Quick Update!!!
Happy summer! The last few months have been very busy but enjoyable. I spent two weeks in Lourdes, France assisting English-speaking pilgrims. I then spent the following twelve days welcoming the New Men (1st Year Theology Seminarians at the NAC) in Rome. It was great to give back to the seminary in this way. It was a lot of work, but I think that the New Men really enjoyed their first week in Rome and left for their language studies with a feeling that the North American College is now their home for the next four to five years.
After the Early Orientation for the New Men, I returned to Verbania, Italy for continuing language studies for three weeks. I am just now finishing my second week. Verbania is great because I am able to study and also travel on weekends. Last weekend I went to Locarno, Switzerland on Saturday and Milan, Italy on Sunday. They were both great experiences. This afternoon I will depart for Cinque Terre (the “Five Lands”) on the Mediterranean Sea for the weekend. I have always wanted to visit Cinque Terre and now I will finally have a chance!
After my last week of Italian studies, I will travel to Austria and I will be back in Rome at the beginning of September to begin my Homily seminar.
Sorry for not taking the time to write anything recently. I will try to write more often in the coming months. By the way, I had been recording some great video blogs over the past weekend, but the program I use stopped working properly. I am hoping that I can reinstall the program when I get back to Rome.
Until then…
Reaching the “One Month” Mark
It is hard to believe that I have now been in Italy for one month. The first week in Rome gave me just enough time to unpack most of my things and arrange my room…and then I was gone. Now that I am wrapping up my language studies in Northern Italy, I am looking forward to returning to Rome in order to start feeling like that is where I live now. Since we were pulled out of Rome so quickly, I know the area around the hotel in Verbania better than I do the area around the North American College in Rome. I am ready to stop living out of a suitcase.
For dinner last night, most of the seminarians and tutors went out to eat at one of the best pizzerias in Verbania, Paschal’s Pizzeria. The restaurant is located right on Lago Maggiore and boasts some breathtaking, and unobstructed, views of the town of Laveno and the mountains on the other side of the lake. The pizza was good and the company was great. It was really amazing to see how far we have all come with our language studies since we have been here! I cannot understand everything, but I was able to contribute to the conversation and answer questions from others. It is a great feeling to be able to communicate in another language and other people understand. It may not be completely grammatically correct, but just getting across to other people is a great feeling. I look forward to continue improving when I return to Rome.
The NAC seminarians walking to the pizzeria to meet our teachers for dinner.
Eating pizza with our teachers at Paschal's Pizzeria on the Lago Maggiore shore.
Elisa, my Italian conversation tutor, and me after dinner.
Since our time is running out, I am trying to see everything I can in Northern Italy before leaving next week. Therefore, today I went with David and Ryan to a small hermitage that is located on Lago Maggiore. The hermitage, Santa Caterina del Sasso, was established in the early 12th century as a Benedictine monastery that was later converted into a hermitage. It is a very simple group of buildings, but it is amazing and beautiful because it is built on the side of rocky cliff and overlooks Lago Maggiore. After our Italian lessons this morning, one of the tutors gave us a ride to one of the ports and we took a ferry to Stresa and then to Santa Caterina del Sossa. After we stepped off of the ferry we immediately climbed up steep steps made out of rock and then, before I knew it, we were at the ground level of the hermitage. The hermitage is not used anymore, as far as I know, and is one of the many sightseeing sights in the Lago Maggiore area. Therefore, there were a lot of people milling around and taking pictures of the façade of the building.
The palace on Isola Bella on the way to Santa Caterina del Sasso.
There were some awesome flowers blooming in the touristy town of Stresa.
Another flower in Stresa.
There are many weathered frescoes that adorn the walls and it is clear that people had periodically painted over the old frescoes. However, the frescoes that remain are awesome. I wish I had something like that on my walls in Rome! Many of the scenes probably depicted the history of the hermitage and church, but I didn’t have any guide to make out what the frescoes meant. So, I just sat down in the old, hardwood pews to pray and to admire the craftsmanship of so many people. The great thing about the chapel is that the focus is ultimately on the altar. All of the frescoes and side chapels seem to point towards the tabernacle on the high altar. It was a wonderful place to pray and to remember how I am a part of the history of the Church just by visiting these holy and revered places on pilgrimage. To be able to pray at the feet of Saints and to walk on the streets that they walked remind me that I am studying to be a Catholic priest because I want to follow God in the same ways they did. I believe that we are all called to follow Christ and to strive to become Saints.
A picture of me at Santa Caterina.
One of the many porticos on Santa Caterina.
Another view of the hermitage.
The high altar in Santa Caterina is beautiful.
Me standing in the back of the ferry with Santa Caterina in the background.
The Joys … and Pains … of Traveling to Venice and Padua
This was a very busy weekend! I guess the best place to start would be last Friday. I had my two 1.5 hour Italian lessons in the morning and then spent the afternoon studying and getting ready for my weekend trip. In Italy they celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary as we would celebrate July 4th in the United States. If that was not enough of a reason to celebrate, Verbania was hosting the International Fireworks Championship in the towns around here. It just so happened that Canada’s fireworks show was on Friday night near Lago Maggiore (near the lake). I wanted to go to the lakeshore to see the fireworks, but I needed to go to bed early in order to wake up at 5:00am to get to the bus stop on time. Unfortunately, I underestimated the length and shear volume of fireworks that the Canadians would use to impress everyone because the show lasted for an hour and was very loud. In other words, I couldn’t go to sleep (or see the fireworks from the balcony).
On Saturday morning, I woke up and we got to the train station without any problems. When we reached Milan, we transferred to a Eurostar train, which is like an express train for long distances. Since we only bought the tickets that morning, we were not able to get assigned seats on the train, so we would sit somewhere, someone would come and tell us that we were sitting in their seats, and then we would repeat the process. We finally discovered that it was just easier to sit/stand near the doors of the train. It made a long trip seem even longer because each stop we came to meant that we had to dodge everyone departing or boarding the train.
Sitting on the train steps
David and Ryan sitting with me in the doorway of the train...for hours.
Ultimately, we reached Venice’s Mestre Station. As we pulled into the station, someone saw our train and we bolted for it as soon as the doors opened. It was a tight fit on the bus, but the hotel was not very far away from the Venezia (Venice in Italian) Mestre Station. We started getting a little nervous after the first couple stops that we may had jumped on the wrong train, at one point we jumped off and then thought we were, in fact, on the right train and we jumped back on. However, just as the doors were shutting, David announced that he was positive we were on the wrong train. We eventually got off the train, purchased more tickets, and we got back to Venezia Mestre Station and tried again.
We ended up at our hotel, took a little break, and then took another train to Venice, itself. Venice was awesome. It was my second time to be there and David and Ryan’s first time.
One of the many waterways in Venice.
The famous Rialto Bridge. It reminded me of the James Bond 007 movie!
There are not many cities in which you can drown just by walking in the street!
A picture of me standing on the Rialto Bridge.
David taking a picture of the gondolas.
Ryan enjoying the walk through the "water world" of Venice.
We walked through the narrow streets and over countless little bridges before we arrived at Piazza San Marco. The Square is famous for its many pigeons that swarm anyone with food and also for providing the backdrop for Venice’s beautiful Basilica of St. Mark.
The Basilica of St. Mark and the Bell Tower in Piazza di San Marco.
David, Ryan, and me standing in front of the Basilica of St. Mark the Evangelist before Mass of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary.
The basilica is covered from the floor to the ceiling in mosaic tiles. We asked the guards when the Mass for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary would be and they said it would start in an hour and we could enter in 45 minutes. So we waited. I finally pulled out my breviary to pray Evening prayer and then the guard saw that we were seminarians and let us enter in order to catch the very end of Vespers. It was an amazing experience. We walked into one of the most important churches in the world right at the Benediction (where the priest blesses the people with the monstrance containing the Body of Christ). We dropped to our knees and then followed the priests and a few people on a mini-Eucharistic Procession through the Basilica to the Eucharistic Chapel. We then were able to sit in the front row for the Mass of the Assumption of Mary.
My home parish is St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Norman, Oklahoma. Therefore, to pray within feet of the remains of my parish’s patron saint. The body of St. Mark lies below the high altar. I also had plenty of time to pray for the parishioners at my home parish and for my pastor, Fr. Thomas Boyer. I really miss everyone from my parish, but it is times like this that I feel close to them.
Standing in front of the Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice.
This massive statue atop a massive column represents St. Mark as a winged lion. This is also the logo of my home parish, St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Norman, Oklahoma.
We ended up spending the rest of the evening walking around the northern coast of Venice. We finished our trip to Venice by toasting the Church, the United States, and the North American College with glasses of champagne in Piazza San Marco.
To end our pilgrimage to Venice, we toasted God, the United States, and our seminary (the North American College in Rome).
Getting from Venice to Quarto d’Altino, the town where our hotel was located, normally has many trains. Unfortunately, since it was a major religious feast day, many trains either don’t run or run in a VERY limited way. We ended up having to wait for two hours for our train (12:30am)! It was a long wait because of all of the traveling we had done and then spending so much time in Venice. We were all exhausted by the time we reached the hotel.
We spent Sunday in Padua (Padova in Italian), which is located to the west of Venice. It only took about an hour to get there by train from Venezia Mestre. Padua is the home of one of the most recognized Saints in the world, St. Anthony. We were able to attend Mass in the Pontifical Basilica of St. Anthony and I was able to pray for St. Anthony’s intercession at his tomb. I prayed for all of the seminarians from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, for Archbishop Eusibius Beltran (my bishop), and for my friend Adam Burkhart, who took Simple Vows at Conception Abbey this weekend. I was also able to pray at the Altar of St. Maximilian Kolbe, one of my favorite saints. It was an amazing day.
The Pontifical Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua. The Basilica is officially on Vatican territory, so it was like we were "back home" while we were there. The North American College is also considered Vatican Territory.
The Tomb of Saint Anthony of Padua...in Padua.
I prayed at the Altar of Maximilian Kolbe, one of my favorite saints!!!
In order to avoid sitting on the steps of the train doors, we bought our train tickets early. However, we were saddened to find that our seats we located in a train car without air-conditioning. To make matters worse, my seat was situated in a way that the sun beat through the windows for the entire three-hour trip. On top of that, there was not an armrest between my seat and the seat next to me. In fact, the seats actually touched each other, while every other seat on the ENTIRE train had a 3-4 inch gap. What are the chances of that happening?! I ended up getting a lot out of praying the Office of Readings during the trip because it talked about being the light of the world and not letting things get in the way between God and me. It was a long train ride and I was happy to get back to Verbania. After arriving back to the bus stop near our hotel we decided to buy a pizza and we ate it up in my room.
Ryan, David, and I ate pizza in my room in Verbania after returning from Northeastern Italy.
Just as I was getting ready for bed my parents called via Skype and I was able to talk to my grandparents. I have talked to them since I have been here, but it was the first time that they were able to see me with the webcam since I moved to Italy. I think they loved it.
Just one week left of Italian lessons in Verbania before I move back to Rome.
Breakthrough! (sort of)
Today, after lunch, I walked down to the “Lavanderia” to wash all of my clothes. Unfortunately, it costs 7EU to wash a load of laundry and dry them. If I had a place to hang all of my wet laundry I wouldn’t use the dryer! Since I went by myself, I was planning on throwing my clothes into the washing machine and then walking back to the hotel. However, I didn’t really want to walk all the way back to the hotel and then be back at the laundromat in less than thirty minutes. Therefore, I decided to stay. Many people wash their clothes by hand and then just let them air-dry. The concept of using a machine to get your clothes really clean and using a dryer does not make much sense to them. Therefore, it should not be such a surprise that the laundromat only has two small washing machines, a large washing machine, and two large dryers. It is also self-service so I could just throw my clothes in the washer, put in the detergent and fabric softener, feed the machine my coins, and wait.
As I was loading my clothes in the dryer, an Italian woman walked in to wash some blankets that were too big to wash in the sink. She started talking to me in Italian and I told her that I was learning Italian in Verbania. She sat down next to me and she told me what it was like to be born, grow up, and live in Verbania. She was nice enough to speak slowly and clearly so I could understand her. She also said that I didn’t have an “American accent” while speaking in Italian. She said that is not very common. I am surprised how much I have learned in three weeks. I hope I can continue to improve.
By the way, I have uploaded more pictures to my Facebook Page. The links for the photo albums are below. This coming weekend I am going to the “water world of Venice”.
Lago Maggiore Island Hopping
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2341179&id=9632667&l=ec7a4e344e
Milano
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2341178&id=9632667&l=7efa9e297f
Verbania Pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2341173&id=9632667&l=9e2c5fde6e
Pizza Night with our Italian Tutors
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2341174&id=9632667&l=a9b9607ad2
Torino
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2341169&id=9632667&l=4fdcb1be69
Visiting the Saints of Milan
Today I traveled to the financial capital of Italy, Milan. I was surprised by the quick hour and a half train ride to the main train station in Milan. It was an amazing moment to step out of the subway tunnel in Piazza del Duomo and experience the grandeur and magnificence of the Cathedral of Milan. It took a few moments to realize the shear massiveness of the fourth largest church in Europe. The marble that adorns the cathedral actually came from the Lago Maggiore region of Northern Italy, which is where I have been staying for language studies. For a building that took over four hundred years to build, it is… breathtaking!
Me standing in front of the Cathedral of Milan.
Every inch of the Duomo is ornate.
After we arrived at the Duomo, we ran inside just in time for Daily Mass. In Milan, the Ambrosian Rite of the Catholic Church is celebrated. This was my first Ambrosian Rite Mass, but it seemed very similar to the Latin Rite (which we mostly experience in the United States.) After Mass, we explored the rest of the cathedral and I was even able to go below the main altar and pray for the intercession of Saint Charles Borromeo, the patron Saint of seminarians, in front of his glass entombed body. It was pretty amazing. There is also a beautiful crypt church located below the main level. The Duomo may be my favorite church I have seen in Europe, second only to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Looking towards the Main Altar at the Cathedral of Milan.
The Body of St. Charles Borromeo.
After enjoying the Cathedral, we walked to the Leonardo da Vinci Fondazione Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Technologia. In short, the Mseum of Leonardo da Vinci’s Inventions. It was a huge museum tracing science and technology that we have today back through human history and development. It was an interesting museum, but also a little boring! Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions were ingenious!
This is a model based on one of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings.
The museum also housed other exhibits, including a section on the development of modern-day instruments. I found a 12-stringed violin-ish thing.
This was the scroll of a 12-stringed violin-type instrument. I bet my brother, Landon, would love to play this monster!
After the museum, we visited the Basilica of St. Ambrose and then went back to the Duomo to have a Holy Hour. It was a fun day, but I am exhausted!!!
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.
Surviving the First Week of Italian
I have survived the first week of Italian lessons. I have learned a lot of vocabulary, but I think it will probably take some time to be able to put phrases together in a grammatically correct way! However, thanks to Paola and Elisa, I should be able to get pretty far in these four weeks.
My days in Verbania have been pretty methodical. I have been waking up around 7:30 am in order to get ready for my lessons, pray the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer, grab a quick croissant in the dining room, and then I find myself ready for my lessons at 9:00 am. I first meet with Elisa and we focus on vocabulary and speaking. At 10:30 am I get a quick break and then I start back at 10:45 am with Paola. Paola cannot speak any English, but our lessons are awesome. She is my grammar teacher and she is also blessed with a lot of patience. I finish up the one-on-one lessons at 12:30 pm, just in time for Pranzo (lunch)! Our meals are huge! I finally started asking for half-portions! The meals are normally three courses (a pasta dish, meat dish, and dessert). We wrap up Pranzo around 2:00 pm and then the afternoon is free to study on my own. I have been working with the Rosetta Stone computer program and also spend time going over my notes from my lessons. However, I do more than just study.
The afternoon is a good time to go for a walk or even a swim in the cool/cold Lago Maggiore (which I did this week)! The town of Verbania is a tourist’s heaven! There are little shops littering the alleys and there are not really a lot of tourists crowding everywhere. Verbania is a far cry from Rome!
After spending the afternoon studying, napping, and exploring, we celebrate Mass in the chapel of the Hotel (il Chiostro is a remodeled Augustinian Cloister) at 7:00 pm, followed by Cena (dinner). Cena goes on forever and is like Pranzo but with a salad added in there. We are done with cena around 8:30 pm and then we go our separate ways. This year there are 17 seminarians here from the North American College (nine New Men and eight Old Men). Therefore, there are many possible things to do and we often split up. I have went with a group of guys that walk to lakefront to have coffee every evening at a small, Italian, outdoor restaurant several times. It is nice to just chill out and enjoy the evening. However, the 2 euro 50 Coca-Cola is too expensive. I wish I liked coffee!
Below are some pictures of Verbania and Lago Maggiore.
My home for the next four weeks.
Verbania is located near the Italian/Swiss border.
Dan, David, and Ryan swimming in Lago Maggiore.
The 16th century belfry of the Basilica of San Vittore is beautiful.
Another picture of San Vittore.
Arrival in Verbania
I arrived in Verbania, Italy by train earlier this evening. It was a long eight hour journey from the seminary, but the last few minutes of the train ride were worth the exhaustion! I have never seen anything so beautiful and stunning in my life. The contrast between the lake, Lago Maggiore, and the sheer height of the mountains are shocking. The town is situated on the border between Italy and Switzerland and I believe that these mountains are the beginning of the Swiss Alps. Of course, the mountains just get larger as you move into Switzerland, but they are pretty impressive in Verbania. I am here with eight other New Men from the North American College, and there will be several other 2nd Year Men joining us tomorrow. In fact, my Italian classes begin tomorrow morning so I should try to get to bed. Not to worry…I will post pictures real soon. However, the priority is now switched from being a tourist to being a student.
Please pray for me!
Off to Language Studies
This first week in Rome has flown by with incredible haste. However, I have been able to find many moments to pray and orient myself towards Christ. Rome is such an amazing city to live in and I am humbled to be doing so. The heat has been intense and I am, therefore, looking forward to heading up to Northern Italy tomorrow to begin my Italian Language Studies. The town I will be living in is called Verbania and is situated on Laggo Maggiore (the Great Lake). The Lake serves as the border between Italy and Switzerland in that area. I am looking forward to traveling a little bit, but my main focus is learning the Italian language so I can get something out of my classes (which are in Italian).
Today the New Men traveled north of Rome to Orvieto. It is a medieval town built upon a cliff and surrounded with a large wall and a fortress. The views were spectacular, but the most interesting part of Orvieto is the Cathedral (the Duomo). Encased within a silver reliquary is a corporal (linen cloth) which is the sign of an Eucharistic Miracle. As a priest was traveling to Rome he was doubting the true presence of Jesus Christ in the consecrated host. However, as he was celebrating Mass, blood started dripping from the host and onto the corporal. From this miracle, the Pope declared the first ever feast day in honor of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). Consequently, we were able to celebrate the Mass of Corpus Christi in that chapel. The relic served as a great tool in order to enter more fully into the mystery of the Mass. It was one of the great moments in my life!
My camera is almost out of battery life, so I will try to upload pictures eventually. Hopefully I will have internet access in Verbania for the next month. If not, I will update the blog when I return in August.
