Canonization Day (Sunday in Roma)

I realize, as I write this, my grammar has become abysmal. I think I will chalk it up to trying to recall events of the day late at night! Today was the big day in Rome! We were given three choices for viewing the canonization Mass (at 10am) of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII. A. Meet the bus at 4:30 am in the lobby to head to the Vatican. You would be dropped off at the Castel Sant’Angelo (about a mile or two from St. Peter’s) and be able to head that way by about 5 am. B. Leave with our Chaplain Fr. Joe at about 7:30 am. You would take the Metro with him to get near the Vatican, but plan on watching it from a jumbotron screen. C. Wake up whenever you want, do whatever you want! After careful consideration, Dad decided on Plan B. Being part of the canonization was important, but not the end all. Rome has been overflowing with people, and St. Peter’s Square was to be PACKED with people this morning. We had a little experience with crowds Monday at St. Peter’s when touring. We were viewing John Paul II’s grave and all of a sudden the crowd started moving and pushing. We were being moved without even walking. When our American guide said that what we experienced there was ¼ of what we might feel on Sunday. You all know how much Dad likes crowds! As it turns out, Plan B was fantastic! Our fellow pilgrims left at 4:30 am. Dad and I went down to breakfast at the hotel at 7 am. Three or four pilgrims had already come back!! Apparently, you had to be very dedicated at 5 am (in fact, St. Peter’s square opened at 1 am, instead of 5:30 am as originally shared! The early pilgrims didn’t have any room!) Anyways, we took the Metro from San Giovanni to Spagna. When we got off the Metro at Spagna and were at the Spanish Steps. They were beautiful! We then walked through the streets to try to get near Castel Sant’Angelo to watch the Mass. (The streets we walked through were the high-end fashion streets – Prada, Gucci, you name it!) We made it to the River Tevere and could see Castel Sant’Angelo. We tried to cross the bridge to get to the Castel, but the crowds started to get very heavy and pushy. So we made a decision to watch the Mass from the other side of the river Tevere. We had a great view of the jumbotrons and could hear all of the music and speaking very clearly! There were two favorite parts of the mass. First was during the liturgy of the Eucharist. Pope Francis (Papa Francesco, as he is called here) was blessing the bread and wine and during the consecration, the bells were rung. In olden days, many Catholics didn’t know when the bread and wine were consecrated since churches were so large and the priests faced the altar, not the people (it was hard to see). Bells were rung to let the congregation know that the consecration happened. This was meaningful here, because we couldn’t see Pope Francis, or the jumbotron all the time. Second, it was very special to do the passing of peace with our neighbors from the pilgrimage, Hungary, Germany and Italy. After the canonization, our small went for pizza. Dad and I shared melon and prosciutto appetizer and a pizza margarita. Delicious! We met our tour group back at Castel Sant’Angelo (well, the ones that stayed at the Vatican, many returned to the hotel). I was struck at how much litter and trash there was! All those pilgrims, with no space, no trash cans, but oh so much mess! We met all our pilgrims at the church of St. Joachim and St. Anne. We celebrated mass there (since no one received communion at the canonization mass earlier!) with pilgrims from another Mater Dei tour group. After Mass we headed into what seemed like Rome’s suburbs for dinner at Benino’s. It was a nice meal, but one defiantly geared towards large groups of foreigners. Nice food, but a LOT of it! We were entertained by a guitarist and singer from time to time. Let’s just say the pilgrims celebrated with lots of Sangiovese and Veredecci (new kind of grape for white wine… I think that’s the name) We headed back to the hotel and said goodbye to our weekend bus driver, Francesco. He spoke very little English, but very nice. As we tipped him, many of the ladies wanted to give him a hug as well. This led to an endless line of women from our tour hugging and Italian kissing (one kiss per cheek) Francesco. I couldn't tell if he was just being polite, enjoying it or thought we were crazy! More touring in Rome tomorrow before heading to Poland in the evening. Sorry about the delays in posting. We have only been at the hotel at night, and the internet is VERY slow at our hotel then. I hope to post this and maybe a picture or two before we leave tomorrow!