First Full Day In Rome

Well a lot has happened in the last two and a half weeks, since my last entry. First of all I AM IN ROME. After arriving on Wednesday evening Rome time, the college picked up two other seminarians and me at the airport. After one quick and crazy drive to the college, the firs thing we did before dinner, unpacking, showering, shaving, sightseeing, was to celebrate the Holy and Perfect Sacrifice of the Mass. Molta bella! It was a cold cena (supper) that was help over for us, since the college knew we would be famished. We had one quick tour of the whole place and then off to bed since we were exhausted. Ho molto stenco!

The next morning was mass and breakfast, and my first experience of the wonders of the Italian bureaucracy at in action (more like inaction), since the saintly Elena, the secretary to the rector took us to get our residency papers. I am after all a temporary immigrant to Italy. Let’s just leave it at “it was quite the experience.” After that was the first of firsts, my first pranzo (lunch) at the college. Romans and Italians in general have a gracious tradition of making noon-lunch a long a relaxing meal. This is dying off in many parts of Italy, but is still holding strong at the North American College. It starts with prima coursa (first course) of soup or pasta (maybe rice or potatoes), then the secunuda coursa (surprise, surprise: second course) of meat, fish, eggs, or cheese with a vegetable. Next comes the salad which is dressed at the table, and then fruit. On feast days the whole deal is preceded by antipasti (appetizers), and followed by desserts. Wine is served at every table. Pranzo a P.N.A.C. e’ molto buono! I will get very accustomed to this.

(A view from my window, the NAC Chapel is to the right, and I would have a good view of the hills that surrond Rome if Saint Peter's wasnt' in the way, chuckle.)

Now it was time for a trek into the city for the first time to run a little errand of buying clerical shirts, since in Rome seminarians where the clerical shirts that you are used to seeing on priest, and they are cheaper in Rome, so I went to buy some. (You might think that the previous sentence was a run-on sentence, but as far as I can tell long sentences are encouraged in the Italian language), saw some sights during this trip, like the Pantheon, which is an ancient Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. It is famous because of its age (almost two thousand years), and because of the giant hole in its dome, which is called an occuli. It owes its survival to being converted by Christians into a church dedicated to Mary and the Roman Martyrs.

Well it was my first day in Rome and I have seen most the places that I wanted to see in my first few days, except that there was one person that I wanted to pray with that I had not yet met. So I hoped on a bus with my friend Anthony Craig from Duluth, Minnesota to go to Vespers at the basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Saint Paul is one of the four major basilicas in Rome; this means that it is very big, very beautiful, and very important. It was recently in the news, since the tomb of Saint Paul was rediscovered within its walls this past spring. Vespers is an evening prayer service based off of the psalms. All priests and sisters are required to pray it, and the laity is encouraged to pray it. Unlike the United States, it is actually fairly common for parishes in Rome and the rest of Italy to have vespers services daily or weekly. What was significant about this vespers service was that I got to pray with the person that I was hoping to pray with, that person being Benedict XVI. He was the presider at vespers at Saint Paul Outside the Walls. It was even quasi-historical since he proclaimed a jubilee year of Saint Paul. A whole year devoted to the life of Saint Paul during which the faithful are encouraged to pray over his works (most of the New Testament), make pilgrimage, and in general it is a time of renewal of the spiritual life. Not bad for my first full day in Rome is it?

After vespers Anthony and I met up with a mutual friend from Chicago, Andrew Liagminus for dinner at a little local Roman trattoria, called Abruzzi. It was very delicious. Melons are currently in season in the area around Rome, so of course we enjoyed the prosciutto and melon for antipasto, and for the meat course I had some delicious ossobuco. Ossobuco is one of the signature dishes of Rome, although it can be had in other areas of Italy. It is a roasted veal shank, with the marrow bone still in. Usually it is served with peas and mashed potatoes. What is memorable about ossobuco is that the marrow is still in the bone, so it is Roman custom to suck or slurp the marrow out at the end of the course. It is actually very good. The rest of the evening was spent walking the streets of Rome, and talking with Anthony, and with Andrew, who I probably will not see again for two more years. It was a late night upon returning to the college.