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April 9, 2013Dear Family of Faith,
We know that in the Creation Accounts, "on the seventh day, God rested from all His labors....". Today was a little bit of that "rest" in the sense that there were no formal meetings to attend or other scheduled activities. Deacon Tom and Father Ted were dutifully attending their classes, and Msgr. Osborn was hard "at work" at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. So, Sir Michael Emmons and I set out on our own, bright and early, to explore and visit the parts of Rome we had not yet had a chance to visit.
From the Casa Santa Maria where we are staying, getting to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls is not easy because....well, it's "outside the walls" of the City of Rome. So we took a taxi, then transferred to the Metro----Rome's version of the Subway. During that leg of the trip, we were serenaded by a traveling violinist and vocalist right on the subway; we were pursued by a very persistent beggar, and my pocket was nearly picked by a rather young (12 year old) would-be pick-pocket. Arriving at our stop, we walked the rest of the way to the great Basilica of my namesake, St. Paul. We had arranged to celebrate Mass at one of the side altars, and we were greeted by the Saristan, a Benedictine Priest, who just happens to have been born and raised in Pittsburgh, and knew of me from his family who still lives there and had grown up in the parish where now-Cardinal DiNardo had served his first assignment as a young Pittsburgh priest. Talk about a "small world". We had the privilege of celebrating Mass at the Altar of St. Benedict, another one of my favorite Saints. Following Mass, we got to pray at the tomb of St. Paul and tour the massive Basilica (which seats 12,000 people). We learned that Pope Francis is coming there to St. Paul's this Sunday to celebrate Mass, which explained why there were workmen everywhere setting up risers, and landscaping the beautiful outside grounds in preparation for the Holy Father's first visit there.
Our trip back to the Casa Santa Maria took a bit longer as we took the subway half-way there, and then walked the remainder of the way to the Casa (about 1 1/2 miles).
In the later afternoon (after a little "reposo"), we met up with Father Ted and later on with Msgr. Osborn. We visited a number of beautiful churches, including Saint Ignatius (where St. Robert Bellarmine and St. John Berchmans are buried), San Luigi di Francesi (St. Louis of France) where the world famous "Call of St. Matthew" painting by Carvaggio is found), and Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (St. Mary above the Minerva Square) where the body of St. Catherine of Siena is buried. At that holy place, we all knelt in prayer, praying not only for the Faithful of St. Catherine of Siena Parish, but for all the Faithful (priests and laity) of all the parishes of our Diocese, and in particular for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life to be raised up from those parishes. Finally, we visited the world famous Pantheon (which in the 7th century became known as Our Lady Queen of Martyrs) dating back to 137 B.C.
While we were visiting these churches, we just happened to run into Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Cardinal/Archbishop of Washington, and formerly my "boss" when we were both in Pittsburgh, who had just arrived in Rome for some meetings at the Vatican. It was so good to see him and catch up for a few brief minutes. Deacon Tom was unable to join us due to some obligatory events taking place at the North American College. Our evening ended with a very nice, leisurely dinner and a wonderful chance to discuss many important topics.
All in all, it was a great, inspiring and enriching day----a day of "spiritual rest". I excitedly look forward to tomorrow, the day of the General Audience with our Holy Father and the day when I hope to meet him and present him with the Spiritual Bouquet on behalf of all the Faithful of our Diocese.
In the Joy of the Risen Christ, + Bishop Bradley