The Holiest of Holy Weeks

If you're going to be in Rome for Easter Week, you might as well go to as many churches as you can.
That's what I did on Good Friday. My self-guided "Church Blitz" lead me all over Rome. I started out at noon at the closest church, Santa Maria d. Grazie and ventured eastward from there, saying at least a decade of the Rosary in each. Here's the full itinerary:
1. Santa Maria d. Grazie
2. San Giovanni d. Fiorentini
3. Santa Maria degli Angeli a di Martiri
4. Santa Maria Maggiore
5. San Passede
-qick stop of at the American Seminary for Confession-
6. Ss. Ambroggio e Carlo
-quick stop for the main meal of the day (pizza)-
7. Chiesa Gesu e Maria al Corso (for Veneration of the Cross)
8. Basilica San Giacomo
9. Santa Maria d. Montesanto

When evening came, I went to the Colosseum for the Pope's Stations of the Cross. They announced each station in several languages (as seen in the video below). The candle-lit ceremoy was a nice end to the day.



While Good Friday was sunny and warm, Easter Sunday was rainy and cold. But Mass in Piazza di San Pietro (St. Peter's Square), was still on. So at 7AM Lauren (a fellow Tyler artist) and I went to wait in line to get into the Square at 8:15. We got to our seats around 9, ready for Mass at 10:15 between a sea of umbrellas and make-shift cardboard umbrellas. It was a wonderful celebration, mostly in Latin and Italian, but represented several languages through the readings (Second reading was in English) and intercessions. It was quite cold and wet, so Lauren and I left right after the Mass was done. By the time we remembered that the Pope gives his Pascal Statement we had alrady left or seats with no way back. But according to my roomates, who managed to stay report that nothing notable happened (Just the usual call to help less fortunate Nations). Below is a video of a beginning bit of Mass, with the revelation of the Icon of Christ as Savior.




Here's Pictures! Week 12 | Holy Week

The Pope Made Me Late for Mass

It's true. Because he adresses crowds of people at 12 noon on Sundays, I had to wait in a long line to pass through the security checkpoint to get into the Basillica to get to 12:15 Mass. I didn't have my camera on me, but he was awfully small-looking from his window.

In other news, I succeeded in making the best home-made dinner for myself as of yet in Rome. It started with some Romanesco Broccoli, which tastes like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli, and looks like a 3D Sierpinski Triangle. Then I had pan seared steak, fresh from the local open-air market. Of course, i had to sear it in olive oil, because that's really the only option I had. And garlic. After the pan was cleared from the steak, I put on my home fries (also fried in olive oil), which came out very crispy and very good. And while that would've been plenty, I ended the meal with nutella covered strawberries, also fresh from the market. This culinary contraption only further supports the research that nutella can make any dessert 100x better.

So, I'll go ahead and say that nutella will definitely be on my list of "Things I Miss from Rome". That and walking a good 5 minutes in the Basillica to get to the front portion that's celebrating Mass.