All Saints Day and All Souls Day: Rome Style
Things are continuing to stay busy here in Rome. Classes are speeding along and I have been spending a lot of time studying and trying to keep up with the readings. However, the 2-mile walk each day, to and from class, gives me an hour to just relax and walk with friends. It is always difficult to be just starting at a new institution because the tunnel seems so long, but I have been assured by many of the newly ordained deacons that their time here in Rome has flown by. It is pretty amazing that I left the United States three and a half months ago. On one hand it doesn’t feel like it has been very long, but it also seems like it has been a long time since I have seen my family. This is ironic because I talk to them a lot and can even video chat with them via Skype.
While things have been normal at the seminary and at the University, this last week was special. Jean, the Secretary of the Vocations Office for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, and her husband, Tom, visited Rome for their first time. It was nice to be able to spend some time with someone I know from Oklahoma City. We saw a lot of the sights of Rome, enjoyed some great meals, and we even prayed at the bones of St. Peter (thanks to my diocesan brother, Cory). This was a travel weekend at the North American College, but I have been telling the other seminarians that I “went to Rome for the weekend!” The city is so large and I have been so busy that I have neglected to see a lot of the historical sights of the Eternal City. It was a great weekend and I discovered a lot about the city. It was also great to show Jean and Tom around St. Peter’s Basilica and the North American College.
Sunday, November 1, 2009, was All Saints Day in the Roman Catholic Church. It is the day that we celebrate the lives of the Saints that have lived in this world and have led their lives to glorify God. For Sunday Mass, we went to The Pontifical Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. The Basilica was magnificent and very large. We even went into the courtyard of the Benedictine Monastery and saw fragments of a lot of marble sarcophagi with early Christian markings on them. There was also a beautiful little museum and Relic Room, complete with St. Paul’s staff. There was also a very large tapestry with a depiction of St. Paul’s shipwreck near Malta. It was pretty cool to think to myself that I had just been there just a few weeks ago.
Monday, November 2, 2009, was All Souls Day in the Roman Catholic Church. It was also my birthday. It is a tradition in the Church to bring to minds our loved ones whom have gone before us into the Kingdom of Heaven. There was an option to have Mass within the North American College’s Mausoleum located in Campo Verano. I had never been to an Italian cemetery prior to this trip and I was surprised with what I found. In the United States, we are used to green fields with small gravestones. However, there are so many people here, and they have been hundreds and hundreds of years of deaths, that they have had to adopt a system to deal with death. The cemetery was composed of small, casket-sized plots with a stone lid and then a headstone covered with names and pictures of the deceased members of that family. Some of the family plots were simple, but others were massive and quite expansive. From what I was told, when a family member dies, they place the body beneath the stone lid and wait for the body to decompose. They then place the bones in a small ossuary-type box and then place it in a different chamber. There is also not a one-time fee for the plot. If a plot is not continually paid for, the remains are disposed of, probably by cremation, the monument is destroyed, and then a new family may purchase the plot. They also do not embalm the bodies, so there was a slight stench from the decomposing bodies.
Deep within the tight walkways, we came upon a beautiful red-bricked building overlooking the rest of the cemetery. This tall, four-level mausoleum is where the earthly remains of around ten seminarians and faculty from the Pontifical North American College are entombed. Instead of a small box for their bones, each body was placed behind a 5 or 6-foot wide, marble monument with their name, diocese, and age of death written in Latin. When seminarians could only travel here by ocean, it would take a long time to get from Italy back to the United States, so if a seminarian or faculty member died, they were buried in this mausoleum. One of the seminarians, Frank Parater, is being considered by the Vatican to become a Saint. He is currently considered a “Servant of God”, which is only two steps away from becoming a Saint. He died in 1920, after living a life in which inspired many people. His young life evolved around prayer and he eventually discerned that God was calling him to become a Catholic Priest. He eventually was sent by the Diocese of Richmond to study at the Pontifical North American College. At the age of 23, he passed away and was buried at the mausoleum. While he sounded like an amazing guy, his Last Will and Testament is really what caught everyone’s attention.
- “I have nothing to leave or to give but my life and this I have consecrated to the Sacred Heart to be used as He wills…This is what I live for and in case of death what I die for. …Since my childhood, I have wanted to die for God and my neighbor. Shall I have this grace? I do not know, but if I go on living, I shall live for this same purpose; every action of my life here is offered to God for the spread and success of the Catholic Church in Virginia. …I shall be of more service to my diocese in Heaven than I can ever be on earth.”
During the Mass of All Souls Day at the mausoleum of the North American College, I stood right next to his tomb. What a wonderful blessing it was to realize that God tries endlessly to stir our spirit to follow Jesus Christ. Even in Frank Parater’s final days of his illness, he kept God’s will as his focus and was completely reliant on Him. The more I learn about him, the more I wish I could have met him in person. That is the whole point of even venerating the Saints within the Catholic Church. They provide examples for us of people that have followed God with complete trust and have showed us a glimpse of the Father’s love.
The rest of my birthday was pretty normal. It was raining all day, so I was not able to go out for dinner with some of my friends, but I received a lot of birthday wishes from the seminarians within the North American College and from my friends in the United States. I even received a special call from Mrs. Wynn’s 5th Grade Class at All Saints Catholic School in Norman, Oklahoma. During our short video chat, they sang “Happy Birthday” to me. They are special kids and I really appreciate their prayers and support. They are the future of our Church and I have been very impressed with their love for God and his Church.
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- Enjoying Rome from the NAC Roof
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- During the tour of the North American College, we took Jean and Tom to the roof of the college for the amazing view of the city and of St. Peter’s Basilica.
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- These small family tombs line all of the walls. Some boxes are very small and others are very large.
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- NAC Mausoleum Entrance
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- This was the entrance to the 4-story North American College Mausoleum.
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- This was the tomb of Servant of God Francis Parater. His cause is currently being examined for beatification and canonization. He attended that North American College in 1919-1920.
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- These small boxes in the walls house the earthly remains of many members of a family. There were thousands of these boxes in the walls of the cemetery.
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- This beautiful mausoleum is the final resting place for many monsignors, professors, and different Vatican officials.
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- Many religious orders have mausoleums at Campo Verano. This is the mausoleum of the Jesuit Order.
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- Nuns pray for their diseased sister at the Cemetery of Campo Verano.
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- This is the ceiling of the NAC Mausoleum covered with beautiful images of the phoenix, a symbol of Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal life in Heaven.
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- Our first glance within the NAC Mausoleum.
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- The tightly spun staircase was located behind the altar on the top level. This massive room is the third level of the NAC Mausoleum. There are another two floor similar to this below.
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- The frescoes on the NAC’s Mausoleum ceiling were beautiful. It was recently renovated.
Passport to Europe with Brian Buettner
After watching many episodes of Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown, I have decided to start a spin-off series which will, I am sure, be picked up and syndicated by the Travel Channel. I came to this realization as I was walking out of the Cathedral in Torino, Italy on Saturday. I still cannot believe that I am here and I wish I could share the full experience with you. However, I guess this blog will have to do for now.
Me walking around one of the piazzas in Torino.
I finished classes on Friday morning and I spent the rest of Friday working on Italian vocabulary. It was a relaxing afternoon. I also went to bed at an unusually early hour in order to wake up on Saturday morning at 5:00 am. We woke up early in order to catch the bus, but due to some unforeseen events, we missed the bus and had to wait thirty minutes at a different bus stop. Even though Torino is the capital of this region of Italy, we had to take three different trains in order to arrive at the Stazione di Torino at 10:30 am. It took a long time and about 25.00EU for the train and bus tickets. I was hoping to find the Torino I saw during the Torino Winter Olympic Games in 2006. However, the town has forgotten, by the looks of it, that they were an Olympic host city. I only saw two things that even referenced the Olympics, a Visa sign in a shop window and a souvenir pin with the German flag. My dreams were dashed. However, what I found in Torino made up for my disappointment regarding the Olympics.
Verbania's main pedestrian walk along Lago Maggiore.
We are waiting for the train to Torino
A quick picture from the train as we pass Lago Maggiore.
No one can tell that Torino was a Olympic host city. What a shame!
We went to Mass at a beautiful church (I don’t recall the name) and then ate pizza at an awesome pizzeria. We then walked all over Torino in search of a church or museum that was not closed. As it turns out, everything is closed on Saturdays from about 1:00pm until 3:30pm. It was frustrating to say the least! However, I took advantage of the opportunity to visit the Egyptian Museum of Torino. It boasts itself as the largest Egyptian collection of artifacts outside of Cairo, Egypt. I was pretty impressed. It cost me 7.50EU to enter and it was worth it. I have never seen so many mummies, scrolls, and Egyptian statuary. We then met back up and went back to the Cathedral (called il duomo in Italy). I was able to pray at the altar of the Shroud of Turin, which is currently encased within an altar and sealed in a glass and metal chamber, from what I understand. Before I came to Italy, my friend, Ken Cole, gave a wonderful presentation on the Shroud of Turin to a group of my Catholic friends in Oklahoma City. I couldn’t pass up the chance to pray for them within feet of the cloth that seems to have wrapped the body of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. The duomo also houses the remains of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. I may be studying in Rome when he is canonized a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church. That would be cool!
A crucifix in one of the churches.
Photos of the Shroud of Turin
The other huge event was going to the Basilica of St. John Bosco (the church is actually named something else, but I don’t remember). I was able to pray for the intercession of St. John Bosco and St. Dominic Savio. They are both amazing Saints and have been good teachers for me as I have grown deeper in my faith. I guess that is the whole point of looking to the Saints as models of the life we are called to live.
It was a great day, but it was a very long day. In fact, on the way back to Verbania, one of the trains was delayed by an hour. It made the night last forever! However, I was able to relax on Sunday. It was a great first weekend and I look forward to exploring more next week in a different city.
