Arrivederci Roma!

As I think I told you, I’ve spent the last month in Rome, where I helped to translate for a course for 27 of our missionary Daughters of St. Paul. When the work was finished, I did what any reasonable Roman would have done—I took a holiday! Yes, there was a little self-inflicted work sprinkled in, (I am American, after all) but I made sure I enjoyed even that.

And I prayed…for you. Every church I visited I took you with me and offered the Lord your intentions with mine, together with those of all the donors and benefactors of the Pauline Family throughout the world, especially in the U.S. and English-speaking Canada.  In the basilica of St. Lawrence, where St. Stephen is also buried—brought there by St. Helen—I managed to light a candle for you in honor of St. Joseph, provider of the Holy Family. Along with St. Paul he’s the patron of Pauline Faithways.


Mosaic rendering in the Benedictine Sisters' convent
of the "Fractio Panis," or "Breaking of the Bread" fresco
at the Catacombs of St. Priscilla. The sisters allowed me
to make my hour of adoration in their chapel.


As for other places and visits, think: the less frequented Catacombs of St. Priscilla, with its amazing frescoes, Domus Romanae (the home of a wealthy citizen of imperial Rome, still being excavated), and the early 17th century Galleria Borghese (one of the first art museums in Italy, which houses works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Caravaggio, both of whom were patronized by Card. Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, who oversaw part of the construction of St. Peter’s….Got that?). Besides some of my favorites spots, I tried to visit a few places I hadn’t stopped in to see yet—as much as I could on a shoestring budget. It was great!

I leave for New York tomorrow morning, then on to Boston Friday morning. So I think you’ll forgive me if I don’t try to wax long and eloquent this week. See you next Wednesday. Ciao! 

Ulysses, erected both outside the Domus
Romanae and in Battery Park, NY, to honor Italian
immigrants overseas.