The View from St George's, Rome

We were walking on foot this morning, not in a bus like yesterday, and it was a lot better.  It took about 35 min to go from where I am staying at the Pontifical North American College, walking along the Tiber River, to get to St George's, the Station Church for Thursday after Ash Wednesday.

It must be quite a sight to see so many priests and seminarians walking as pilgrims through the streets of Rome in complete silence, mostly in single file due to the narrow sidewalks, and mostly with Rosary beads dangling from one hand and a vestment bag for their alb/stole in the other.  I will take a picture of the pilgrims tomorrow if I think of it.

The pace of the walk coincided with the pace of the Rosary - which normally wouldn't take 35 minutes to recite, but I am saying it in Latin now and I have to go a bit slower.  This is not a bad thing, of course... and at certain points I have pause in order to preserve my life when threading my way through intersections where a thousand little scooters and Fiats are surprisingly okay with running over a priest.  I think that today's walk is one of the shortest and I will have to leave a lot earlier when we have to trek to some of the Station Churches that are quite a distance away. The walk is good - physically, of course, but mentally and especially spiritually as well.  It is good to slow down, to find a different pace that is more condusive to prayer and meditation... and even to conversation.  Remember, I have to walk back  as well!  So it is a good time to get to know my fellow travelers.

So, after about a half an hour of walking, the ancient Station Church of Santa Giorgio came into sight.

It is very simple and not at all ornate.  It is constructed out of the remains which were salvaged from old Roman buildings from the early centuries of the first millennium, 100-400 AD.  The remains of the martyr St George (well, his head anyway) are below the altar... which you can see behind me over my right shoulder in the photo below:

High above the altar you can see a fresco by Cavallini, Christ Flanked by Mary and Ss Peter, George and Sebastian.  Like at St.Peter's, the altar has what is called a Baldachino overhead.  It is basically like a canopy over a four-poster bed.  I hope you can see what I'm talking about, from the photo above. 

Here is a picture of the inside of Santa Giorgio, with the altar and baldachino in the background:

If one understands the mystery of God coming to us in the Eucharist and the action of the priest during the words of consecration, the image of the four-post canopy is remarkably fitting... but that is a post for another time, perhaps.

I will post another blog entry this evening to cover the rest of today and a few events from yesterday.