JUBILEES
Two significant jubilees were about to be celebrated in January of
2010. The sesquicentennial of the North American College would be
celebrated in early January and towards the end of the month that of
the Consolata Missionary Sisters. And so I made my way to Italy.
The
following is a brief recounting of my trip to Italy.
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As
part of my preparation for the priesthood I had the good fortune to
spend four years at the North American College in Rome while I
attended classes at the Gregorian University established by St.
Ignatius over 400 years ago and popularly known at the university to
the nations because of the diversity of the student body and the many
nations of our world to which the students bring the fruits of their
learning.
Some years later I spent another academic year in Rome, living a the
Casa Santa Maria, the home for priests doing graduate work in Rome, in
my case for studies in Church Law.
Still later I did a semester of continuing theological education under
the auspices of the North American College.
As
a parish priest of the Diocese of Grand Rapids I also enjoyed the
opportunity to work with the Consolata Missionary Sisters, an
international community of sisters who work in many remote parts of
our world as well as in Michigan and Alabama within the United
States. This missionary community was founded in Torino, Italy, on
January 29, 1910.
Thus two significant jubilees were about to be celebrated in January
of 2010. The sesquicentennial of the North American College would be
celebrated in early January and towards the end of the month that of
the Consolata Missionary Sisters. And so I made my way to Italy.
But
first a bit of history. On December 8, 1859,Pope Pius IX founded the
North American College in Rome for the formation of students from the
United States for the priesthood. Some five years previously he had
proposed such an establishment to our bishops. However they were less
than enthusiastic and dragged their feet. They had already sent some
students from this country including some Native Americans from
Michigan to study in Rome and most had died there. Ultimately the
Pope told them he had not made a suggestion and the college would
begin in a sixteenth century convent on the Via dell’ Umilta, the Casa
Santa Maria with the portrait of Our Lady of Humilty over the main
altar in the chapel. The college became a success and thousands of
young Americans were prepared for the priesthood there until it closed
in 1940 because of World War II. The college reopened in 1948 still
at the Casa Santa Maria until 1953 when the magnificent present
college overlooking St. Peter’s and Vatican City from the Janiculum
Hill opened.
Along with the new college for seminarians the Casa Santa Maria
remains a vibrant residence for over seventy Student priests from the
United States who are pursuing graduate studies in Theology, Canon
Law, Liturgy, Scripture, History, and even Church Music.
Presently there are some 225 students preparing for the priesthood at
the North American College. They come from all parts of the US as
well as from Puerto Rico, and a few from Australia and Scotland. The
current enrollment is the largest in forty years.
There is still a third program in Rome called the Institute for
Continuing Theological Education. Some thirty-five priests from all
over the US come each Fall an/or Spring for a refresher program in
Catholic belief and practice. Initially this program was housed at
the Casa Santa Maria, later at the North American College, and now in
their own home called the Villa O’Toole after a generous benefactor.
I
am very grateful that along with Father Robert Bissot of this diocese
I had the good fortune to be a student in Rome for four years at the
North American College where we were ordained on December 15, 1957.
Later I had a year of graduate study in Canon Law and lived at the
House on Humility Street (the Casa Santa Maria). Then in the spring
of 1985 I was able to do the refresher course in the Continuing
Education program when it was still located at the Casa Santa Maria.
The
sesquicentennial celebrations for the North American College were set
to begin on the evening of January eighth. I arrived in Italy a day
earlier and Sister Adriana Galindez from Mendoza, Argentina met me at
the airport and took me to the headquarters of the Consolata
Missionary Sisters at Nepi, about a half hour north of Rome near
Viterbo. Sister Adriana, the current financial administrator of the
Consolata Sisters is an old friend since she both studied and worked
here in Michigan. That day and the next I prayed, visited, and ate
with the very young and some of the older sisters, a number of them
old acquaintances. The following day Sister Adriana Gazzera, from
Cuneo in the far north of Italy near the border with France,
accompanied me into Rome. She also had studied and worked in the US
but currently assists Sister Adriana Galindez in the community’s
financial office. She too is a friend of long standing.
Light rain was falling in Rome and would continue as it had for the
previous ten days for the next four. Despite the rain, once I had
checked into the hotel, located in the center of Rome, I made my way
first of all to the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. From the
outside the church appears to be rather nondescript but within one is
amazed at the beauty of this gothic structure with a huge rose
window. This is in charge of the Dominicans and here is the tomb of
St. Catherine of Siena and also that of Fra Angelico. So I prayed
there for all the Dominican Sisters, especially my sister, and at the
tomb of Beato Angelico for all artists, especially those who devote
themselves to the task handing on the faith through the visual arts.
That evening the celebration of the sesquicentennial of the North
American College began with Mass at the Church of the Twelve Holy
Apostles, right in the center of Rome, near the Piazza Venezia, the
Gregorian University (where I studied for four years), the Casa Santa
Maria, the Trevi Fountain (Three Coins in the Fountain), as well as a
restaurant, popular with student priests called the Abruzzi. After
the Mass we adjourned to the nearby Casa Santa Maria where there was a
huge spread of food, appetizers, and beverages of various sorts. I
picked up my welcome packet there and after visiting with many old
friends and acquiring some new ones my hotel bed beckoned.
Fortunately it was nearby.
The next morning, Saturday, brought us to St. Peter’s for an early
morning Mass at the Altar of the Chair. This is the western arm of
St. Peter’s where the stained glass dove in glory dominates the scene
above the altar. Bishop Cooney with the other bishops were the main
concelebrants but altogether there were close to 200 of us
concelebrating the Mass. Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore was
the homilist and in my opinion his homily was the best we were to hear
in the course of the week. During the Mass I was seated just below
the monumental statue of St. Francis of Assisi and directly opposite
the similar statue of St. Dominic. Much to the dismay of Father Edward
Hankiewicz from Grand Rapids I insisted on a few minutes of hectic
shopping at the store run by the nuns along side St. Peter’s so I
would have some items for the Holy Father to bless at the audience.
Still we managed to visit the tombs of the popes under St. Peter’s.
Quite a few are buried there. We made a point of pausing to pray at
the tombs of Pius XI and XII, Paul VI, and John Paul I and II.
Earlier we had said a prayer at the tomb of Blessed John XXIII now
located in St. Peter’s itself.
Between the security screening and the very long wait in the audience
hall the meeting with Pope Benedict XVI was strenuous and taxing, but
certainly more so for the Pope than for us. The audience was very
brief, no more than a few minutes, but the Holy Father does send his
blessing to everyone here at St. Ann’s. To me the Pope appeared to be
very, very tired. We need to keep him in prayer.
Afterwards Father Hankiewicz and I braved the cold light rain to head
to a nearby restaurant called Tre Pupazzi (three dolls or even
puppets) for a lengthy lunch, mostly to talk and warm up.
Sunday brought the high point of the sesquicentennial celebration at
the North American College itself. We began with coffee and rolls
followed by the Carl J. Peter endowed lecture of homiletics. Father
Carl, who subsequently taught theology at Catholic University in
Washington and twice by Pope Paul VI and John Paul II was appointed to
the International Theological Commission, was my classmate and we were
next to each other alphabetically for oral exams at the Gregorian. He
would amaze the examiners and I would bring them down to earth.
Following his very early death his family decided that something
should be done to improve preaching and so they endowed a chair of
homiletics at the North American College. More recently members of
the family have endowed chairs of theology at Catholic University in
Washington and at the Gregorian University in Rome. They have also
established a scholarship fund to assist students to attend the North
American College in Rome.
Perhaps the example of the Peter family is what prompted the
organizers of the sesquicentennial celebration to present each of the
attendees with a beautiful brochure listing special opportunities,
ranging from $25,000 to 2,000,000 to come to the aid of the college
with naming rights for gifts of $100,000 or more.
The Carl J. Peter lecture was followed by the alumni business meeting
in the course of which Father Dan Gallagher of Gaylord read in Latin
the list of those alumni promoted in the past year either to higher
ecclesiastical dignity (read bishop or archbishop) or more importantly
to heaven, the real goal for each of us.
Then came the anniversary Mass in the chapel where Father Bissot and I
were ordained fifty-two years ago. The music and the ceremonies were
magnificent. The less said about the homily the better. Clearly
there was/is a need for chairs of homiletics. The chapel itself must
be seen to be appreciated truly. Along each side of the sanctuary are
bas reliefs in stone depicting the seven sacraments and preaching.
The stations of the cross are bronze works of art by various Italian
sculptors of the post World War II period.
After the Mass there was a cocktail reception prior to the anniversary
banquet with more speeches and the traditional three toasts: to our
country, to the college, and to the Pope Benedict XVI. After mushroom
cannelloni, saltimbocca alla Romana, three kinds of wine, and dessert
there was scarcely room for coffee (espresso) and sambuca, although I
heard some complaints about the absence of strega (another liquor of a
golden hue). By this time it was nearing five in the afternoon.
On
the way back to the hotel I paid a visit to the Church of the Gesu and
the tombs of St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier (only his arm
is there). There I especially wanted to view the recently restored
fresco called the Madonna della Strada which depicts Mary holding out
the Infant Jesus towards us. It is strikingly beautiful and
apparently dates from the fourteen hundreds, making it older than the
church in which it is placed.
Monday brought a day in the country, which I nearly missed by
oversleeping. We were to board busses at the college at nine for the
excursion to the Catacomb of St. Sebastian for Mass. I woke at
quarter to nine and knew there was no way I could get to the nine
o’clock bus. So I took a taxi and beat everyone else to the catacomb
by half an hour. It is claimed that 174,000 martyrs of the early
Church were buried there including a number of popes. It is certain
that at some point, probably around the year 250, the remains of both
Peter and Paul were taken there for safekeeping during the
persecutions. Pilgrim inscriptions from that time can still be found
“Peter and Paul, pray for x, Peter and Paul pray for y, Peter and Paul
pray for me”.
After the Mass at St. Sebastian we visited the old Villa Santa
Catarina where in my time as a student we spent most of the summer
just down the hill from the Pope’s summer home at Castelgandolfo.
Once upon a time the place was owned by the Roman poet Horace. Later
it was the property of the Orsini family who when they came upon hard
times sold it to the American Bishops. Then a few years ago when our
Bishops needed money to support the North American College they sold
it to Opus Dei who use it today as place of retreat and study.
After the nostalgic visit to the Villa Santa Catarina we adjourned to
a nearby banquet facility for another multi-course meal lasting some
three hours and more. While bedtime came early there was a little
shopping to do first (stores tend to stay open late on Mondays in Rome
as generally they do not open until four in the afternoon on that
day). I also paid a visit to the Church of San Ignazio and the tomb
and enshrined confessional of Father Felix Cappello, a Jesuit priest,
canonist and moral theologian, and a very prayerful and insightful
confessor, truly one of my ideal models.
Tuesday finally was a free day. I made my way to early morning Mass
at the Basilica of St. Mary Major where I marveled once again at its
beauty. The chapel with the tomb of St. Jerome was closed for
repairs, but the urn containing the purported relics of the manger at
Bethlehem was visible below the main altar.
Then it was just down the street a short way to the Church of San
Alfonso with the original image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It was
here that I intended to celebrate my first Mass but a very early
morning audience with Pope Pius XII made that impossible until a few
days later and the first Mass was in the chapel of the Franciscan
Sisters of the Atonement where my parents were staying. As things
turned out it was much nicer that way.
The Cathedral of St. John Lateran was next, more properly known as Our
Savior’s Basilica, the head and mother of all the churches in the
world. Here are kept above the main altar relics of Saints Peter and
Paul in twin silver reliquaries. Also high above the tabernacle in
the Blessed Sacrament Chapel is a wooden table on which it is said St.
Peter celebrated Mass.
Next I made my way on the Roman metro to the Basilica of St. Paul
outside the Walls to visit the tomb of St. Paul. Both here and at St.
John’s I paused not only to pray but also to admire the marvelous
mosaics in the apses and the triumphal arches and regret that I had
not been able to find the switch to see those at St. Mary Major that
tell the Nativity story.
Then it was on to the Dominican Church of Santa Sabina and the
headquarters of the Order of Preachers to pray and to obtain some
items for my Dominican Sister. Here is found the orange tree
allegedly planted by St. Dominic. Here too it is claimed Dominic and
Francis had their famous meeting in Rome. Here too carved in the
entrance door to the Church is said to be one of he very oldest
depictions of the Crucifixion of Jesus.
Lunch on Tuesday was very special. Four of the Consolata Missionary
Sisters joined me for lunch at the Abruzzi - the two Sisters Adriana,
Sister Lorenzilla Nava, and Sister Alessandra. Sister Lorenzilla is
from near Milano in Northern Italy and has worked for many years in
Africa and some years in the US. Currently she is helping students
from third world countries cope with their theological studies in Rome
as well as helping many learn English. Sister Alessandra from
Sardinia, is one of the youngest Consolata Missionary Sisters. I have
known her since she was a candidate prior to becoming a postulant.
Presently she is studying psychology at the Gregorian University.
That fact determined the choice of the restaurant and the length of
the meal. She had to be back in class at two. While we were eating
Bishop Cooney and his brother came in so I introduced him to the
sisters. Archbishop O’Brien also came in. He was introduced to the
sisters and told they are in Michigan and Alabama but not in
Maryland. He murmured something about having to see about that.
That evening Father Ed Hankiewicz and I hosted three of the Franciscan
Sisters of the Eucharist for pasta and pizza at a restaurant near St.
Peter’s. These sisters are all US citizens who work in the Vatican.
In Michigan they have a large house at Lowell where they run a child
development center.
The
sesquicentennial party continued for one more day but I fled Rome that
morning for Assisi, the home of Saints Francis and Clare. There was a
beautiful view from my hotel room of the valley below Assisi and the
huge basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels. I stayed two nights and
mostly just visited Churches and prayed. Much repair work has been
completed following the earthquake of a few years ago. I spent a good
bit of time at the Basilica of St. Francis where I assisted at Mass
and visited his tomb. I also visited the Cathedral where both Francis
and Clare were baptized as well as St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother
and the Emperor Frederick II. The walk down the hillside to visit San
Damiano where St. Clare lived and died with the first sisters who
joined her and back up to the city to visit her basilica and her tomb
nearly did me in, but the next day I felt great. It was at San
Damiano that the pope told St. Clare that she should bless the bread
on the table. It is said that as she asked God to bless the food, a
cross appeared incised in each of the small loaves.
While in Assisi I celebrated Mass with the Franciscan Sisters of the
Eucharist who are stationed there and joined them for supper. Two of
them teach at the nearby University in Perugia, a sister city with
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Then it was on to Torino for three nights at the original Motherhouse
of the Consolata Missionary Sisters. The Frecciarossa, the Red Arrow
train, from Rome to Torino by way of Florence, Bologna, and Milano has
a top speed of 240 miles per hour and is luxurious.
Sister Luisangela, now eighty-one, who worked here in Michigan and
Alabama for thirty-one years, met me at the station. We visited the
tomb of their founder Blessed Joseph Allamano, the beautiful Shrine of
the Consolata where he was the pastor for many, many years, and
Valdoco, the institute for the housing and training young boys,
established by St. John Bosco.
We
also went to Castelnuovo where Father Allamano was born and where the
candidates for the Consolata Sisters are first welcomed. Once again
old friends were waiting to greet me, friends like Sisters Chiara and
Chiaretta, both of spent some years here in Michigan. We need to keep
Sister Chiaretta in prayer since she seems to be in poor health
although I would guess she is only in her late sixties. I also had a
chance to visit ever so briefly with Sister Ivana who is preparing for
her final vows. Like Sister Alessandra I have known her since she was
a candidate. She is a nurse.
On
Sunday I concelebrated Mass in the chapel of the Consolata Fathers in
Torino. The celebrant provided a wonderful homily. Next we visited
the infirmary of the Consolata Sisters to converse with Sisters Giana,
Fabia, Maria Elena, all of whom have worked and studied both in the US
and also in the overseas missions, especially in Africa. Finally we
visited with Sister Giacinta at Grugiasco. She is from the
mountainous north of Italy. One day she told me how when she heard
she was being assigned to Belmont, Michigan, she expected to find a
mountain there. No mountain, but one day she and another sister
climbed Fisk Knob, the highest hill in Kent County, nostalgic for the
mountains of home.
A
busy visit to many old friends and familiar places, truly much more of
a retreat, a time of prayer and reflection, than anything else.
Please keep the students at the North American College and the
Consolata Missionary Sisters as well as the Franciscan Sisters of the
Eucharist in prayer. More especially, may we all pray for vocations
to the priesthood and the religious life.
