Sr. Sandra (left) and Sr. Lynne traveled to Rome this past summer. |
Sr. Lynne and Sr. Sandra's This month, we’re starting a new series of articles on our website to share with you highlights from the Benedictine pilgrimage and renewal experience in which Sr. Sandra and I participated in June and July 2006.
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Rome Pilgrimage
Our journey was a pilgrimage to the beginnings of Christianity in Rome and to Benedictine sites in Italy. In addition, we had classes in the Rule of Benedict, Eastern Orthodox spirituality, the history of Rome, plus the art and architecture of Roman basilicas. Our studies and visits to sites were punctuated by days of reflection to integrate what we were learning and experiencing.
We experienced the city, the people and the sites with our hearts as well as all our senses, and each of us came away changed. Throughout the course of this year, I will share with you some of the ways the experience touched my life and changed me.
I’ll begin this month by sharing an overview of our experience. Our group was composed of 27 English–speaking Benedictine sisters from the United States and Australia and three leaders. We came from 15 monasteries in the United States and four communities of the Good Samaritan Sisters in Australia.
Our leaders were Elizabeth Brennan, SGS, from the Good Samaritan Community in Pennant Hills, Australia, Shawn Carruth, OSB, from Mt. St. Benedict Monastery in Crookston, MN, and Marcia Ziska, OSB, from Mount St. Scholastica Monastery in Atchison, KS. You can see the group here in the picture of us having lunch around the fountain outside the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere. (There are a few people on the right side of the picture who are not in our group.) I’ll show you a picture of the beautiful apse mosaic inside the church in a later article. |
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While in Rome, we stayed at the Casa Santo Spirito on the outskirts of the city. The Casa is the Generalate house of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing who provided us with wonderful hospitality. You can see some of the grounds of the Casa in the pictures of our final picnic.
You can see a picture here of some of the group waiting at the train station near Saint Peter’s after a long day out in the city. |
As true pilgrims, we negotiated our way around the city on foot and using public transportation. That in itself was a unique adventure. It seemed daunting at first to negotiate our way on the busses, trams, trains and metro. For the first few weeks, most of us stuck pretty close to our leaders. However, the second day out, two sisters ventured forth by themselves. On their return train trip to Station Aurelia nearest the Casa, they were surprised when the train whizzed by the station without stopping. When the train finally did stop, they found themselves in a small town in the countryside beyond the point where their tickets were valid. In Italy, if you are caught on public transportation without a valid ticket, the fine is a steep one! But they managed to find their way home again in good spirits. From their experience, we all learned to distinguish between express and local trains by the number of doors they have.
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Early in the pilgrimage, we were warned about the pickpockets in Rome. Your person is safe in Rome but your valuables may not be. On our first night out, we learned first-hand of this. As we took the bus back from Plaza Navona where the Romans gather for dining and entertainment in the evenings, a number of our group had their handbags slit. A young couple moved through the crowded bus unobtrusively trying to take people’s wallets. The couple was so adept that several in our group didn’t even notice their bags had been slit until the next day. Fortunately, no one lost any money since we had been warned not to carry it in our bags. However, the night’s ride awakened us to the need to be vigilant on crowded busses. We experienced some of the vulnerability of being pilgrims in an unfamiliar place. |
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Next month, I’ll write about our trip to Norcia, Benedict and Scholastica’s birthplace. I’ll post pictures of St. Benedict’s church and frescos Benedict’s life in the church of St. Scholastica outside Norcia.