Saturday, July 12, 2008

Roman Pilgrimage


The Maternal Presence and I returned from Rome last night, after an exhausting overnight train ride from Rome to Paris, which included the joy of the train breaking down in Switzerland, getting into Paris 5 hours late, missing our Eurostar and waiting an hour for a taxi! Still, they say pilgrimages are meant to be a bit of a strain! Rome was wonderful, extremely hot, but we paced ourselves. We stayed at the magnificent Residenza Paolo VI (photo at the top) where, from the roof terrace you can look directly into the Holy Office. With binoculars, I managed to see on the desk of the Prefect, Cardinal Levada, the document officially condemning a whole list of 'AmChurch' horrors. Actually, we could see that the decorators were in: I wonder if that means a change of hands come the end of the Summer holidays? The line into St. Peter's was nothing like as bad as two years ago, when it circled the Square two times. One could actually walk in around 5.00pm with no wait! We had a beautiful visit to Santa Croce, where Brother Ryan, an American member of the Cistercian community, kindly showed us around, through the good offices of Father Mark at Vultus Christi. We prayed especially at the tomb of 'Nennolina,' the little six year old who is soon to be beatified. Her tomb seems to be becoming a real centre of devotion - a large group of Italian school children were praying as we left. Other than that - the Pauline Year visit to St. Paul's Outside the Walls (Plenary Indulgence gained) - some very enjoyable meals - and the new parish placed in the hands of the Prince of the Apostles!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear father, thank-you for your interesting blog. i see you had a post that mentions Fr Stephen de Kerdrel(the III). is he still a hermit? has he founded a lavra/community? i met him once years ago on the isle of Mull. I hope to be back in Scotland within a month(i am ion Canada) do you know how i could mail Fr. Stephen?
thank-you.
PAX
Emile-James from
http://vocation-station.blogspot.com

the owl of the remove said...

Yes Emile, Fr. Stephen is a close friend of mine. He is now on the mainland of Scotland, with another hermit brother and an Anchoress Sister. Their address is:
Our Lady of Dalsmirren,
Glenbreakrie,
Southend,
Kintyre,
Argyll, Scotland PA28 6KN

Liz said...

Sounds like you had a lovely time in Rome. It's comforting to know that trains in Europe (like Amtrak) don't always run on time (we had a fun day exploring Chicago at Amtrak's expense last month because of a missed connection). I hope your welcome at your new parish is a warm one, and that you find them receptive to your ministry. Hopefully, they'll be appreciative of British humor and British beverages.