Station Churches

An ancient Lenten tradition has recently been revived in Rome. It is the pilgrimage to a series of "station churches" in the city for daily mass. There is a neat website here that describes the whole practice, and offers some great information on each of the churches.

Keely and Clare have been going every morning with a group of UST students. This is no small feat, as it requires waking up around 5:30AM and then walking, usually for about an hour, to the church of the day. To make matters even more difficult, the past week has seen heavy rains almost every morning. So in addition to being a long walk, it's also a very wet walk. And in the dark! Paul J. (a spiritual wimp) has committed to going on Fridays.

Each of the churches has something particularly interesting about it, often the presence of some incredible work of art. E.g., Caravaggio's "Madonna di Loreto" (pictured) at St. Augustine (Saturday); and on Monday (today) Michaelangelo's "Moses" at St. Peter in Chains.

Spanish Steps

One of the more popular tourist sites in Roma. The Church at the top of the stairs is Trinita dei Monte, which is a good thing, because after getting to the top you might want to pray (pant, pant) that you don't collapse from exhaustion.

Scusi!

Playing some catch-up here. We haven't been contributing regularly to the blog as basically we've been consumed with getting into a daily rhythm: school work in the mornings, some shopping (i.e., food shopping) in the afternoon, and site-seeing on Fridays/Saturdays (mostly).

The picture above is from the "Campidoglio," a Renaissance square (piazza) laid out by Michaelangelo. The bronze equestrian statue is the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (late 2nd century AD). This is the only bronze equestrian statue to survive from Classical antiquity, and is said to have escaped being melted down only because it was mistakenly thought to be Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor.

In any case, one of the unique aspects of the square is that it is juxtaposed between two Romes: from one side you look down over the ruins of the ancient forum; from the other side you look over modern Rome. The plan of the square was so successful that it was widely copied throughout Europe.

Benedict XVI and me (and a thousand or so others)

Last Wednesday we had an "audience" with Pope Benedict XVI. There are different kinds of audiences, including ones that are quite small. Those are usually reserved for VIPs or some other very special occasion. Ours was the Pope's normal "Wednesday Morning" audience. Pope John Paul II used these opportunities to address a particular theme (catechesis) over the course of many months, and sometimes even years; Benedict XVI has continued that practice.

The audience begins with the Pope reading a prepared statement, in Italian. This took about twenty or thirty minutes. (Benedict is currently addressing the issue of Medieval Christian Culture. His remarks may be found here, along with his other audiences this year. Video is available for some of these events.)

What follows is an announcement, in various European languages, of the groups in attendance that morning, with the Pope giving a short message/blessing in that particular language. This portion of the audience can be quite raucous, as the various groups will stand up, shout, wave, sing a song, or in some other way present themselves to the Pope.

Snow!

First time this amount of snow--with accumulation on the ground--in 24 years!

See the following story on CNS blog for more details.

Rick Steve, where art thou?

Chalk this one up to experience. After a visit to St. Peter's we stopped at a "Bar" (think "cafe") to rest our weary feet and replenish hungry bodies. We were shown to these seats by a friendly server and ordered some drinks (pops, an espresso) and a few treats. Certainly nothing that would pass for a full meal. Final bill: 55 euro. That's about $75 dollars.

Come to learn that you can pay three different prices for the same food/drink item depending on where it is served. Cheapest is at the counter (standing; or to go); next expensive is at a table in the bar/cafe; most expensive is at a table on the sidewalk. So I suppose the "glass half-full" here is that we could've paid even more for our "snack."

Weather

The Upper Midwest and East Coast are getting socked with snow, or so we read. Here in Rome we're getting rain . . . rain . . . and more rain. Daytime highs are in the upper 40s/low 50s. Just a few more pics from our visit to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum last Saturday, which was also a rainy day.

Perché Roma? (Why Rome?)

These first few days in Rome have seemed like something of a vacation, and given the amount of preparation we did in order to leave St. Paul, the break has been a welcome one. But we're not here on vacation. Rather, we are the "faculty family" in residence at the Rome campus of the University of St. Thomas.

Each semester for the last twelve years, successive groups of students from St. Thomas--mostly in the Catholic Studies Program--have spent a "semester abroad" here in Rome. In the early days, the groups were small, sometimes no more than a dozen students. This spring there are 29 students. In the first few years the students stayed at a variety of places in the city. In 1999 the University purchased the "Bernardi" residence (named after the benefactor who donated the money towards the purchase of the building).

"Bernardi" is now the University of St. Thomas' "campus" in Rome. It was built in the early 1920s as a family residence, but after the war (WWII) became a convent for an order of Spanish nuns. They occupied the building until 1999. The building consists of a dining hall on the sub-level; a chapel, offices, and lounge areas on the main floor; student rooms on the first and second floors; apartments on the third; and a terrace on the roof (with a terrific view of the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica). The term "campus" is somewhat misleading, because students do not actually take their courses in the building. It is strictly a residence. We occupy a fairly roomy two bedroom apartment on the second level, with windows overlooking a very busy street that runs along the Tiber.

[If you want to take a neat "virtual" tour of the neighborhood, go to Google Maps and enter "Lungotevere delle Armi, 16, Rome" and select the "street-level" view.]

Tomorrow (Monday, February 8) is the beginning of a week of orientation for the St. Thomas Students (classes begin on the 15th), and it's also back to work for us as we try to get into a regular rhythm of schoolwork and housework (and, of course, exploring the city!).

Piazza Del Popolo and Pantheon

We visited these sites on our first full day in Italy. In the Piazza are twin churches, both named Santa Maria.There is also an obelisk from Egypt in the center of the Piazza. The Picture to the left is of Pincian Hill. The Hill offers a great view of Rome. We walked to the Pantheon and got gelato. (Italian ice cream) [Posted by Paul A.)

D-Day

A very special thanks to all those who helped get us on our way: Karen and Barb for driving us to the airport; Molly D., who put together some very neat "travel bags" for the kids; and the many folks at St. Mark's who kept us in their prayers. Again, to all: grazie mille.

The journey was without incident, a remarkable fact given that we had two connections to make, one in Chicago and one in London. But the flights were all actually ahead of schedule, there were few lines in which to wait, and Italian passport control/customs, well . . . what can one say? . . . hardly a problem.

The weather here in Rome is temperate, or at least that is how it feels to a bunch of frostbitten Minnesotans. Daytime highs in the 50s (13-14C), though in the early morning it can dip down to the 30s. When the sun is shining, however, it easily climbs into the 60s. A sure sign of better things to come: many folks dining "al fresco" near the Pantheon.