Cologne and Xanten

After Lich, we took the train to Xanten, a town in northern Germany where Mike knows a priest.  On the way, though, we made a brief stop in Cologne, a town with one of the most famous Gothic Churches in the world.  Cologne was the home of World Youth Day in 2005, and it was just after Benedict was elected Pope that he went to Germany to celebrate with millions of youth.  And it is super cool that Pope Francis will be going back to South America in July to celebrate World Youth Day 2013 in Rio.  Anyways, we did 2 things in Cologne, we saw the cathedral and got some lunch.  The cathedral is absolutely enormous and beautiful.  There were a lot of tourists there, and I could easily see why.  It is just a massive structure and a beautiful piece of architectural genius.  And really cool thing was that in the back of the sanctuary, there was a large gold box that I initially thought was the tabernacle.  But then I saw a small Eucharistic chapel, so I knew that it wasn't a tabernacle.  Then I picked up a pamphlet, and I read what was in there.  It was the BONES OF THE THREE WISE MEN!  That's ridiculously cool.  The three men who first adored Jesus Christ, the God-child.  And do I question the authenticity of the relics?  Not at all.  Do I wonder how we, as Catholics, acquired them?  Ya, I am have no idea how to answer that one.  But the church was awesome.  Lunch was great as well.  Argentinian Steak House.  We don't really get much meat in Italy, so that was a treat.                

Cologne Cathedral

Inside of Cathedral 

 After a few hours in Cologne, we headed to Xanten.  It is not the most famous town in Germany, but we truly stumbled upon a hidden gem.  Like I said, Mike's cousin knows the priest in Xanten and his generosity was incredible.  Fr. Klaus had no idea who we were, but he put us up for the night, gave us a personal tour of the church, took us out for dinner, and was just a great host.  Again, we were so blessed.  And Xanten is probably one of the most historic Catholic towns in Germany.  The church is "the most beautiful church between Cologne and the North Sea," which sounded really impressive.  And the church was awesome.  St. Victor, a Roman soldier martyr, was killed and buried there, along with Blessed Karl Leisner, a priest killed in the Nazi concentration camp.  We didn't really know how big of a deal he was until we told our chaplain  Fr. Carola.  He said that his sister, prays for us everyday.  Now that's pretty neat.  A saint's sister prays for us everyday.  Wow.  The church also had an incredible museum, with some amazing religious artifacts, including a chasuble worn by St. Bernard, as he preached a Crusade.  That's pretty awesome.  So ya, it was a more relaxed day, but it was just an incredible church and being with Fr. Klaus was great.  We even got to serve Mass on Sunday, which was kind of tough, because it was in German and we couldn't communicate with the other servers.  But we got through it.

After Xanten, we flew back to Rome.  Overall, it was just a great trip.  I absolutely loved what we saw, the company was great, and it was basically problem free.  We couldn't ask for anything better.  I grew in my love for beer and German food, and it was just an awesome time.  Now, I am back to the grind in Rome, but as expected, Rome is Rome, so I can not even try to complain.  It is just an incredible blessing to be here.  So again, I hope you enjoy the long post, and thanks for reading!  God Bless!    

Victordom, or the Church of St. Victor

Interior of the Church

View from the cloister

Fr. Klaus!