You may be surprised to find our most regular Traditional Catholic commentator, Joshua, is currently on his maiden tour of the Eternal City, and, it seems, finding all sorts of interesting places to recite the endless latin psalms in his 1962 Breviary. We got to catch up at the Airport on Monday on his way through Melbourne. He seemed very excited…
He is staying at St Gregory’s monastery where I stayed with Cathy and the Interfaith Pilgrimage a few months back.
Half his luck! He had the audacity to ask for prayers – I mean, hello? Who’s in Rome? Not me.
Louise have been to Rome 5 times in several years and it gets more and more beautiful everytime. St Peters…Oh just to stand under the window where JPII and BXI stand bless. To attend Holy Mass at one of the altars. To visit the tombs of the Popes. to visit the grave where Peter’s bones were found.OH goodness nevery tiring.
And then to visit the Church of the Holy Trinity with its massive Divine Mercy image. To visit Trestavere and St Maria Trastevere church. To visit Castello St Angelo (bit hard work) etc.
hoping to go back next year. I love it so much.
But I would also love to visit and stay for a time in Israel. not as a tourist but to sit a rest awhile there. To visit the places Jesus walked. Maybe the Lord will permit that for me.
Good on ya Joshua enjoy it!!
Anne
You are a woman after my own heart (or vice versa). I have never been to Rome or to the Holy Land, but they are two places I would like to go, very much, for the same reasons as you.
I am sure you will Louise. Just ask Our Lady to organise the journey and she is the bestest travel manager you could possibly have. She even finds funds where they are short!!! so hang in there it will happen and when you stand in St Peter’s and look at the Holy Father and know he is that close you will really then know that you are home in your faith. You would have no other.
Anne
yes, the last thing I said to him at the airport was “pray for me at the tombs of the holy apostles”. I hope he remembers… i had a list a mile long when I went!
But Josh, and especially the members of his family, need our prayers at the moment. And we have the throne of heaven within our reach!
I’ll certainly pray for Joshua and family.
A young traditionally-minded Tasmanian making their first pilgrimage to the eternal city and stumbling across the treasures of the historic church’s.
Brings back memories.
Thanks Josh for sharing the experience and look forward to hearing more updates.
Good to see you here, Gareth! It is I, your Xt3 friend.
Thanks Louise,
Of course I knew that you posted here.
I promise to honour the commitment to catch up with your yourself or your family one day this decade, if I do not run into before hand.
Bless you, Gareth. I promise to make it to the EF of the Mass some time within that time! I may even get back out to the Thursday prayers for mothers and unborn babies.
Remember, I tend to note my adventures very much blow-by-blow, and not to seem insanely obsessed about what Hour I’m up to (then again, if the cap fits, wear it!). It is in the nature of a diary written any old how.
Sorry there aren’t many pictures, but I’m no photographer. I buy postcards instead.
The only important question to be asked about any pilgrimage to Rome is…
Did you do the schavi tour under St Peter’s?
Yes yes yes. I did the scavi tour with a guide alone. He took me to the tomb where the bones of st Peter were found. My guide called Michael said ” Anne you are very priviledged only scholars are permitted here” I stood there and couldnt even pray I was so emotional and in awe of this great gift given to me.
That little chapel at the entry above which are the words “Sepulchrum Petrus” is out of this world. I had the most beautiful, heavenly experience, I wish I would share it but can’t. It would sound tooooo silly, riduculous and unbelievable and I dont wish to wound the memory of that experience in any way. But it was outa this world!!
Anne
My memories of the schavi tour under St Peter’s are pretty vivid now.
I remember I took it a day after I had undertaken two similar tours – under the remarkable Church of St Clement near the Colosseum where one can literally go underground to the old church and be walking amongst the old streets of Rome and also a similar tour under the church of Saint Cecilia.
By the time I made it too the Vatican tour – I was pretty much ‘over’ underground excavation sites, but still was impressed to be so close the very spot that St Peter was put to rest.
The story behind the finding of St Peter’s ‘bones’ in the 1930s-1950s are pretty remarkable and am amazed that a Pope would be so confident that they were actually his.
I remember having a guide on the tour that was kind enough to allow pilgrims to sneak in a ‘quick photo’ and was lucky enough to be one of the privileged to come away from St Peter’s with a photo of the amazing Clementine chapel and also myself posing in front of the tomb of the Venerable Pius XII – which can only be accessed on the tour.
I found the schavi tour a bit below my expected standards, but still is a must see for pilgrims who generally want to be close and within metres of the spot that the first Pope was actually buried.