The Eastern European Bishops under Soviet control said, "It is the only time we are allowed." The bishops from the 3rd World, and developing nations said, "It's the only time we can catechize." The US and Canadian Bishops said, "Its the only time we have the adults." Three very different reasons, but three very valid reasons. The language of the council documents discusses the language needed in the preaching ministry as relationship language. It speaks of being in union with all people. The preaching needs to be for specific people at specific times. I was thinking to myself as Fr. Munchau said this, does the message for the 5:00PM Mass at St. John Neumann need to be different for the 11:00AM Mass. Different people, different lives, different circumstances. As I was thinking this, Fr. Munchau said, "Maybe your homily for the Saturday afternoon Mass needs to be tailored differently than to the last Mass on Sunday."

(I love when that happens.)

The emphasis of the documents of Vatican II is to restore the language of Scripture and the Ancients (meaning the christian writers of the 1st through the 7th centuries) rather than the Scholastics (Thomas Aquinas, etc.) Before the Council much of the preaching was indoctrination based on the catechicisms of the church. There was a fear that if Catholics read the Bible on their own, they might arrive at interpretations that would harm their faith.

This is not too far from the truth. I remember my grandmother telling us that we were not supposed to read the Bible, even that it was a sin to read the Bible on our own. I'm sure she was just repeating what she had been taught. By the time I was in the 5th grade, because of the very progressive preaching of the Dominican fathers in my home parish of St. Anne, I already understood that the Bible and everyday life were connected.

But hadn't we always heard preaching? Preaching afterall is not new. By the early 60's we were already getting used to the various media, radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and movies as being omnipresent in our homes. We were already becoming used to the 30 second sound bite. And preaching was considered an optional part of the Mass. Now the Vatican II called it a "constitutive part of the liturgy".

We are grounded in the scriptures because from the very beginning our faith was a "word" event. In ancient Jewish time, Moses had the word of God, "I am going to free you". If you had the word of someone, you had their presence. The word of someone heard by three people according to Jewish law created a binding contract. Our faith is born of the Word. Read Genesis 1:1-3. "God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light." God created by speaking the word. Moses had the word of God and so the divine presence is made real. Word leads to Work. God said, and it was. The hebrew word dabar means both word and work. The word of God is the work of God. They are both the presence of God. This word and work led to worship. For the Jews, the temple was the place for sacrifice, the synagogue was the place for teaching, the home and family was the place to know God love.

Refer to Exodus 24 which is the ratification of the convenant. When Moses relates to the people the word of God, they respond that they will do all the Lord asks of them. First there is gthe Word, then there is the work, the ritual, altar, sacrifice, table, action of sprinkling. When Moses did this he established our pattern of worship.

At Mass, God utters his word and becomes present to us.

Read the Gospel of John: 1:1-2.

In the Gospels, Jesus utters the word and the work is done.
Jesus says, be healed, and the healing happens,
Jesus speaks and the people are fed.
Jesus thinks and contemplates and the teaching happens.

When Mary receives the word, it is done. "Let it be done to me according to your word."
And when Mary knows the word, the first thing she does is gets up and goes to do the work of caring for Elizabeth.

Word leads to Work

Vatican II restores the word - work patterns. 15 of the 16 documents of the Second Vatican Council call for preaching.

1. Council calls for greater participation of the congregation. This is not about more jobs to do but the participation is a greater understanding, not a call for more things to do. Jobs and busyiness is not the work implied. The work is charity and justice.
2. Communicative value of Human word in the liturgy. Human language has ability to create community among people, not merely for indoctrination or to validate reality. Relationship becomes the focus of the word. It gives greater dignity to the word in order to lead to the fruitful work. (Justice and charity).
3. The reclamation of the Liturgy of the Word. Fr. Michael reminded us that in the pre-vatican II days, you fulfilled your obligation to attend Mass by being there from the time when the chalice veil was removed to immediately after the priest received communion. If you missed all the readings, you still validly attended Mass. As recently as 1947, preaching was considered "to hold an honored place in the liturgy of the Church, not as a part of it, but as a supplement to it." Homiletic and Pastoral Review, 1947.

IN the following documents of the Second Vatican Council, preaching is spoken in these ways.

Dei Verbum: #21: The Church has always venerated the scripture as she has venerated the Body of the Lord.

Mysterium Fidei #36: Christ is present in the church as it preaches.

Sacrosanctum Concilium #52: The church must provide preaching at mass; the homily is part of the liturgy itself.

Evangeli Nuntiandi #14: The church exists in order to preach the gospel.

(there are 12 more references to the VAT II documents in the printed notes that Fr. Michael gave us. And these are only tiny fragments from the body of the documents.)

4. Reclamation of the Homily: The word of understanding leads to the work of offering and sacrifice and worship.

On Friday, April 7, Fr. Michael Monshau OP gave us a practical workshop in preparing and developing a homily. I'm going to stop here. You don't actually expect me to give away the trade secrets do you?

Its getting late. About Fr. Galagher's presentation, I am going to leave you only with the little poem he left to us at the end of the talk. After speaking 3 hours about the need for a theology that speaks to people in the present age, he refered us to a quotation by Dorothee Soelle: "Most people have no language for describing experiences of depth. Media train us to regard our own life as trivial, shrinking our imagination. What do prayer and poetry have in common? They connect us with our hopes.

Fr. Galagher said the work of theology is to restore spritual imagination in the minds and hearts and lives of people and to give them a language to speak about it - the way the early christians had.

A POEM, by Mary Oliver
from her collection Red Bird, pub. 2008

Instructions for living a life:
Pay Attention
Be Astonished
Tell about it.

The City of Orvieto

2011-04-06T16:23:00.003-04:00

There was a change in plan today. There was a mix-up with our tickets for the Papal audience and our special seating tickets did not come. Instead, we recieved general seating tickets which would have put us 300 yards away from the pope probably behind tourists holding up umbrellas to shade from the sun. We all decided not to go and wait until next week for the prefered tickets. When it became clear that we were looking at a free day, I said "I'm going to Orvieto." Msgr. Anthony Sherman from the Brooklyn Diocese said, "I'll go along too."

One bit of good news about tickets however. It was confirmed that all the ICTE priests who signed up have received tickets for the Holy Week ceremonies at St. Peter's Basilica. So that's where I'll be for Holy Week.

We boarded the train in Rome at 8:22am and by 9:40am we were at the rain station in Orvieto. Rather than go into long explanations here, let's just look at pictures. Orvieto is known for its wonderful white wines. It is a hilltop town as are many of the villages throughout Italy. It has roots all the way to pre-Roman times with the Etruscans who had settled in much of Italy.

From the Piazza San Giovanni, the roof tops of the houses built along the edge of the cliffs.

View north from the fortress. The whole town is built on top of these cliffs. The round structure is the top of the well for the city. It is 68 meters down with two sets of spirals stairs - one going up, the other going down - so that people and animals carrying up the water would not get into each other's way. There are 248 steps to the water at the base of the well.

View of the country-side to the east of the hill-top.

The train station is at the bottom of the mountain. In ancient times, people had to climb up the steep terrain. In more modern times, two roads winded up the face of the steep cliffs. Today, there is a funiculare - a cable car on a track - that carries passengers up the hill. This is a typical street in the town. There are many 12th and 13th century houses still occupied.

Along with it's great wines, Orvieto is famous for its magnificent cathedral, or "duomo", as the Italian cathedrals are called. The marble facade with its intricate carvings, and brilliant mosaics was gleaming in the beautiful sunny day we had today.

The interior of the cathedral from the altar. Two different stones are used to create the striping effect in the columns and walls. This cathedral is very unique. Most medeival cathedrals have been renovated with renaissance or baroque style or elements. This had been done here in the 16th and 17th century. Large statues of the apostles stood at the base of the columns. Side chapels had been decorated with baroque style altars and reredos. In the late 19th century, all these rennaissance additions were stripped away to reveal again the simplicity and the purity of the medeival structure. All these additions were not discarded however. Some are among the most beautiful stome carvings ever made. All that was removed from the cathedral was been collected and put on display in the town's museum.

The frescoes depicting the life of Mary in the apse of the church.

Detail of the frescoes in the Sanctuary

The "pieta" carved by Ippolito Scalza in 1579

The frescoes by Fra Angelico in the St. Brizio chapel are among the most important in the whole world. This is his version of the last judgment.

Detail of the ceiling in the St. Brizio Chapel.

One of the most imposing organ cases I have seen so far in Italy.

View of the side aisle and colonade.

The Holy Water font with the carved sea creatures in the bowl. Look for the crab near the top, the frog in the bottom center, and the variety of fish.

A beautiful choir stand. In the days before printing or photocopying, music books and prayer books with texts that needed to be seen by a group of people, were hand written in huge text. They would be placed on a stand like this one and many people could read the music or the text at the same time. These lost their purpose after the invention of printing.

Shopping for lunch. A boar's head on the wall of a meat market in the medeival center.

Meat and cheese shop at the Boar's Head.

A 12th Century guild hall now serves as a meeting a conference center.

Wide open piazzas and secluded alleys give the town its charm.

One side of the Piazza della Republica is the church of San'Andrea with its 11th century tower. The building on the right is a 12th century palazzo that now serves as a municipal center. It's facade was renovated in the renaissance style in the 16th Century but the medeival features remain inside.

The simple and pleasing interior of the the church of San'Andrea. The Romanesque style is in the nave with it's round arches. The gothic style is in the sanctuary with its pointed arches. Frescoes painted on the ceiling of the apse were supposed to continue down the nave. The work was never completed.

This is a reliquary in the church of San Domenico. It contains a chair that St Thomas Aquinas sat in when he preached here.

Orvieto is a magical place. There are several other such hilltop villages and towns in the region of Umbria which is east of Tuscany. They include Freni, Gubbio, and the most famous of all, Assisi.

There are at least 8 other churches that were open. We visited them and offered prayers there. Many were too dark for good pictures. But they remain open for people to come in to pray and to marvel at the amazing art that the faith inspired. I have seen so much religious art in museums. But to see these works of genius remain in the setting for which they were created is a real treat. In many case the setting is part of the concept that the artist is trying to convey. To see them in a museum, often against a blank wall is to rob these works of their ability to inspire and teach. This art was placed here in a time when very few people could read. These visual depictions of spiritual traditions, devotions, bible stories, lives of the saints and sacramental life of the church were the only way to teach an otherwise illiterate people. We have less appreciation of the art because we need to have a verbal description of the piece rather than just let it speak for itself. This art was the spiritual and theological vocabulary for generations of believers.

After a nice lunch, we wandered a bit more. I found an art piece to bring home - a hand colored etching of the Duomo of Orvietto. It will hang in the rectory with my other pieces after I get home.

The train ride back to Rome was interesting. As we sped by, many of the hilltops had small villages perched up there. I thought that since most of these nave no train station to bring people to them, the best way would be to rent a car and drive frome one to the next. I may consider this for one of my free weekends.

Another day. Time seems to be flying by. There are so many things I need to do and want to do in Rome. At this point, I'm not sure there enough days left to do them all.

For tonight, its enough. Off to bed.

Grazie a tutti e Ciao.