Continued...
Lauren's adventure in Rome today continued...
Right before we went to the Parthenon, I passed a church that had "O Crux Ave" written on it. It was a beautiful church, and immediately the strains of the Palestrina polyphony came to mind ... I had to take a picture. I'm conjecturing that that is the Chiesa de Santa Cruce, but I thought that was bigger than this church.
Having arrived at the Parthenon, Shane and I walked 300 meters to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, unaware that our orientation leader would freak out. I did get some nice pictures (which I won't upload to save space)... I know that a relic of St. Catherine of Siena is there ... I believe it is her head (while the rest of her is in Siena?); I don't suppose it is, er, on display, but I found her little shrine and said a prayer. Furthermore, I found a picture depicting both St. Lucy and St. Agatha. I wonder if, like St. Cecilia, the Dominicans "claim" them...? If so, this is cool, as I was born on St. Agatha's feast day.
When we sallied forth from there, we stopped at a coffee shop wildly devoted to St. Eustace (San Eustachio?). It was amusing -- there was a flyer advertising music in the church of St. Eustace on St. Eustace's feast day in September. It was a very professional shop, and there were images and prayers to him everywhere. I found this amusing, and I wonder why St. Eustace in particular. Patron saint of coffee-brewers?
Our next stop was the Colosseum (sp), and on the way we passed the Roman forum. I tried to take a picture of me with some of the stuff in the background, but I mostly just got me. [G] Then we went to the Colosseum, turned around and got gelato. Not much to say there, so here's a picture.
It was a short day. We took the metro and then the bus back, and I tried to get some pictures of the castelli Romani on the way home. And here are some pictures from the actual Rome campus. (Pictures of the campus coming later...)
Our vineyard and the view.
In between those two trees sticking up is the dome of St Peter's. I wonder if the Pope can see this from up the hill at Castolo Gandolfo... never out of view of the office, eh, Papa?
And that was my day in Rome today. Strictly a narrative account for now. Perhaps more later.
Ciao!
3 Comments:
That looks like the Oratory of the Holy Cross, whih isn't too far from the Pantheon. Inside should be decorated with frescoes of the finding of the True Cross. The Basilica of S.Croce is quite a distance from there; the oratory used to contain a miraculous crucifix, now on display in one of the nearby churches.
The Cafe S.Eustachio is named after the church opposite it - it's said to serve some of the best coffee in Rome.
If you want to venerate the relics of S. Catherine, you'll find that she's buried under the High Altar of S.Maria Sopra Minerva. Her head is in Siena, which is also well worth the visit.
Enjoy your visit to the Eternal City,
Zadok.
Ah yes, San Eustachio. I studied down the street from there last year with the Notre Dame architecture program. Definitely good music. Liturgies however are somewhat teeth-setting as the otherwise very holy priest likes to intersperse little sermonettes throughout the mass, in Italian. Better just to go to San Gregorio ai Muratori and hear it in Latin.
Oh, and Hi, Zadok!
PS. That's Sta Maria Maddalena. There's a good restaurant next door with green plaid on the tablecloths. It's quite a nice church, very high roccoco. The Romanian national church is around there, too, as is a very good music store.
Post a Comment
<< Home