Day #88: The Calling of St. Matthew

The Calling of St. Matthew by Caravaggio

It has been a rather quiet week aside from the usual school work. I have an ethics paper due on Tuesday, but it's coming along rather well -at least I think it is. But I thought in the meantime that I would post a little about a significant piece of art I had the opportunity to experience during my travels around Rome. 

This is one of my favorite pieces of art from the semester. It is from the Baroque period as part of the reaction in the Catholic culture to the Protestant Reformation. It portrays the scene from the Gospel where Our Lord sees Matthew with his fellow tax collectors and tells Matthew, "Come, follow me." It is located in a beautiful side chapel in a church of St. Louis of France in Rome, alongside two other paintings from the life of St. Matthew by the Baroque painter Caravaggio. 

First, let me tell you a little bit about the painter, Caravaggio. Caravaggio was a controversial artist from Milan. He was born wealthy, but he was orphaned at age ten. Towards the end of the 1500s, he arrived in Rome as the typical starving artist. With his painting of The Calling of St. Matthew, however, he was catapulted into success. His style was ignobility in art, for which he was a contentious figure. He had a violent temper, but he was also a follower of St. Philip Neri, a great preacher and a contemporary of his. St. Philip Neri had just founded his oratory, so it is possible that Caravaggio may have come to hear him preach.

Caravaggio introduced into his paintings the use of heavy contrast between light and dark to bring drama to the painting. He would set up lanterns as spot-lights on his work to help exaggerate the shadows and the light in his work. This technique may be contrasted with the style of Michelangelo's use of light and shadows. The use of light and shadow is what shows pre- and post- Caravaggio. The style of Caravaggio is also in the same spirit of the Italian artist Giotto, who painted the beautiful frescos of the life of St. Francis for the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Giotto used modeling and gestures to help tell the story of the painting.

Now, to discuss the painting itself. The light is not coming from the window. It is not from the natural world. The hand of Christ is modeled after the hand of Michelangelo's The Creation of Man, one of the most  famous fresco which adorns the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Which hand Caravaggio is imitating (God the Father's or Adam's) is debatable. St. Peter is in front of Christ, and is portrayed often in Baroque religious art because this art is proclaiming the primacy of Peter and Catholicism as the true faith. Christ and St. Peter are clad in their traditional garb, while Matthew and his fellow tax collectors are wearing the garb of the day, thus relating the viewer to the scene in the painting. One tax collector is using his fingers to stack the coins, while another is adjusting his spectacles. Each has a different reaction  to Christ. Matthew has heard and is pointing to himself as if to say, "Me, Lord?" The light is cast on his face, drawing the viewer's eye to him as the focal point. The two figures on the left are unaware of Christ's call. As for the two figures on the right: one is unsure and is ready to draw his sword. The other, looking askance, appears curious and casual as he leans on St. Matthew. One gets the impression that he may do whatever Matthew does. Caravaggio brings you into the scene, and forces us to ask the questions, Where is Jesus calling me, and what is my response? 

I think part of the reason why this painting is so meaningful to me is because of the different reactions of the men in the scene, and its reference to the poem on the right side of my blog, how "Only those who see take off their shoes - the rest sit around and pluck blackberries." St. Matthew was willing to see in this scene, and has been given the grace to see. The other tax collectors are partially or completely oblivious to the call of Christ. St. Matthew has seen and is about to take off his shoes. So as this Lent draws to a close, how aware are we of Christ's presence in our lives? How aware are we of His presence in our souls at every given moment? His presence in nature, in the people around us, the churches, beautiful artwork and music? He is all around us - it is up to us to awaken ourselves to His presence. To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, The world will never suffer for lack of wonders, but for lack of wonder.

Day #51 : ROME, Day 4

Today was a "General Over-view of Rome" Tour, which took us from Our Lady of the Angels and Martyrs to the Church of St. Agnes, followed by an adventure to St. Cecilia's Basilica, and concluding with St. John Lateran, thus completing our visit to all four majors basilicas.

St. Rita of Cascia, pray for us!

The tour began with The Church of Our Lady of Angels and Martyrs. This church was originally a Roman bath which Michelangelo redesigned into a church. Outside the church is an interesting fountain : it has a bunch of classically sculpted nymphs around it, which in the day it was made caused quite a scandal to some people. Inside the church was one of the most beautiful statues of St. Rita of Cascia, my confirmation saint, that I have ever seen. Across from her was St. Anthony of Padua, also a very beautiful statue. At the front of the church was a small exhibit about Galileo, claiming to combine religion and science. On the right side of the transept there was a small hole near the top of the wall where a small beam of light came through, which helped to track the moon so as to determine the date of Easter. There was a really cool looking organ on the left side of the transept! I wanted it for my living room some day - and yes, my living room is going to be gi-normous some day.

A super cool organ!

Our Lady of Angels and Martyrs was followed by one of the greatest highlights of the day: the church containing Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avila. This sculpture is taken from a scene in St. Teresa's book, The Interior Castle, where she describes an angel coming and piercing her heart with an arrow, where she experienced a tremendous pain and joy, she was so near to union with God in her mysticism. Bernini's depiction of this scene is breathtaking. As a Baroque sculpture, the piece is full of movement and emotion. There are no straight lines, everything is flowing and active. There are rays of golden light in addition to the natural lighting from a hidden window pouring down upon the angel and the saint. St. Teresa is totally limp, from her feet to her hands to the expression of face, surrendering herself completely in her ecstasy. It was a wondrous sight to view this piece in person, and more were to come.

Bernini's St. Teresa of Avila

We stopped at the Church of S. Andrea Delle Fratte Santuario Madonna Del Miracolo, where Our Lady had appeared to a Jewish man after he had begun to ask for her intercession, causing him to convert to Christianity. I believe St. Maximilian Kolbe may have had a connection with this church as well - he may have said his first Mass here - but don't quote me on that.
One more church we visited today was extremely interesting, albeit somewhat gruesome. This church was a Capuchin Franciscan Bone yard Church. An entire cemetery was moved here at one point, and since they didn't have enough room to bury all of the remains, the bones were used to decorate the church. There are many theories about how this decoration came into being - several theories involved the Capuchins hiding a psychotic, twisted prisoner or soldier from the French Revolution who in his free time decided to take these bones and decorate the interior of the church. However, a more plausible theory that our tour guide presented was that the Capuchins decorated the church with the bones in order to tell their visitors Memento More, "Remember your death." This friary was built on a very wealthy street in Rome, so it served as a stern reminder for their materialistic neighbors. The church was a sharp reminder in preparation for Ash Wednesday's "Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return." Inside was also a painting of the Resurrection of Lazarus, which brought to my mind one of my favorite scenes in Crime and Punishment where Sonya reads this Gospel passage to Raskolnikov, symbolizing the life that comes through Christ, through divine Love, Mercy, and Forgiveness.

The boneyard Church

We then walked to the Trevi Fountain, which was near the hotel my sister, father, and I stayed in when we were in Rome for our previous pilgrimage. It was nice to see the square again! I found the gelato shop where I think we bought gelato one time the last time we were there. There was a little church on the corner of the square which I couldn't recall if we had gone to see or not the last time we were here, so  a couple of us went to check it out. This was another little blessing unlooked for, that God sent to me as a small token of His love. The church was originally a Roman Catholic Church but it had been converted into a Byzantine Church with an iconostasis. There was a recording playing of the Greek hymn we sing at the Byzantine liturgy, the Akethyst hymn, a Marian devotion lead by a couple Franciscan students back on main campus. To give you a general idea of the beauty of Byzantine chant, check out this video: Vespers of Good Friday at the Monastery of Chevetogne. This is a Benedictine monastery in Belgium that is bi-ritual, meaning that they are part of both the Roman and the Byzantine rite of the Catholic Church. It was a beautiful moment to come into the church, to kneel and pray there for a few moments and experience the beauty of the chant and the icons before us. It definitely was encouraging to me as I am seriously considering going to the Byzantine liturgy for the Easter Triduum this semester.

The next stop on our tour was the Jesuit Church of St. Francis of Xavier, which I think we may have visited on our pilgrimage to Rome in 2003. I couldn't remember for sure though, as our stay in the church was very brief and only really to admire the ceiling, which was painted to look curved but is actually flat. However, I believe that St. Aloysius Gonzaga and St. John Berchmann were buried here.
Right down the street from the Jesuit Church was the Pantheon, built in 120 AD (yay for Art Appreciation!). Near this place was supposedly one of the best gelato places in Rome, so Joey Walsh, Nathan Maurer, Marianne and I went to check it out. I must say, it was pretty darn good! We ran into an American family in the gelato shop, too. It's odd how when you are in a foreign country there is this sudden kinship you feel with people who speak your language. A similar instance happened on the train to Siena when we ran into a couple American students from Michigan studying in Salzburg.
We then made our way to the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where St. Catherine of Siena is buried, as is Blessed Fra Angelico, the patron saint of artists. The church also houses Michelangelo's sculpture of the Resurrected Christ, and Lippi's Carafa Chapel, which houses a series of his frescos. We could only stay in the church for a very short time, so I had very little time to revel in the beauty of the church, but I did appreciate this one a great deal. AND I did get to pray before the body of St. Catherine, an opportunity for which I was very glad.
Another unexpected gift of the day which God blessed me with was the viewing of Caravaggio's The Calling of St. Matthew, one of three of his paintings found in the Contarelli Chapel in the church  San Luigi dei Francesi. The more I study this painting the more I fall in love with it - why I was drawn to it I wasn't quite sure at first, but I think it has to do with the general theme of the semester, of being aware of God's presence in every living creature, in man, nature, in the art and the holy places we visit. Not only the subject material of this painting but the artist Caravaggio I later learned has a lot of interesting connections which I find very intriguing. But all of this deserves its own blog post so I won't go into more detail now.
We then went to the Church of St. Augustine, where lies the remains of St. Monica. There was a side altar to St. Rita there as well, since she also was an Augustinian nun. I had forgotten how often she pops up around Rome! This church also housed one of Caravaggio's paintings, depicting the Madonna and Child being venerated by a peasant couple. There was a beautiful statue of the Madonna and Child in this church as well, which many people have received healings and miracles from venerating. She is known as Our Lady of Childbirth and was carved by Josquin Sansovino.
The last stop on our list was the square outside of the Church of St. Agnes. The Square contains a Bernini fountain called The Four Rivers. Inside the church is contained some of the relics of St. Agnes, and it may have been built over where she was martyred. I was glad to have had the opportunity to pray at the church of my big sister from household, Teresa. This signified the end of our formal tour, and now.

St. Cecilia's Basilica

One part of our journey was over, another was about to begin! I had spoken with a few girls about attempting to find St. Cecilia's Basilica. Originally the girls had wished to go to the Catacombs where we believed that St. Cecilia was buried. I had wanted to go to the basilica since I had seen the catacombs where she was buried the last time I was in Rome, but I was flexible. However, we realized that the catacombs would be closed by the time we reached that part of Rome, so we decided to go to the basilica instead. With the help of another girl in our group, she and I read the map and lead our mini-pilgrimage to the Colosseum, across the bridge and into the neighborhood of the basilica -we found it with very little trouble, praise the Lord! I can't tell you how happy I was to see the little square where the little Roman church was tucked away. We arrived just in time for Afternoon Prayer, so we were able to pray it with the sisters - yet another unexpected blessing from God.

The sisters preparing for afternoon prayer

There was a young man standing by himself in the church towards the front. My friend Regina and I decided that he was a young man from one of my favorite books, Black As Night, a modern retelling of the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. In one of the opening scenes, the hero Arthur Denniston is seated in this very basilica meditating on the statue of St. Cecilia. Although this fellow looked European, not American - but he was the best we could do. It was beautiful to look upon her statue. You see, St. Cecilia was the first incorrupt saint, and when they excavated her body there was a sculptor there who sculpted her form as he saw it when they first opened the tomb. Her sleek, white form is draped in snow white robes, her hands proclaim the three persons in one God, there is a cut in her neck where the executioner had attempted to sever her head from her body without success. Thus, she died in agony, in her own blood, while still preaching and singing to the Lord. This was a major highlight of my pilgrimage to Rome, as I have longed to look upon her statue since I first read the scene from Black as Night, since I first became a serious musician. I was able to get a replica of the statue for myself - this was the main souvenir I wanted from Rome, and this was the only place I had seen one the entire pilgrimage, so I'm glad I was able to find one.

The statue of St. Cecilia

The painting. St. Cecilia with lilies, which are being presented by an angel if you look closely. The angel is behind the chant, which you can see faintly at the top. I wasn't able to fit all of it into the picture, but this is close.

Our Arthur Denniston, a.k.a. "Bear"

The organ!!!

There was a painting of Cecilia with the chant for her feast day incorporated into it. It was located in a little side chapel, so I sight read the chant through the grate. :-) There was a little organ there as well to which I touched my rosary from Siena. Beneath her basilica were the remains of her house. It cost only 5 euro to go underneath, so my fellow pilgrims and I decided to go. In addition to her house there is a beautiful chapel underneath the basilica which contains the crypt where she, her husband, and her brother-in-law are actually buried - we didn't realize this until later when students who had gone to the catacombs told us that she was no longer buried there. So we got to see her basilica and venerate her tomb, both! God was guiding us the entire time to her tomb! We had already been glad we had gone to the basilica rather than the tomb, but the basilica ended up being twice as worth its experience anyway!

The crypt where St. Cecilia is buried

We spent our time getting to St. John Lateran's basilica, so Mass was over by the time we reached the basilica, but we still were able to look around. In the left side of the transept above the altar there is the remains of the table from the Last Supper. Housed above the altar in the baldacchino are the heads of St.s Peter and Paul. Along the nave of the church are huge statues of the Apostles and St. Paul. Above these statues are scenes from Scripture, one side has Old Testament scenes, and the other side has New Testament scenes. The scenes correspond to each other though, which is the cool part, so Brian gave Hannah and I a little tour of the scenes, giving us all the connections and explaining the significance of each scene. It was awesome! I love being Catholic! It really made me want to take Principles of Biblical Studies with Dr. Bergsma. I just might do that...

St. John Lateran's, the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome

The interior

The table from the Last Supper is housed above the tabernacle

St. Dominic with our Lady and the pope who was around when the Dominicans were founded!!! (I found him first and I showed it to Brian. He gave me a hug afterwards.)

St. Francis with St. John Lateran's behind him.  If you look at it at the right angle, St. Francis can be seen holding up St. John Lateran's. The Pope saw St. Francis in a dream holding up this cathedral and he knew that St. Francis would save the Church from corruption.

Thus was the conclusion of our fourth day in Rome, and what a beautiful day it had been! This was my favorite day of the Rome pilgrimage, hands down.

Day #50: ROME, Day 3

My friend Colin praying in front of the Arch of Constantine

For our third day in Rome, we had a tour of Ancient Rome in the morning, some free time during which I went on the Scavi Tour, which takes you beneath St. Peter's Basilica to see the original tomb of St. Peter and the remains of an ancient cemetery over which St. Peter's was built according to the orders of Emperor Constantine, and to complete the day we had Mass at St. Paul's Outside the Wall's.

For our tour of Ancient Rome, we began with the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, and the Roman Forum, then made our way to St. Clement's, this ancient church which has been the site of three churches, each built on the top of the other. We could go under the church where excavations have been done to see the original structure of the first and second churches. Both of these churches were discovered by Dominican archaeologists, so there was a little side altar to the Dominicans. The actual church currently standing (above ground, anyway) was a Roman church. It was neat to see how it was built, with the altar and the choir stalls completely separate from the faithful, on a walled platform reached by a gate. There was a canopy over the altar. There were two ambos, one facing out and the other facing towards the priest. The first was for the epistle and the second was for the Gospel. The apse was decorated with a beautiful mosaic. One of the people depicted in the mosaic had a square behind his head instead of a halo - this indicated that he was still alive when the apse was made.

The chains of St. Peter

We then made our way to the Church of Peter In Chains, which houses the chains of St. Peter, just as the title indicates (amazing, huh? ;-) ). This church also contains the tomb built by Michelangelo and commissioned by Pope Julius II. This tomb includes the famous statue of Moses. Apparently when Michelangelo finished carving the statue, he brought his hammer down on Moses' knee and told him to speak, he was so pleased with his work.

The Moses of Michelangelo

Our next destination was St. Mary Major's Basilica, which I remembered from my last visit to Rome. The church was built there after a miraculous snow fall in the middle of August at the spot where our Blessed Lady desired that a church be built in her honor. She had announced this desire in a dream to the pope and to the donors of the basilica. St. Mary Major's is one of the four major basilicas in Rome: St. Peter's Basilica, St. Paul's Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major's and St. John Lateran. St. Mary Major's Basilica is a Roman church and contains somewhere within its walls (nobody knows where) the remains of St. Jerome, which is my grandfather's patron and my younger brother's middle name. Also located here are the remains of St. Matthew.  I didn't remember seeing the manger of the Infant Jesus there, which is housed in a crypt beneath the main altar, so I was glad to return and see that. Fr. Thomas, a Franciscan friar who teaches at Cambridge, came and gave a lecture on our Rome and Assisi pilgrimage. During the lecture he spoke of the contradictions of Rome and St. Francis, and among them he spoke of St. Mary Major's: how a couple pieces of worm-eaten wood are enshrined in a beautiful gold container: a paradox. He told us not to wonder whether or not this was the real wood upon which the divine infant was laid. It doesn't matter. It is the manger. He also spoke of the ceiling of the church, which is gilt with gold from the Indians of South America enslaved by the Spaniards. This gold was purchased at the price of blood, and yet it adorns a church. Another paradox. Rome itself is a paradox, full of noise, congested streets, dirty, smelly, yet it is the heart of the Catholic Church. Peace and unity amidst chaos.

Wood from the Manger of the Infant Jesus

A statue of Our Lady from St. Mary Major's

The tour finished with the Basilica of St. Prassede, which houses a piece of the column to which Christ was tied during the scourging. This was another site I was familiar with from my previous visit. It was good to see it again and to pray before the pillar. Part of the church which I had not seen before that I did appreciate this time around was a Dominican side chapel with an image of Our Lady of the Rosary, handing the rosary to St.s Dominic and Catherine.

The Dominican side chapel

At the conclusion of the tour, I went back to St. Peter's Square for another tour: the Scavi Tour. The Scavi Tour took us beneath St. Peter's Basilica. You see, St. Peter's was originally built outside of Rome over a Roman cemetery - during the ancient Roman Empire, the dead (rich and poor, noble and common) were all buried outside of the city. St. Peter's grave was among the dead. When Constantine came into power he wished to build a basilica above his tomb, and so he filled in the gaps between the mausoleums and the tombs to make it level, made a special place for St. Peter's tomb, and built St. Peter's over it. The tour took us down underneath to see some of the pagan tombs and the tomb of St. Peter's. There were also a private chapel underneath near St. Peter's grave. Apparently Fr. Corapi said his first Mass in this chapel.
Then it was onward to St. Paul's Outside the Walls for Mass, yet another site I had visited during my pilgrimage in 2003. This church, like St. Mary Major's, is built in the Roman style. It houses the tomb of St. Paul and St. Paul's chains. This church was subject to several disasters over the years, so what we say today although it maintains the original design is not the original material. For example, there was an explosion at one point which destroyed all of the windows, so the Egyptians donated alabaster to the church for the windows - a translucent material that allows light partially into the church. I had noticed something odd about the windows when I had first walked in, so it was fascinating to learn that tidbit of history about them. Another cool fact was that the two side altars were made of a precious green stone donated from Russia. These altars were lovely! This church has around the perimeter above the columns portraits of all of the popes that have ever been. It is said that when all of the portraits are filled, the world will end. ;-) Pope Benedict XVI's portrait is up there now - he wasn't there the last time I was here. :-)

The apse of St. Paul's Outside the Walls

St. Paul's at sunset

The apse was one of my favorite parts this time around - a beautiful mosaic. Another favorite part was the front of the church at sunset. I happened to be outside just at the opportune moment and Sister Joan Paul beckoned me to come see the facade bathed in the golden light. So beautiful! Beneath the giant statue of St. Paul were the words Praedicatori Veritas, Doctori Gentium: Preacher of the Truth, Teacher of the Gentiles. St. Paul and St. Peter were all over that church, which made Joey Walsh very happy as St. Peter is one of his patrons. We celebrated Mass at the basilica and had time to look around. There was a Mass being celebrated in a side chapel soon afterwards - there were little boys with beautiful surplices and cassocks, and the priest was saying the Mass ad orientum - facing the altar vs. the people. It looked very beautiful to my eyes. Later as we wandered through the church a group of Benedictine monks came and took their places at the choir stalls around the sanctuary to chant the Divine Office. Hannah was with me when they began; I was glad to have someone with whom to share my appreciation for their chant - a small musical gift from God for the day. It was neat to have prayed at the tombs and seen the chains of two of the greatest pillars of the foundation of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, St. Peter and St. Paul, both in the same day. One certainly feels a new sense of respect and devotion towards these saints as you visit where their remains rest and reflect on their sacrifices for Christ and Mother Church.

Days #48-49: ROME!

Saturday:
Saturday afternoon we arrived in Rome from Siena, just in time for Mass at the church of the Sisters of Reparation of the Sacred Heart, which was right down the street from our hotel, the Hotel of Marcus Aurelius. It was a good thing we arrived in time as, since our music ministry group leaders were late, I had to lead music for Mass with Elizabeth, which was a blessing. The Church was new, and pretty modern in style, but it was nice to have it right down the street. We had a holy hour there every evening during our Rome pilgrimage, which was a beautiful opportunity for prayer and reflection amidst our intense schedule. Saturday evening my roommate Marianne and I invited a couple friends up to the room to watch Batman Begins. I've only seen it once, so it was interesting to watch it a second time, and to philosophically evaluate various points from the movie and its sequel with Joey Walsh and Marianne.
Sunday:

St. Peter's Square again! 

Sunday morning we had Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. The Mass was a Novus Ordo Mass in Latin said by a bishop or a cardinal. The ordinaries and the propers were all chanted with an organ accompaniment. They had a small choir and they used the organ. They used the Pater Cuncta Mass ordinaries, which we learned last semester for the monthly Extraordinary Form Masses on main campus back in Steubenville. Fortunately I happened to have my Parish Book of Chant with me in my backpack so I could follow along with the prayers of the Mass and the ordinaries. They also sang Credo IV, which I vaguely remembered from my Chant class, and I fell in love with it all over again. It's a beautiful setting, I must say - although all of them are... ;-) I LOVE CHANT! The organ accompaniment was wonderful, too. There were two organs, one on either side of the back of the nave at the altar beneath the famous stained glass window of the Holy Spirit. After Mass I met an old friend from my summer working at Catholic Familyland, a Christendom student by the name of Megan Speer, who is studying for a semester in Rome. She goes to daily Mass at the basilica, so she was able to give us the information so we could go to Mass at the basilica one morning while we were here in Rome. Our schedule didn't permit us to go to Mass there until Wednesday, but it was definitely a must-do.
After Mass we said the Angelus in the square with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict. I got to see my Papa! I have now had the opportunity to see two of our popes in person, John Paul II and now Benedict XVI. He greeted the various people in the square according to their language, and the Franciscan students cheered quite loudly when he greeted the English speaking people from America.
Our afternoon was spent touring the Basilica with some of the seminarians from the North American College. It was wonderful seeing St. Peter's again, walking through the square, wandering through the massive church, learning about the architecture and the symbolism of the basilica. (For those of you who didn't know, I had the opportunity to visit Rome and Assisi on a pilgrimage for the Beatification of Mother Tersa). The two central pillars of the church are from the original St. Peter's which was a Roman basilica which was replaced by the Baroque/Renaissance church stands today. The obelisk in the center of the square, originally from Egypt, is from the Roman amphitheater where St. Peter was martyred. The statues on the inside are all built larger than they appear so that they will look life-size to us, when they're actually probably 3x the size they look to our size, as is the lettering around the top of the walls of the basilica. The cupola (the dome) is massive, you can fit the Statue of Liberty or a rocket inside of it. I loved seeing the Pieta again. We learned in Art Appreciation that the statue of Mary if you stood her up next to Jesus, she is actually much taller than Jesus, which is what Michelangelo intended as in real life if a woman held a full grown man in her lap, she would be "crushed" by the size and weight of the man. But Mary's size is hidden by the large folds in her robes. So Michelangelo knew where to make it lifelike and where to make adjustments so that the art still looked beautiful. Genius! Another exciting highlight was the altar where they are going to be placing John Paul II's tomb after the Beatification. They will be moving the tomb of Bl. Innocent (III?) to another altar in the church, and place John Paul at an altar near the side altar of the Pieta.

The Pieta by Michelangelo

Papa Ben!

After the tour we went through the tombs of the Popes. There was one new grave there since the last time I was in Rome, that of our beloved John Paul II. I spent a few moments before his tomb kneeling in silent prayer. I feel so blessed to have seen him at the Beatification of Mother Teresa, and to know have the opportunity to be here for his beatification in a few months. He has done so much for Mother Church in guarding and sanctifying her people, promoting the dignity of the human person through his teachings and his love for God and humanity. I prayed that he would bless our school and asked for his intercession for the Church in America as the new translation of the Roman Missal is promulgated this Advent.

Inside St. Peter's

The dome! (Cupola)

The Baldacchino by Bernini

The painting of St. Sebastian above the altar where John Paul II 's tomb will be moved

The altar and the current tomb of Bl. Innocent, soon to be the resting place of John Paul II

Sunday night we decided to try and go out to the Carnival - you see, the few days before Ash Wednesday there is a Carnival that goes on in Rome to celebrate the final days before prayer and fasting sets in. If any of you have seen the movie The Count of Monte Cristo, you'll know what I'm talking about. So my friends Joey, Nathan, Marianne, and I set out for the People's Square, the Piazza del Populo, at about 9:30 pm but the festivities were long over by the time we arrived, sadly. So we walked around the fountain and Marianne danced in the square (she used to be a dedicated ballet dancer), then we headed back. We did get to see the Trevi Fountain before going to the Square, which was near our hotel the last time I was in Rome. The Fountain is so gorgeous all lit up! We threw coins in for good measure to ensure that we came back to Rome, and this time I threw it with my left hand over my left shoulder as I was supposed to, and we got right up to the fountain so there was no chance of me missing the fountain. ;-) We ended up staying out later than we wanted though because the metro shut down at 9 pm for construction, which meant taking the bus, which meant waiting for an hour while trying to ignore the awkward Italian couple making out nearby. :-P We got to bed around 1:30 am, so all's well that ends well, but no more late nights in Rome for me. As sketch and packed as the metros can be, I'll take that any day to buses which seem to be a little less dependable, at least here in Rome.