We headed down to St. Paul's once again, this time for Mass as a group. We were originally assigned to a small chapel, but we wouldn't fit, so we moved into the apse chapel. Hard to pay attention.... Anyway, St. Paul welcomed us to his Church.
and Pope Benedict smiled down upon us with all of his predecessors, right up to Peter himself!
With the connection to our Cathedral Church, we had to make a stop at St. Peter in Chains, to see the very chains themselves! Back into the City we went.
Moses shook his horns at us, I couldn't get closer for a better pic, alas!
A short trip down the Esquiline (?) hill to the Flavian Ampitheater, aka 'The Colosseum' Tempting to call it a 'big pile of rocks', but impressive none-the-less. A cross now marks where the emporers sat and condemned so many of our early Christian brothers and sisters to their death, (but NOT the Apostles, it wasn't built yet!)
From there, we went back out of the city to the Catacombs of St. Callistus, I had some shots of the grounds, but nothing too impressive, shots underground were forbidden. The one teenaged girl in our group started to sort of freak out a bit while in the catacombs, but she made it through.
From there, back into the city for Mass at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, the Domincan Parish in town. Below is a pic of small chapel dedicated to St. Catherine of Sienna, big enough for three people, I think.
From there, to dinner! And what's this, Opera Singers?!?! Too Cool!
The male singer, mysterious missing from the above pic, was proud to say that he was a Cardinal, once upon a time! He played a Cardinal in the movie about Pope John Paul II and still had the pic on his cell phone, he was sure to show allt he priests in the group!
Alas, RomeTrip2010 was coming to an end, an early, early morning pic-up at the hotel (3:30 AM) for the flights back, one through Frankfort and Chicago to Cincinnati, one through Paris to Detroit, and the process of beating jetlag begins. I think I am mostly over it by now.
I will offer one more set of reflections on the impact of the trip and some further thoughts, stay tuned.....
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2 comments:
Enjoyable reading. I have to go some day, Aunt Florence loved Italy. I have a new reason to go now.
Oh my goodness! Brings back such beautiful memories! I especially love St. Paul's. When I was there a few years ago, my little sisters were fascinated most of all, however, by the little lizards that scurried about in the courtyard.
Wonder in the little things of life!
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