VIP Vatican Tours

Our first afternoon in Rome we took a private tour of the Vatican!  A priest we know has a friend who is working in the Vatican and he offered to take us around the areas that are off limits to the public. 

We prayed in the private chapel that the Bishops pray in during the conclave to pick the Pope. 

Then we entered the Sistine Chapel, where the Pope is picked. No pictures are allowed of the chapel, so these are two I took from the internet...

We then walked through the halls covered with paintings by Raphael. 

On the top floor, the same floor where the Pope typically resides (although Pope Francis has chosen to live elsewhere so he can have more community), are the famous painting of the World. 

We then went outside on the balcony right next to St. Peter’s Basilica. 

A few days later, Isaac and I went on the Patrons’ Private tour of the Vatican Museum with the students. We spent over an hour in the Sistine Chapel with just a small group of people (and I was able to sit and nurse Isaac as  the Pope has said Mother’s should feel comfortable to feed their babies at the Vatican), then we walked around the private gardens before going through the museum. 

Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii

Before heading to Rome, we drove just south of Naples to Pompeii.  Pompeii is best known for the well-preserved ruins from when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.

It is also the site of Our  Lady of the Rosary or Our Lady of Pompeii. 

The shrine was made famous after Fr. Bartolo Longo placed an image of Our Lady at the site and miracles started to occur in the late 1800s.

Pope John Paul II beautified Bartolo Longo in 1980.

Visiting Padre Pio & St. Michael the Archangel’s Cave

Our goal in traveling to Italy a few days before the University’s pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi was to see Padre Pio. 

Mission accomplished!

We drove from Naples on Italy’s west coast to San Giovanni Rotondo on the east coast (about 2.5 hours away).  

Padre Pio was born in 1887. In 1903 he entered the monastery and a year later received the Capichin habit. In 1910, after being ordained and transferred to several sites, he arrived at San Giovanni Rotondo, where he remained for the last 50 years of his life. 

Padre Pio’s body rests in the huge Shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo that can hold up to ten thousand pilgrims.  

Next door we visited the shrine of Our Lady of Grace, where many of Padre Pio’s relics are kept. 

Padre Pio spent many, many hours hearing people’s confession. He has the gift of reading souls and knew if you left something out! Here is his confessional. 

As the kids looked at his relics, I heard Francis say, “Maybe I’ll be a BIG priest!” And they both talked about how they’re going to be saints! It’s overhearing conversations like this that make all the traveling drama worth it :)

In 1918, while praying before a crucifix, Padre Pio received the sacred stigmata. He was pierced with the five sacred wounds of Christ and he bled from these wounds until his death in 1968. 

Pictured above the crucifix is a painting of St. Michael the Archangel, which was fitting because our next stop was the angel’s famous cave where he appeared about 15 miles away. 

Ellie in front of the Sanctuary of St. Michael the Archangel in Monte Sant’ Angelo. 

The shrine is built over the cave.  At this grotto, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Gerard Majella, St. Louis de Montfort, and at least six different popes have knelt and asked St. Michaels protection. We are happy to have done the same!

St. Michael appeared here in 490, 492, and 1656.  After the third apparition, the bishop comissioned a chapel built at the entrance of the grotto. Upon completion, the bishop dedicated but did not consecrate the church. It was not consecrated because St. Michael had already performed the consecration. It is the only building of worship in the Roman Catholic Church that has not been consecrated by humans. 

Our Trip to Naples for Pizza

We flew from Vienna to Rome and drove 2 hours south to Naples for...

Pizza!

Naples is where pizza was invented so it was definitely worth the trip!

Ok so we didn’t actually come all this way for the pizza... Actually it’s about half way to San Giovanni Rotondo, where Padre Pio lived and that was our destination for the next day! More in the next post...

Szentendre Mission Trip

Our family was again blessed with the opportunity to travel with a group of 7 students on a mission trip over their 10-day break.

We went to a small, gorgeous town outside of Budapest - called Szentendre.  I had no idea how beautiful the town was until we arrived.  Located on the Danube River, with temperatures in the high 60s all week - it was absolutely perfect!  The center of town, where we were staying, is filled with colorful houses and cobbled-stone streets.

The Franciscan students' mission for the week was to speak at the local high school during all of the class periods - sharing their faith testimonies and about life in America.  They answered, or gave their input to, a lot of the hard questions about the faith, including chastity, that teens deal with every day.  They probably most impacted the families who hosted them during the week.  Unlike other missions where you can immediately see the fruit of your work (eg, handing hungry people food to eat, or building a home for the homeless) - the fruit here was likely the seeds being planted as they witnessed to their Catholic lives.

School cafeteria

Because many of the high school students' parents and grandparents lived during Communist rule - it was hard or impossible at times for them to live out their faith.  Our students are a sign of hope and life in the Church - and wonderful role models for the teens to imitate.

Praise & Worship in the School Chapel

One reason we were able to visit this site is because one of their English teachers was a former student at the LCI (Language & Catechetical Institute), which is the other program housed at the Kartause along with Franciscan University here in Gaming.  LCI is an incredible program that supplies Catholics from the East with a foundational knowledge of the Church teaching and the English language so that they can return to their native lands to serve the Church.  That particular teacher was here in 1994 (along with her future husband who was also a student at LCI) and has gone onto serve the Church in many ways in her native land of Poland and husband's native land, Hungary - both through her professional work and in raising her children.  And so the new, life-giving cycle continues (in place of the Communist regime that tried to build an atheist culture built on despair)... I just ran into a student who is studying at LCI this year - she just happens to be from this same little town in Hungary.  I asked her if she thinks these mission trips make a difference - and she said, "Yes!  It is the reason I am here!"  She explained that when she was a high school student she hosted Franciscan students three different times.  She said it was the student who stayed with her the first time that completely changed her life.  From that time on she dreamed of studying at the LCI - to grow in her faith and to spread it throughout her country.  And now she is here!

So what does our family do on a mission trip?  Technically, Brian and I were there to play the role of advisor should any problems arise - but that thankfully was unnecessary.  So we enjoyed any time we just got to hang out and encourage the students at school.  Which would have been more time - but Ellie got sick!  With high fevers, lots of coughing (enough to make her gag and throw up 2 nights in a row) and us all sharing one room - our mission was spent offering up the LONG nights and the tiring days.  At least we were in a very beautiful place together as a family!  And our family also made it a mission to FEED THE HUNGARY DUCKS EVERY DAY!  (get that pun?! ;)

HAPPY KIDS PICS (because I didn't take pictures of the crazy/sad/sick moments!!):

Ellie - the day before she got sick!

SITES AROUND TOWN:

Also, there was a Chinese movie being made in the town while we were there.

Good night, Szentendre!