This past weekend I was lucky enough to attend a canonization at St. Peter's. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The canonization was on Sunday, so I spent Saturday night in Rome with family friends. I had brought one of my good friends from UD to stay also. They took us out to their favorite pizzeria and gelato places in Rome, and we called it an early night. At 7:30, we caught the bus into St. Peter's, a 3 minute bus ride away. However, we didn't have tickets to get into the ceremony, so we wandering around the crowd, asking anyone who spoke English if they had extra tickets. Luckily, after about 10 minutes, an Italian nun had a few extras and we were in. Scampering as close as we could to the main altar, we were camped out in our seats around 8. After a two hour wait, the Pope came out on his Popemobile and all 90,000 of us in attendance went absolutely berserk. The Pope said mass, and 3 hours later, proclaimed the 6 beautified people all saints. Just being a part of the ceremony was an amazing feeling.
In other news, this Friday I leave for Switzerland to start off my 10 day trip, traveling around Europe. From there, I go to Brussels to stay with Fr. Mahar, Amsterdam for a night, then Berlin, Prague, and Munich. I can't wait.
Additionally, instead of going to the men's retreat, I've decided to make a pilgrimage to Monte Casino, the site of one of the first monasteries in the world, as well as tour as many churches in Rome as I can.
Ciao.
James
You can see the pictures here.
No comments:
Post a Comment