Italy Pilgrimage - Rome Wed April 15, 2015

Our second day in Rome dawned early as we had to try to get to St Peter's square in time to get good seats for the Papal audience.  Patrizia guided us well and we ended up near the back of the front section (if that makes any sense?) When we were here for Pope Benedict's audience, we sat near the front and our seats today were near the back of the crowd.  The idea is it is better to sit near the edges of his travel path than "up front" but 10-12 rows deep.
Pope Francis is wildly popular and an estimated 100,000 people crowd the square every Wednesday!

St Peter's Basilica is huge!

The roof is lined with statues of Jesus and the Apostles. Each is shown holding the instrument of their martyrdom. Here is Bartholomew (AKA Nathaniel) holding a flaying knife. Legend has that he was skinned alive.

Our seats were about 5 rows from the back lane through which we hoped Pope Francis would travel, so many stood on their chairs.

Fr Vince and Caroline

Amy, Fr Vince, Caroline, Julie, Sue, and Cheryl

Tony and Sandy

George and Beth

Bob

Our guide Patrizia in her normal mode - on the phone!  She spent a lot of time coordinating what was upcoming.

"Tall Theresa" and Bob

William, Barb and Terry

Some idea of the size of the crowd!

 

Soon a parade of folks dressed in medieval costumes came with  drums . . .

. . . and with trumpets . . .

. . .  and flags . . .

. . . and with courtiers 

 

The Cardinals are seated

Our first glimpse of Pope Francis is on the jumbotron

But he soon rounded the corner and indeed came close to us. I had worked my way into the second row standing by the fence so I got some good photos

Pope Francis kisses a lot of babies!

Not a lot of zoom needed here as he is about 15 feet from me at this point!

Pope Francis will accept a white zucchetto from the crowd, puts it on his head very briefly an then hands it back.

 

While gathering after the audience, we just happened on this procession of the Blessed Virgin Mary statue - perhaps this was used at the back of the crowd?

The crowd streams from St Peter's Square

Fr Vince took us to a religious articles store about 8 blocks from the Vatican where the prices were considerably lower (for the same items) as near the Vatican

Fr Vince advises Vanessa while Theresa browses

William and Caroline outside the shop try to figure what to do for lunch

A small cafeteria attracted many 

This is the religious articles store

Immediately next door was a small market where Bob found a large Birra Pirone for 1.7 Euro!  We bought some additional snacky stuff and sat on a nearby stoop to eat lunch

 After lunch, we boarded the bus for a drive-about!

The Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) also known as the Monumento Nazionale

Just to the left of the Monumento Nazionale

We stopped and walked to an overlook of the Roman Forum and Colosseum

The next stop was St John Lateran - named for St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist. Lateran refers to the name of the family who were the patrons of the reconstruction.  Built in the fourth century, for many centuries, this was the home of the Papacy and is still the Cathedral for the Bishop of Rome, i.e. the Pope

It also is immense although not nearly as big as St Peter's

Behind the main altar is the Cathedra - the chair of the Pope

The main altar is covered by a beautiful Baldacho atop which rests a reliquary said to contain the heads of Sts Peter and Paul. But these may have been removed by the French during Napoleon's reign.

Lining the side of the main aisle of the church are statues of the apostles - each statue being 20+ feet tall

Under the main altar is a statue of St John the Baptist

Just across the street is this statue of St Francis of Assisi

Across the street in another direction is the building containing the steps believed to be the steps of Pilate's Palace, identified and brought to Rome By St Helen, Constantine's mother.  

Pilgrims ascend the Sancta Scala or Holy Stairs on their knees and pledge once they begin to not stand or turn back.

At the top of the stairs (there are several pedestrian stairs adjacent to the Holy Stairs) is a Chapel that once was the Chapel of the Popes.

The reclining statue of Jesus is to remind us of His suffering

As does statuary

This image is atop the large arch on the side of the building

Then off to Santa Maria Magiorre (St Mary Major) for mass. This Basilica is one of the principal churches of Rome. The outline of the foundation was said to have been traced by a miraculous snowfall - this led to the legend of Our Lady of the Snows.

Looking back from the front door at the large pillar adorned with a statue of Mary

The main altar with its Baldiccho

Under the main altar is a reliquary which holds wood identified by St Helen as the wood of the crib that held Jesus in Bethlehem

Sally read at mass

Many times, Fr Vince celebrated mass "Ad Orientem" i.e. facing the altar. While the phrase literally means "To the East" it has come to mean simply facing the altar.

Behind the main altar

Dinner was on our own tonight and Barb & Terry remembered this little tratorria not far from the hotel. We both had steaks - on mine I had shaved truffles.

A small but very casual and friendly restaurant.  We've got this one bookmarked for any future visits!

Most of the cobwebs have been brushed out of our brains by now and we are on a semi-normal circadian rhythm!

Tomorrow - A road trip to nearby Subiaco & Tivoli
Ciao