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.

Side Street Churches

Today I got up around 5 am, did some stretching exercises, and launched out on a back street adventure in trying to find Thursday's Station Church (Saints Cosmas and Damian -twins and martyrs).  It was good to walk, it actually helps... and it was a lot of fun finding my own way there.  Actually, I get close and then look for the horde of seminarians steaming up behind me at a far brisker walking pace... from there I just follow them to the actual church.  No stress.

As I descended those brick steps of the Juniculum Hill... more slowly than usual, I recalled my friend referring to them at one point in Italian as the 'Scale dall'inferno': steps from hell.

What I noticed, though, at the foot of the steps and out onto the path beside the Tiber was that at some point during my week off the trees had budded and the little leaves were giving a shade of light green to my morning walk.

That's the Tiber River on the left, through the new leaves.  Spring has sprung in Rome... although to be honest, it was 18*C and sunny pretty much since I got here.  This week has been cooler and rainy - so not quite as pleasant.  I know you folks in Canada don't really feel that sorry for me.

So, like I said, I wound my way through multiple back streets to get to the Church of Sts Cosmas and Damian this morning.  The church is very old, of course, and it is situated in a marshy, flood-prone area of Rome, so at some point the floor was actually raised 20 feet so today it was really interesting to sit in 'choir' because we were sitting close to the original ceiling!  You could really see the beauty and detail in the mosaics when you are 20 feet closer to the top of the building.

The church is tucked in behind this magnificent building, that I showed you before:

It's called the Vittorio Emmanuel II national monument.  Pictures don't do it justice.  Around to the left of this photo is Trajan's Victory Column I showed you earlier:

So, walking in between the Vit.Emmanuel monument and Trajan's column, amidst other ancient ruins of the Roman Forum... and before you get to the Colosseum, you discover the Church of Cosmas and Damian.  So, in this pic you are now behind the Vit Emmanuel monument - see it in the background - and the ancient ruins are at your feet in front of you, and the Church is still a little farther to your left (not in the pic yet):

If you do a 180* turn and look behind you, you will see the Colosseum in the distance (being restored -hence the scaffolding on the far left):

Looking at the picture above, today's Station Church is just on your right, but not yet in the picture (again!)

Yep, that's it.  Not much to look at from the outside, eh?  See the pilgrims waiting to get in?  Also, notice the yellow police tape?  That's right, Obama... again.  I was happy to see his helicopter leave this afternoon from the Vatican.  Remember I am close to the Vatican, so I saw it go.  Now they can take down all that tape.

Meanwhile, the Mass inside the Church with the raised floor was quiet, intimate and very peaceful. There were two Cardinals with us, Cardinal O'Brien who has been with us every day, and another one who celebrated the Mass but I didn't get his name.  The music by the seminary schola was excellent and added a very solemn mood to the Lenten spiritual reflection.

See what I mean about being close to the ceiling?  Usually that apse is waaaaay above your head. Those wooden benches that follow the rounded wall of the Apse is the 'choir' where I sat this morning... behind the main altar, so I couldn't actually see what was going on.

It wasn't hard getting a picture of the main ceiling (above) in the nave.  It was like you could reach out and touch it.

In a manner similar to my method of getting to the Station Church this morning, I took a series of back streets home.  Honestly, there was a church every second street... back street.  Churches that would be like cathedrals back home are tucked into the corners of little piazzas (squares that aren't square).  I stopped in at about 6 of them and took a few pictures.  I can't remember the names of them all.  Its really quite amazing.

The exterior

The interior space

Same church... the altar piece - a little bit like the sunburst at St. Peter's.

Another church, I liked the painting of St Michael the Archangel.

The choir loft and pipe organ.  You can't see it very well, but painted all across the balcony of the loft are a multitude of the heavenly host praising God on a variety of musical instruments.

Yet another church in the corner of a small piazza on a backstreet in Rome.  That is a pulpit on the left, halfway up the wall.  Many of the churches still have these... kind of different and perhaps not really needed in a church that is not the size of a basilica.

This is the altar piece of that same church... Mary and Joseph with Jesus and a Levitical priest (probably Simeon) in the temple in Jerusalem.  In ALL these churches, the biblical record is preserved and proclaimed through art for those who could not read... which was most people at the time.  Now-a-days, you often can't tell what a modern or post-modern artist is trying to communicate.  Here, art is in the service of the gospel and is meant to convey truth and reality as beautifully and as clearly as possible.

While I was in this church a man walked in, stopped at the open Bible and read the Scripture readings for today, and then went on his way to work.  What a great idea... which was probably more common when not everyone could afford a Bible. Don't believe that nonsense that Catholics weren't allowed to read the Bible.  After the disaster of the Reformation where each man interpreted the Bible for himself (resulting in 30,000+ Protestant denominations and counting), Catholics were not encouraged to make themselves into the sole interpreting authority of the Scriptures, but rather were encouraged to seek the mind of the Church (which wrote the Bible, BTW) on how it had historically interpreted difficult passages... but were they permitted to read the Bible, yes.

The Church near my house is 'Holy Spirit Parish' and it has a place for a round Rose window (as they are called).  Since the church is new, there is just clear glass there now.  I took this picture to show the Pastor there.

If I can get inside this church, I will get a picture of how the light shines through the window and take a picture of the details of the window.

I don't know how many pictures of Churches you can take.  I saw lots... I am posting a fraction of what I saw.  I can't describe the insides of each church... they are full of wonderful art, sculptures, mosaics, etc. and it gets to be overwhelming after a while.

If the door is open, I go in.  I can't help it.

Ah! Below is the exterior of the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere.

The oldest, or nearly the oldest surviving mosaics in Rome:

And then... this.  Can you figure this one out??  Click on it to enlarge (like all pics)

 What do you think is going on in this painting?  Who is the lady in the blue dress who takes up the foreground (and therefore the primacy of place) in this painting.  What is she wearing on her head? Yep... that's the papal tiara.  Was there really a Pope Joan???  I see six cardinals in the back left, in some kind of disputation or presentation to a gathering of clergy... but no Holy Father, unless... hehehe.

No, this is actually of the Council of Trent and that is holy Wisdom in the foreground.

 I'll leave it there for tonight.

With the Apostles; Phillip and James (the Less)

Whenever I visit my cousin in Sarnia I try to make a point of stopping in the Watford cemetery to pay my respects to my father.  If we are cruising by on our motorcycles he very graciously allows me that 10 or 15 minutes to sit quietly on the bench we put by my father's grave and offer a few prayers for the repose of his soul.  It is time well spent, even if it takes a little while longer to get to wherever we happen to be going.  He understands my need to do this and waits patiently and respectfully until I am finished.

It is something like that here.  Everywhere I go there are places where my spiritual ancestors are buried, where their remains are kept sacred and where I am allowed a few moments to pay my respects.  In this case, this morning, I sat in silence and prayer before the tombs of St. Phillip and St. James (the Less), Apostles and Martyrs.  They rest in the Church of the Apostles, Rome.  

There are statues of the 12 Apostles standing watch on the top of the porch leading to this Basilica. Rome as grown up around it so that you can hardly tell from the outside that it is a church anymore.  A sidewalk café with umbrella tables on the right and condominiums on the left.  It is fully integrated into the very fabric of the city.  Very little on the exterior will draw your attention.  But, like every Basilica, Church, and Chapel I've seen in Rome, the interior is a feast for the eyes and for the soul.

The Franciscan cross of San Damiano greets you as you enter and tells you that this Church is served by the spiritual descendants of St Francis of Assisi.  The ceiling will tell you that too and I have included a picture of it later in the blog post.  It is a fresco called, 'The Triumph of the Franciscan Order'.

I was drawn forward, as one always is, from the street outside along the center aisle, the vertical beam of the cross, toward the head of the cross where the altar rests.  Most of these churches were designed in the shape of a cross.  The long aisle in the nave is intersected by the horizontal 'cross beam', the transepts on either side being the arms of the cross, and the altar and apse being the head, representing Christ... and so that area of the church gets special attention.

The Altar piece is a fine painting of the martyrdom of one of the two Apostle, though I confess I didn't make note of which one - Phillip or James?  I'll try to find out.

Although the original church was constructed in the 5th century, it didn't survive an earthquake in the 14th century and was abandoned for a long time.  It was rebuilt, of course and the Confessio or crypt was added in the 19th century to provide an extraordinary sacred space to hold the relics of Sts Phillip and James, as well as other martyred Christians from the catacombs.  An inscription explains that Pope Stephen IV walked barefoot in 886 from the catacombs to the church carrying the relics on his shoulders.

Come with me into the crypt...

Staircase descending into the crypt

The Confessio of St Philip and St James, Apostles and Martyrs

The tomb

Standing in the Confessio facing the stairs, looking through to where the other Christians from the Catacombs are reserved

Same view, standing at the foot of the stairs, among the pillars, looking back up into the Church

I guess I don't have to tell you that this is the ceiling

I just have to ask you to try to appreciate the significance of this Church and this Confessio.  I never knew this existed.  I knew, but didn't really grasp, the loving care, concern and veneration that the Church has given to its Martyrs, and of course, its first apostles.  I should have realized that they would treasure every aspect of what could be preserved from their life and death... these 12 men who turned the world upside down.  The sense of connectedness I feel to real history is profound.  I belong to this history.  I am one with the Apostles Philip and James, with the unnamed and unknown martyrs who populated the catacombs after the 'Games' in the Colosseum. 

Every day is a day of discovery... where I learn about my own spiritual heritage.  I am glad to share parts of it with you.  

4Cs = Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Clergy shopping and Caravaggio

As promised, I am going to finish off today with a quick post of mostly pictures from our unintended side trip to the Colosseum earlier this morning and then a few pics from our little excursion to the holy hardware shops this afternoon.

We didn't exactly know how to get home because we didn't take the right path to the Station Church this morning... but what difference does that make? We're in Rome after all, and it is a walking city, in the core.  So, keeping in mind that the sun was still rising in the east, it should have been relatively easy to keep our bearings and wind our way back to our residence at the College.  Not.So.Easy.  Its Rome after all and there isn't a straight street in the whole city.

As we were risking our lives crossing one intersection, I called to my friend that I thought I saw the Colosseum peaking up over the other buildings off to our left.  Sure enough, we were that far off the beaten track... but what a great opportunity to have a look around!  We had the whole morning off, no classes in Moral Theology until this afternoon so, we followed this kind providence that put the Colosseum in our path, along with the Circus Maximus which is nearby.

Picture time:
Hey! Isn't that the Colosseum??

Yes... yes it is:

I've been joking a little bit, but I grew a little more serious as we drew near to this place where not only the Games were held, but the brutal slaughter and execution of thousands of Christians.  'Games' which were really a cruel and sadistic form of entertainment at the expense of the many martyrs of the early church.

As we made several more wrong turns, we had the occasion to wander through some archaeological digs and restoration attempts of old churches right beside the Colosseum... so we had a chance to approach this grand display of Roman architectural genius from several different angles, each so very impressive... but as I said, always sobering because my brothers and sisters died there, horribly, by the thousands.  That makes it holy ground to me.

The Circus Maximus hasn't hosted any Games or chariot races since the 6th Century.  This is what it would have looked like:

This is what it looked like not so long ago.  This morning I walked along the track that once was like our NASCAR speedway.  

I strolled leisurely where chariots used to race.  There is very little left of this magnificent structure, but the ruins that you can see above on the right hand side of the photo are massive.  It is hard to imagine it, unless you're standing there.

The path to Sts. John and Paul Station Church led right along this racetrack earlier this week, but I didn't even know where I was, or why there was this vast open space in the middle of what is usually a densely packed city. Now I know.

And lastly, some clergy shopping.  Please bear in mind that this blog was originally intended for about 15 family members and a few friends... so it is somewhat 'familiar'.  I am not a blogger.  So, tune out if you like for this next part.

There is a Euroclero shop perched on the edge of St. Peter's Square (which is round).  You know that the quality and the price is going to be somewhere near the top of the market... it was.  I tried on an alb that really seemed to suit me.  I asked the price twice and finally got an answer.  670 euros.  The exchange rate is about 1.5 right now... so that is close to CDN$ 1,000.00  For an alb!

Having politely excused ourselves from that shop, we found another which was closer to the beer salary that I am working with on this trip.  So, I bought an alb, cincture, and amice.

White alb with cincture tied in knots around the hanger

Remember the biretta that I bought?  With the tassel / pom-pom still tied up? Well, its not tied up now, is it?  I went over to the TLM church Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini and sat in 'choir' for the Latin Mass on Monday night and I had the chance to take the biretta for a test drive.  It wasn't the racetrack of the Circus Maximus, but with that pom-pom... ??  I don't know if I can wear it - looking like that.

One last thing: on our way to the priest store we stopped in at a French church, St. Louis, and inside there were three (3) Caravaggio  paintings on the call of Matthew from being a tax collector to his martyrdom.  OH MY!  I said earlier in a post that the Caravaggio I saw this week was priceless. Some one told me that apparently they are valued at $20 million a piece...  but money can never be the measure of these paintings.  I won't try to put words to this observation, just to say that it was a real privilege to stand there and contemplate the story that these paintings so magnificently portray.