Today was my first Sunday at the North American College. It was a beautiful Mass that was celebrated in the Assumption Chapel. For the folks who were with me in Rome three years ago, this was the chapel in which we celebrated Mass together. There was a pilgrimage group from a USA parish, as well as family members of a few of the seminarians. Following the Mass was a brunch. The meals are scheduled differently on Sunday because the seminarians are able to go out and enjoy the city on this day. After the brunch I returned to my room to do some reading.
At 3:00PM, Msgr. Wensing had another walking tour of Rome scheduled. This tour took us down the Via Giulia. This is one of the straightest streets in Rome. Most of the ancient streets wind around and makes it easy for people to get lost. This street was built by the emperor in 100BC on the banks of the Tiber River - the side that does not flood. The wealthiest families of Rome built lavish palaces. It has remained one of the most exclusive residential areas of Rome. In the rennaissance, many of the great families occupied the street and replaced the ancient homes with huge palaces occupying entire city blocks. One in particular is the Farnese family who had palaces on both sides of the Tiber. They decided to build thir own private bridge across the river to link the two estates. They hired Michaelangelo to design and supervise the construction. But before he could finish, he was hired to build the dome of St. Peter's Basilica and to this day, the bridge remains unfinished. Only the arches on one side of the river still stands. Here are a couple of photos of the street and the unfinished bridge designed by Michaelangelo. Today the Farnese palaces house one of the great art museums of the world.
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| Via Giulia today is a fashionable street with shops and galleries and many of the palaces still occupied by wealthy families. Some are civic buildings, schools, museums, convents, monasteries, or apartments. |
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| One of the arches of the Farnese bridge which was intended to cross the Tiber connecting the family's two lavish estates. |
One of the great palaces of the 12th century was built by a family from England. It became a meeting place and a hostel for English visitors to Rome. After the reformation, it became a seminary for priests when it became illegal for Catholics to practice their faith openly in England. After the first class of priests made their way back to England to secretly minister to the Catholics in hiding, over 20 of them were found out and executed. 5 of the priests are now canonized and nearly 20 others are beatified. The following pictures are taken in the English Seminary chapel which was rebuilt in the 19th century after the first chapel was destroyed by Napoleon's army. This tour was not planned. As our group approached the seminary, Msgr. Wensing began to tell about the building, when a priest came to the gate preparing to leave. He was the spiritual director of the seminary who is well known to Msgr. Wensing. When he learned that we are all American Priests on sabbatical, he insisted we come in to visit and take a tour. It was one of those serendipitous moments that makes traveling so exciting.
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| The chapel of the English Seminary in Rome. Note the curtains in the arch above and surrounding the painting on the back wall. These are not curtains at all but are mosaics designed to look like drapery. All the other designs are also mosaic. |
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| Detail of the mosaics, and the gallery on the second level of the English Seminary Chapel. All the decorative work in this picture is mosaic. |
A bit farther down the street was a church called Santa Maria Dell'orazione e Morte. It was a church built to house a cemetery of people who had died of malaria and the plague. The crypt is full of bones stored in cabinets and cases. Like many crypts and catacombs around the city of Rome and many ancients sites around the world, bodies would be buried in coffins, and when the body was decomposed, the bones would be gathered and stored elsewhere to make room for new bodies. These somewhat macabre photos show real human skulls. Even the chandeliers are made of human bone fragements.
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| Cabinet containing human skulls from the burial vaults. |
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| Chandelier made of human bone fragments. |
At the end of the Via Giulia, we came to a bridge crossing the Tiber river over the only island in the river in Rome. It is the site of a hospital that has served this area for over 1000 years. And even before, it was a site of a temple of healing dating back to the 2nd century BC. Today one of the finest hospitals in Rome is there. Also the basilica containing the bones of St. Barthalemew is on the island. The bridges crossing the island and connecting the banks of the Tiber are the oldest bridges in Rome, dating to 56BC and 114 BC.
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| Bridge built in 56BC. |
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| Basilica containing the relics of St. Barthelemew |
Unfortunately the basilica was closed when we arrived. This will be a destination I will return to in the near future.
After our walk back to the seminary, we joined together for supper and gathered in the common room for some lively conversation and a few "digestivi".
I'm back to my room to respond to emails, and skype with a group of SJN parishioners gathered for a party tonight. Thanks to everyone for a fun skype session. It was good to see everyone.
Blessings
Buona Notte.
