Another Busy Day and a remembrance of a good friend

On the Calendar today (I'm beginning this post at 9:20am local time because it will be a non-stop day. Here is what today looks like:
5:15am - Rise and Shine
7:00am - Mass at San Giorgio, Day 2 stational church
              via del Velabro, 19
10:00am - Leave for the Casa Santa Maria
2:00pm - Return to Casa O'Toole
              Do my homework for Italian Class
4:00 - 6:00pm - The Work of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: A Conversation
6:30 - 8:30pm - Italian Class

Here a couple of pictures of the Church of San Giorgio, Martyr, Day 2 of the the Lenten Stational Churches. The Church of San Giorgio, Saint George, is named after a Roman Soldier who converted to Christianity and martyred for the faith. The Church is also connected to the devotion to Saint Sebastian, another Roman Soldier who was martyred and who's body was discovered thrown into a Roman sewer. The church was originally named Ss. Sebastian and George. When the relics of St; George were found and placed in the church, a restoration was undertaken and the church rededicated to St George. The church has columns taken from pagan temples found on this site. There have been many renovations over the years.

Concelebrants and congregation before the beginning of the Mass.

View of the sanctuary and altar which is built above the relics of St. George.

A view of the nave towards the sanctuary afte Mass. Notice that the ceiling shows that the church is not square. This is not unusual in ancient churches which were often built on all the available land it owns. Sometimes rebuilding a church also changes directions of some of the walls.

It's off to the Casa Santa Maria, the residence of the US priests who have returned to Rome for advanced studies. We have a tour, mid-day prayer and pranzo with the priests.
I'll be back later.

Our group walked to the Casa Santa Maria but routes through Rome that I had never been before. As we headed for the river, we walked past the oldest hospital in the world. Santo Spirito. It is 1000 years old. Some years ago, a new modern hospital was built. In recent years, the ancient building was converted to a museum with one of the features preserved. From ancient Roman times, unwanted babies would be left by fountains in the piazzas in the hope that someone would pick it up and care for it. The sisters who ran the hospital had a special turnstyle built in the wall of the hospital so that people who could not or would not care for a baby could place it in the turnstyle and anonymously leave the child for the sisters to care for.

The abandoned baby turnstyle at the Santo Spirito Hospital on the Borgo S. Spirito near the Tiber River.

Fr. Mike Wensing, Director of the Institute pointing out landmarks to our group on the was to Casa Santa Maria.

We walked down a wonderful street which I don't remember ever traveling before - Via Dei Coronari. It was lined with antique and book shops. I am sure this will need a revisit alone when I will have the time to browse. We had the time to stop at the church of San Augustino. There is a Carravaggio painting there which caused a major controversy in the art world of his day. He painted a scene of a pilgrim kneeling before Mary and Jesus. Prominent in the painting in the lower right corner are the pilgrim's bare, dirty feet. Apparently polite company in his day thought this was particularly offensive. I hope the picture I took will show it well.

"The Pilgrim Madonna" by Caravaggio in the Church of St. Augustine.

Here is another great sculpture in the Church of San Augustino. Mary and Jesus as grandmother, St. Anne looks on. If I find a copy of the statue for sale somewhere, I just might buy it. Depictions of St. Anne with her daughter and grandson are not common and my home parish is St. Anne in Fall River. 

This is what art majors do in Rome. Students everywhere sektching and learning.

Here is the chapel with the body of St. Monica, St. Augustine's mother who prayed and succeeded in the conversion of her son.

At the Casa Santa Maria. We had mid-day prayer in their beautiful chapel. We enjoyed pranzo in their refectory followed by coffee and digestivi. Here are a few pictures of the chapel.

The main chapel at the Casa Santa Maria

On our return walk bak to the seminary we had the chance to visit the church of St. Igantius, the mother church of the Jesuit order in the world. It is one of the largest churches in Rome and one o the most unique. It is know for its "trompe l'oeil" techinques of frescoes.

Looks like dome up there. It's not. It is a flat round ceiling painted to look like there is huge dome. This is the techinque known as "trompe l'oeil" - it litterally means in French - to trick the eye. As you walk in at the rear of the church you are struck by how vast the church is. Your eye goes up to the ceiling and there you see a beautiful dome. And you may even come and go and never realize that you have been tricked into thinking there is a dome there. Look at the columns and arches above the large arch just above the dome. That does not go straight up and is painted flat on the curved vault of the ceiling. Your eye is tricked into thinking that the roof just continues forever. Take a look at the next couple of pictures to be tricked again. Of course, small pictures like this cannot do this justice. But look at them anyway. I won't write any captions and wait for the explanation after you look.

The second to the last picture shows the triumphal arch and the columns rising straight up. It almost looks three dimensional. But these are painted on the curved surface of the barrel vault. Look at the picture above. The one above it is the detail above the bright window. There you can see the curved ceiling that looks like it reaches up into the sky with the arches, columns, and cornices to look like a roofless building. You have to make sure to look down once in a while. People walk around this church bumping into people and pews because they are so taken with the effects on the ceiling.

Here is the view of the sanctuary. Again the "trompe l'oeil" effect can be seen in the half dome above the altar. The colomns look straight but they are painted on the curved surface of the apse above the sanctuary.

We returned from our day's outings for a lecture from Msgr. Deeley of the Archdiocese of Boston. He is a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He gave us a thorought presentation on the work of the Congregation which has the task of studying and insuring that the truth of the faith is preserved. They evaluate pontifical faculties and seminaries, and Catholic colleges and universities in their instruction of the faith. This may be the most technical of all the lectures we have yet heard.

Fr. Joe Porpiglia and I attended our Italian class from 6:30 to 8:30, followed by a bit of pizza for supper.

We learned tonight of a tranportation strike to be held tomorrow. I am supposed to be traveling to Bologna tomorrow for two nights. (In search of the perfect Bolognese sauce.)

The day's plans and festivities were dampened by the news of the death of a very good friend, Gerry Duquette. He has been sick for many years. I met him and his wife Lucille when I was first assigned to Notre Dame Parish in Fall River. In their retirement, they accepted my invitation to serve as advisors to our parish youth group - maybe the most senior youth ministers in the diocese. Gerry and LUcille traveled with me to Rome in 1993. It was a memorable trip, especially our adventure to the top of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. It was great fun and they remained great friends for the past 20 years. I will be making a holy hour at the tomb of St. Dominic in Bologna on Saturday afternoon at 4:00pm local time which will correspond to the hour of Gerry's funeral Mass at 10:00 AM Fall River time. God will be good to you Gerry just as you have good to so many.
Resquiescat in Pace.