Catching up: Sunday and Monday

Most of the pics I take for this blog are low-light in dark churches, out of focus attempts to capture something that is too far away... so, in order to reinforce the fact that it is definitely spring in Rome, I got up close and personal with this flower just outside the front door of Casa O'Toole where I am living.  Maybe someone can tell me what kind of flower that is, since knowing names of Roman flora is not my strong suit... but they are pink, so that should suit some of you.

Up and at 'em on Sunday morning.  The sun is shining, the flowers (above) are blooming and spring is in the air.  I'm off to St. Peter's Basilica to celebrate the Mass at one of the side altars.  St. Peter's is about 3 football fields long, so there are lots of side altars besides the main altar which is built, and has always been built, over the site of St. Peter's burial.  If you want to celebrate Mass at St. Peter's you have to show up at 0700 before the tourists fill the church... and obviously you have to show up dressed like a priest (with credentials, if they ask for them).  So, I put on my cassock (long black garment that buttons all the way from the floor to your neck... and brought my new alb with me.  They provide everything else.

New alb hanging outside my wardrobe

 Having arrived at St. Peter's, vested and prepared, I was led by the sacristan to the Altar of St. Gregory the Great who died in AD 604... his tomb, his reliquary, is directly underneath this altar as you will see below.

St. Gregory the Great Altar at St. Peter's, Rome

This is where I said Mass on Sunday morning.  Note the oval shaped opening in the altar frontal. Inside, under the altar lies the white marble sarcophagus containing the relics and remains of this Great Pope.

The sacred remains of Pope St. Gregory the Great, under the altar

Here is a little blurb about the altar of St. Gregory that I took a picture of:

 It is no small thing for a priest to celebrate Mass in St. Peter's and at such an altar.  I am blessed indeed.

From St. Peter's I went for the Traditional Latin Mass at Santissima Trinita dei Pelligrini... but in this case, a Pontifical Mass because Pope Francis' vicar, Bishop Zuppi the auxiliary Bishop of central Rome was the celebrant.  More about that in a moment.  Meanwhile, I am getting pretty good at finding my way around - and I often use this piazza as my 'marker'.  It is Piazza Navona:

Piazza Navona is a large rectangular 'square' where you can buy just about anything and get your pocket picked at the same time.  The obelisk is from Egypt, as are most if not all the obelisks in Rome.  Under the obelisk is a fountain carved by Bernini (he was a busy fellow).It is the Fountain of the Four Rivers of the then-known continents, which are personified in the figures at the base of the obelisk: The Danube, Ganges, Nile, and Rio della Plata.  I am sure that somewhere Bernini has left a record of why the guy on the right has a sheet draped across his face... 

As I was saying, I navigated my way through the city to get to the Pontifical Mass later that morning at Santissima Trinita. This special Mass was reported at New Liturgical Movement and Rorate Coeli, and you can click on the link for  pictures.  I was seated near the altar, in choir, on the far left, just out of range of the camera (except for the last pic of Gregory DiPippo's piece in New Liturgical Movement... I'm the fourth dot on the left).

Monday morning, bright and early for the looooooooooooongest walk to a Station Church yet.  I probably pushed myself too hard, and have been paying for it a bit yesterday and today.  I left a bit later than I usually would, and then I forgot something and had to go back, so I was even later... so I was hoofing it at a pace that was a bit too much for me in my 'weakened' condition.  Add to all of this the fact that the Church for Monday, Quattro Coronati (sounds like an Audi?) is perched at the top of a hill so that we had a fairly steep climb right at the end when you are already tired.

Still, it was amazing.  It is an ancient church, like they all are, but it is quite far out of the way and it is lovingly served by Augustinian nuns who tried to welcome us warmly.  I say 'tried', not because they didn't succeed, but because there had been an power outage and the whole place was in darkness.  I took these pictures after the Mass when the sun was up.  We had been walking in the dark for most of the pilgrimage, and there were no lights in the interior of the Church.

It actually turned out to be a blessing in my opinion.  The nuns had put dozens of candles all around the church and it was absolutely mystical.  Quiet, contemplative and oozing with exactly the kind of atmosphere that one imagines in an medieval monastery church.  It couldn't have been better.

 As the sun came in through the windows in the apse (above), it was something spiritually delightful.

Of course, I still had to walk home... and attend a two hour class on proto-Renaissance art and architecture... and then tour St. Peter's Basilica with our lecturer.  Had Elizabeth Lev not been so dynamic, and engaging, I might have succumbed to my exhaustion.  But something had to give... so, tired and sore, I neglected my blog for a couple of days.  Now, I'm playing catch-up.

Spiritual Ecstasy: Saturday in the Third Week of Lent

Today's Lenten Station Church is, or rather, was supposed to be the church of Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian, but it is under restoration... so we went across the street.  The kindly priest at the 'Cheisa di Santa Maria della Vittoria (Church of St Mary of Victory) opened up at 0655, just in time for us to vest quickly for a 0700 Mass.  The exterior of the Church looks like this and mirrors the Church of Susanna across the street (which would be to your left):

I wondered at the title of the Church, until I stepped inside and looked up:

You can't see it, I know.  What you can take in with your eyes when you are standing there does not even remotely come through in a blurry little BBrry photo... and I couldn't find a picture of it on the internet either, which is unfortunate.  Anyway, the apse ceiling (half-dome above the main altar) which you just barely see above the beautiful sun-burst on the wall behind the altar, is a depiction of the Battle of Prague (1648).  The Catholic victory is attributed to the intervention of our Lady and hence the title of the Church.

Even though that is the name of the church, the real reason why this church is a favourite stop for tourists, art lovers and students of the spiritual life is a famous sculpture by Bernini called 'The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa'.

Okay, to understand this sculpture you have to understand the mystical life and writings of St. Theresa. Primarily, you have to read her 'Life', that is, her spiritual autobiography, in which she tries to describe the spiritual intimacy, joy and mystical union with God that she experienced as a contemplative nun.  She was a Discalced Carmelite nun... discalced meaning to go without shoes.  Remember when Moses turned aside to see the burning bush that although it was on fire didn't burn?  The bush contained the presence and glory of God and yet was not consumed by this intense 'overshadowing' or filling with the glory of God... And the Voice from the burning bush spoke to Moses and told him to take off his shoes for the place on which he was standing was holy ground.

Firstly, that represents to us the Blessed Virgin Mary who contained within her womb the second Person of the most holy Trinity, the Son of God, and yet was not consumed or destroyed for that fact... because she was 'full of grace', as the angel Gabriel said at the Annunciation.

Secondly, every consecrated virgin and nun, and in this particular case St. Theresa of Avila (Spain) seeks to be truly holy, and to be 'discalced', meaning 'made to put off their shoes' because they find themselves in the presence of God on holy ground, united to God in that mystical union in which they are filled with his presence to the extent that a human being can be, without perishing in the process.

 All that to say, that in her spiritual autobiography which she was compelled to write by her confessor (because she was too humble to do so otherwise), St. Theresa wrote of one intense experience of God:

I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying.

And this passage became the inspiration for Bernini's statue of 'St. Theresa in Ecstasy'. Foolish interpreters of this spiritual ecstasy have often made it out to be a kind of sensual experience because that is the only thing that this carnally obsessed society can understand.  They know nothing of what St. Theresa is talking about so they try to relate it to the one thing that dominates their own thinking and then blindly attempt to equate it to their own shallow and spiritually atrophied existence. No, my friends, this is spiritual intimacy, union with God who is a consuming fire.  This is holy ground... take off your shoes.

And Mary said to the angel (Gabriel): How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.... And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.

"And that's all I want to say about that."  More later today, perhaps.  I am praying for my friends and family who are following along with my sabbatical.  May God bless you.