Orvieto

This weekend, Paul Solomon, one of the esteemed Joliet seminarians from the North American College, took myself, Mike McMahon, and Max Behna to the beautiful town of Orvieto.  It is a small town an hour north of Rome situated on the top of a hill in the rolling countryside.  So needless to say, it was an absolutely gorgeous area.  Here's a panorama from just outside of town.    

 The first thing that we did when we got to Orvieto was to go to a Dominican Church.  Inside the Church is a very famous crucifix.  The story goes that St. Thomas Aquinas, when he was finishing his Summa Contra Gentiles, presented his work to the Lord.  Thomas, not believing that his work did a whole lot, felt like it was a waste of time and paper.  But he still gave it to the Lord.  But the crucifix said to him "You have written well of me Thomas."  So God literally spoke to Thomas Aquinas through the cross in this Church.  This is where one of the greatest theologians in Church history encountered the living God.  And I got to pray where he prayed.  To talk to God where he spent hours talking to Him. How cool is that?  And here is the picture of the crucifix.

After that Church, we went out for lunch to a very nice place Paul knew about.  We had some awesome food, including something that was "thinly sliced pork cheek."  Super tasty.  I guess they have a lot boars/pigs in that region.  Please note the picture on the left. And my main dish was a pasta that had been soaked in red wine for the past day.  It was phenomenal.  They know what they are doing food wise in Orvieto.  And Orvieto is famous for its white wine, which again, was very good.  So overall, a great meal, with free desserts because the owners liked Paul so much.  One of the many benefits of having an Italian speaker traveling with you.  

After lunch, we went to what the town is famous for, Il Duomo, or the Cathedral.  The church is a ridiculously large building and is home to two very famous things.  The first is a chapel painted by some famous dude (I really should remember the name, but it is escaping me....)  The moral of the story is that it was basically a prefigurement of the Sistine Chapel.  So because no pictures were allowed inside, I don't have any evidence, but it was just amazing.  But the biggest attraction isn't a piece of art though, it is a simple piece of cloth.  That is because the church has the a blood stained corporal from a Eucharistic miracle that occurred in 1263.  To summarize the story briefly, a priest from Germany was on pilgrimage to Rome.  And this pilgrimage had one purpose: for him to regain his faith in the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  Because as Catholics, we believe that at the Last Supper, Christ gave priests the power to take bread and wine and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, transform it into the Body and Blood of the Lord.  So the Eucharist isn't just some symbol of what happened.  It is 100% Jesus Christ, alive and present.  And to believe otherwise would mean that you aren't Catholic.  So this priest, while he desires to believe, is having trouble believing.  But one day, when he was celebrating Mass, said the words of consecration: "Take this, all of you, and eat it.  For this is my body, which will be given up for you." And after he elevated  the host and placed it back on the paten (gold tray), the host began to bleed.  Literally.  It was bleeding.  So what was just bread started to bleed.  Blood.  There is no natural explanation for that.  You can try, but I doubt that you can get a piece of bread to bleed.  So talk about a miraculous event.  And in the church in Orvieto, you can see the corporal (the white cloth from the altar) that has the blood stains still on it.  Some 750 years later.  And it is because of this miracle that we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, today.  So being able to pray there was just an awesome experience.  Begging the Lord for deeper faith and a deeper love for the Eucharist.  Because no matter how far along we may think we are in the spiritual life, we always need to grow in faith.  And while miracles like these shouldn't be the basis of our faith, they should help strengthen us in our faith.  Being there truly helped me come to a deeper love for the Eucharist and strengthen my desire to bring people to Christ through the Mass.                  

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Well, that was my weekend.  A very fun day.  Rome has just been incredible, and I look forward to growing in my love for the Church throughout the rest of the semester. Please continue to pray for vocations to the Priesthood!