Seven Church Walk

So while I said that I wasn't going to write about what I had been doing during Holy Week, I just had to post about my adventure today.  St. Phillip Neri, a great Roman saint, had a Holy Week tradition that involved walking to 7 of the biggest churches in Rome.  And because it is Spring Break and we don't really have a whole lot going on, I was definitely looking forward to the day.  And while in some parts of Rome, you can walk to 7 churches in about 15 minutes, these 7 churches were rather spread out, so we ended up walking about 15 miles over the course of the day (leaving the house at 6 AM, not getting back until 630 PM).  So while it was a very long and tiring day, it was a really great time.  We had 23 Bernardians, and of course, our good friend Ryan Adorjan came along.  And needless to say, he had a great time!  Just look at all of these pictures!

We started the day at St. Mary Major, where we had the Last Station Church Mass.  The Church is Rome's biggest church dedicated to Mary, and it is a beautiful church.  The highlight is easily what is located under the altar, namely, the crib of Christ.  Ya, that's pretty neat.  The crib that Christ slept in in Bethlehem, just chilling here in Rome.  And here, Ryan is hanging out with the one and only Gemma Roselle Schaffer of Staples, MN.  That's right, Gemma's middle name is Roselle.  Super cool.  So Ryan went from Oswego (his hometown) to Roselle, IL, to Rome, to hang out with Gemma Roselle.  I love it.
 

After St. Mary Major, we went to St. Lawrence Outside the Walls.  The church suffered a lot of damage during the war, but it was still a beautiful church. Underneath the alter, St. Lawrence, St. Justin, and a relic of St. Sebastian were all buried there.  These are some of the most significant early Church martyrs, especially here in Rome, so it was cool to be able to pray with them.  St. Lawrence, an early Church deacon and patron saint of comedians, was literally grilled alive.  And when this was happening, he said to his executioners "Turn me over, I'm done on this side."  Pretty legit.  And here is Ryan with Tulsa seminarian Vince Fernandez and all-around rock star Catherine Huss.   

After St. Lawrence, we walked to Santa Croce in Gerusalme, an absolutely ridiculous church.  This was my first time visiting the church, and talk about a beauty.  The highlight was definitely the relics the church has in a back room.  All together, the church has some pretty amazing things.  These include: the world's largest relic of Christ's Cross, a nail used to crucify Christ, 2 thorns from the Crown of Thorns, the inscription that hung above the Cross, and the finger of St. Thomas the Apostle.  So ya, talk about crazy.  Especially Thomas' finger.  Just thinking about the fact that the finger that was right in front of me was inside of Jesus Christ, resurrected from the dead, is incredible.  Also, St. Helena brought back a ton of dirt from the Holy Land, and so when the church's title include in Gerusalme, it is meant very literally.  The church was built totally on a foundation of dirt from the Holy Land.  And Ryan had the privilege of hanging out with Liz Robeck of Albertville, MN and Emma Voelker from Wisconsin Rapids, MN, two super fun girls.  Liz did, however, take one for the team in this picture.  As she was getting into position, a bird decided to send her a little love from the skies, if you know what I mean.  But she handled it very well and still managed to take a great picture.
 

We then headed to St. John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome.  This is where the Pope's cathedra is, so it is kind of an important Church.  It is an absolutely monstrous church, and has an incredibly beautiful apse (big curved area above the altar) and baptistery.  It is just a great church, and we were able to pray a rosary in there together by an altar dedicated to Mary.  Here, Ryan is hanging out with an old friend, St. Paul-Minneapolis seminarian Nathan Schuster.
      

After a brief lunch, we hit the road again for the longest, yet most scenic walk of the day.  We went out to the Basilica of St. Sebastian, which is located on the very historic Appain Way.  The Appia Antica, as it is known in Rome, is one of the most historic and famous streets in Rome.  It takes you out of the city into a bit more rural atmosphere, so it was so cool to ''escape'' the urban jungle of Rome and walk through some beautiful scenery.  The road, which has walls on either side, was rather tight, so all 23 of us went single file as cars were flying by to make it out to St. Sebastian's.  This church is beautiful and houses the remains of St. Sebastian, another early Church martyr and the patron saint of athletes.  Here is Ryan with Evansville seminarian Keith Dewig, Grand Rapids seminarian Mike Steffes, and Cincinnati seminarian Micheal Mazzei.  Look at all the fun they are having!         

After St. Sebastian's, we headed to one of my favorite churches in all of Rome. St. Paul's Outside the Walls.  This church is again enormous, and houses the tomb of the great apostle Paul.  The columns lining the whole nave make the church appear a lot larger than it actually is, but it is definitely one of the biggest I've ever been in.  They have mosaics of all the popes wrapped around the top of the church, but Francis has yet to make his way up there.  Hopefully by the end of the semester, they will have the new Pope Francis mosaic up.  The mosaics in this church are stunning, and the apse with Christ the teacher is just incredible.  But my favorite part of the whole church is the courtyard in front of the Church.  And look who I found there?  Ryan was hanging with the amazing Taylor Fischer, from Hartington, Nebraska!  I have to say that I'm jealous of Ryan, because hanging out with Taylor is always a good time.  
       

Our last stop, and the most important stop, was St. Peter's Basilica.  And while I could write about St. Peter's for a while, I think that it is pretty self-explanatory.  It is the most important Church in the Church because it is where St. Peter is buried.  It doesn't get better than the rock that Christ built His Church on.  And here is Ryan celebrating the end of his arduous walk with Greg Billion, Lansing seminarians Peter Stine and Brian Goulet, and Anna DeMarais!  After 15 long miles, we finally made it.  All 7 of Phillip Neri's Holy Week churches.  What a grace filled day.
    

This week, Fr. Michael Becker, the esteemed rector of St. John Vianney Seminary, came to check in on us and do our year end evaluations.  As for my evaluation, I am coming back for another year and it has been a good year, so it went pretty smoothly.  Anyways, Fr. Becker was very pleased to hang out with Ryan at Bernardi. While he thought that he would be escaping Ryan by coming to Europe, there is no escaping the infamous Mr. Adorjan.  And here is Fr. Becker with Ryan, clearly living it up in Rome!