Pilgrimage to Rome: Part VII: Final Part

In this, the final installment highlighting my recent pilgrimage to Rome, I share some final sites: Florence Italy (so not in Rome), the Vatican Museum, and Castle de San Angelo.

Santa Maria in Portico

This church contains the body of St. John Leonardi.  Pray for us!

Castle d San Angelo

Castle d San Angelo, formerly known as Hadrian's Mausoleum, was built to house the remains of Emperor Hadrian.  The fortress was used as a safeplace during Christian times for the Pope and this is also the site of a famous apparition by St. Michael the Archangel.

Florence

While this series of posts is on my recent trip to Rome, I could not pass up the chance to take a high speed train from Rome's Termini station up to Florence.  Florence is so far the most beautiful city I have ever been to, and I would highly encourage everyone to visit this city in their lifetime.  It is truly a masterpiece.

These photos are of the Institute of Christ the King's Church in Florence.  Photos taken on Holy Saturday:

 These photos are of the Cathedral (Duomo) as well as the Baptistry:

These photos are of the sacred objects in the Duomo's musuem, which has one of the greatest collections of religious artifacts in the world.  This is a MUST see.

A view of the ceiling in the baptistry:

The Duomo as seen from climbing up the bell tower

The Vatican Museum

And the grand finale - the Vatican Musuem.  There is no greater museum in the world.  If I were to post all of the images that I had, I would be unable to do.  This is just a small piece of the Vatican Museum.

Conclusion

Thank you for everyone who prayed for me to have a safe and prayerful journey.  I prayed for all of you while visiting these holy sites and I look forward to again returning to this truly amazing city - the center of the Church and of the world.  Thank you immensely for your support and interest in my journey.  I hope to continue visiting more holy sites and sharing them with all of you.

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Feast of the Sacred Heart & First Friday

Today is the First Friday of June. Because today is the first Friday of the Month, many Catholic parishes will have special Masses today for the First Friday Devotion.  But even more important, today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart.  There is a two-fold reason to honor our Lord's Sacred Heart today!

"With foresight, the divine heart of Christ merited and ordered all the favors which we have received, disposing them for each of us in particular. How our hearts would be inflamed with love for so many favors! Consider that they were destined for us by the will of the Father, to be borne in the heart of the Savior, Who earned them for us by His sufferings, above all by His passion." - St. Francis de Sales

Beginning on December 27, 1673, through 1675, Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque asking her to receive Him in Holy Communion on the first Friday of every month and to meditate on His passion from 11:00 PM to 12:00 midnight each Thursday. He also revealed to her twelve promises for all who are devoted to His Sacred Heart; he asked for a Feast of the Sacred Heart to be instituted in the liturgical calendar of the Church. Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque with twelve promises for those devoted to His Most Sacred Heart.

Promises for those devoted to the Sacred Heart:

1. "I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life."
2. "I will establish peace in their homes."
3. "I will comfort them in their afflictions."
4. "I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all in death."
5. "I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertakings."
6. "Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy."
7. "Tepid souls shall grow fervent."
8. "Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection."
9. "I will bless every place where a picture of My Heart shall be set up and honored."
10. "I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts."
11. "Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out."
12. "I promise thee in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving the Sacraments; My Divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment."

Prayer of Reparation:

O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore thee profoundly. I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of thee the conversion of poor sinners.

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Parents Must be Devoted to the Eucharist & the Mass

Archbishop Lefebvre comments on the importance of the parents' devotion to the Holy Eucharist for the education of the children.

Image Source: A personal photo taken by me in Rome, Italy

People who are in the path of marriage have to have a great devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to the Holy Eucharist. That is where they are going to draw the graces to fulfill their mission the way God wills, particularly in what concerns the education of their children.

Something painful for Catholic parents today is to feel very often that the Christian education of their children is slippling through their hands because of the scandals of the world. Those who ought to be protecting the family and helping parents to educate their children in a Christian manner are those who, on the contrary, are scandalazing them, leading them toward sin, turning them away from our Lord Jesus Christ. What a sorrow, what tragic situations in families today! How many letters we receive from weeping parents, begging the seminary to pray for their children, for a son, for a daughter, who has completely turned away from God, who has completely abandoned all practice of religion, who is living an immoral life! And those are children from profoundly Christian families, profoundly Catholic families.

So today more than ever we have to remember that the graces of the Christian education of children come above all from the parents' own devotion to the Holy Eucharist. That is where their children in turn are going to have to draw all of the graces they will need in order to resist the scandals of the world.

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Pilgrimage to Rome: Part VI

During the Sacred Triduum, I attended Mass at Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims (Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini), the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter's Church in Rome.  Here are some of the photos from there.  Most incredibly, they prayed the Old Rite for Holy Saturday that included all 12 readings and the use of the hastam, the three-pronged candle.  This is very rare indeed.

Also, especially rewarding was my visit to Santa Maria Minerva, the Dominican Church in Rome that houses the relic of St. Catherine of Siena, the patroness of the Order.  Her body is preserved right under the high altar (although her skull is said to be in Siena).  The Church also has the bodies of several Popes as well as Blessed Fra Angelico.  Outside of the Church (which is spectacular on the inside but lacking in much outward glory) is the Elephant Obelisk.  This was one of my favorite stops on my journey.

Next, here is the Church of St. Peter's Chains.  Besides containing the precious chains that St. Peter was imprisoned with, it contains Michelangelo's breathtaking statue of Moses. 

And the final basilica in this installment is the Church of St. Prassede.  This small church located near St. Mary Major contains the Pillar to which our Blessed Lord was tied and scourged.  Kyrie eleison!

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Reception into the Third Order of Saint Dominic

It is with great joy that I can announce that I am now a tertiary in the Third Order of Penance of St. Dominic.  On the Feast of Corpus Christi I was received into the Order, after a year of postulancy, by Fr. Albert, OP who is presently living in Belgium as part of the Steffeshausen Dominicans.  He is a Dominican attached to the Society of St. Pius X.  You may view a short video on Fr. Albert and the Dominicans by clicking here.

I have taken the name in religion of John, in honor of St. John the Apostle.  I pray for the intercession of St. John and St. Dominic and my Confirmation saint, St. Thomas Aquinas, that I may follow well the this rule of life.

The following is the Ceremonial for Reception and Profession in the Third Order of Penance of Saint Dominic according to the Traditional Observation of the Order, as practiced before Vatican II.

Ceremonial for Reception and Profession in the Third Order of Penance of Saint Dominic

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Merit of the Dominican Order for Souls in Purgatory

Image Source:  www.dominicansavrille.us

This is from Fr. Paul O'Sullivan in his work "How to Avoid Purgatory" 

Among the extraordinary graces which Catholics gain by becoming members of a Third Order is a share in many Masses and prayers. To mention, for instance, the Third Order of Saint Dominic, Pope Benedict XV, himself a Tertiary, said: “One of the easiest and most effectual ways of reaching a high degree of sanctity is by becoming a Dominican Tertiary.” 

The members of this order receive during life a share every day in thousands of Masses and prayers, and after death, when, alas, so many are neglected by their relatives, those who are members of this Third Order have a share daily in thousands of other Masses and prayers, this for as long as they remain in Purgatory! Among the many beautiful characteristics of the Order of St. Dominic is its intense devotion and love for the Holy Souls, especially for the souls of its members, friends and benefactors. So true is this that a young Italian nobleman who consulted the Pope as to which religious order he would do well to enter received for answer: “My dear son, you may with much profit join any of the Orders, for in each you will find abundant means of becoming a Saint. After death, however, be a Dominican” The Holy Father meant to imply that the suffrages given after death to their deceased members are, indeed, most abundant in the Dominican Order.  

The conditions of becoming a member of this order are so easy and the advantages so many that half the world would become Dominican Tertiaries did they know these advantages.

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Quotations from Saints and Doctors of the Church on the Joy of the Blessed Sacrament

The amount of material written by the saints and blesseds in support of the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist could fill volumes.  In honor of today's Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, here is a short series of quotations that can help us in our meditations this day:

St. Cyprian (200-258), “More fortunate than the Jews who lived upon manna, holy souls here taste the most exquisite sweetness, infinitely surpassing the rarest pleasures of the world.”

St. Anselm (1033-1109), “O delicious Bread, heal my heart that I may taste the sweetness of Thy love; deliver it from lukewarmness, that it may taste no other sweetness than in Thee alone.”

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), “No one could express the ineffable sweetness of this mystery, by which we taste of spiritual delights at their very source.”

St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), “By virtue of this sacrament, my heart is so inflamed that material fire seems to me cold in comparison; I am so filled with joy that I can no longer contain myself, and I am astonished not to see my whole being dissolve.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), “Rejoice, O my soul, and thank God for having left thee in this valley of tears a present so magnificent, and a consolation so remarkable.”

St. John Berchmans (1599-1621), “O Jesus, my dear Master!  what is there after divine communion that can give me pleasure and content?”

St. Jean-Marie Vianney (1786-1859), “When we receive Holy Communion, we receive our joy and our happiness.”

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Pilgrimage to Rome: Part V

This is my fifth installment sharing the experiences I gained in my pilgrimage to Rome this year.  I hope you are enjoying these posts and that it is worth the time to post these images.  Please post a quick comment if you are enjoying these so I know that it is worth continuing.

This 5th installment features a number of different churches in Rome.

The first place of pilgrimage in this edition of my Pilgrimage to Rome post series is the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi. This Church is the French Church in Rome.  The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to St. Denis the Areopagite and St. Louis IX, king of France.  The church's most famous treasure is Caravaggio's works on the life of St. Matthew. This include the three world-renowned canvases of The Calling of St Matthew (on the left wall), The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (above the altar), The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (on the right wall).

Next is the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, which was built in the 8th Century.  The church offers the Greek-Melkite Rite.  On the outside of the Church is the famous La Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth), but equally important inside is the skull of St Valentine.

Santa Maria in Traspontina features beautiful one chapel inside which contains the two columns to which Peter and Paul were said to have been bound prior to their martyrdom in the circus of Nero nearby.  This is a Carmelite Church, as can be seen by the Devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of the oldest churches in Rome.  The basic floor plan dates back to the 340s, and the first sanctuary was built by Pope Callixtus I in 221.  The Church has many important mosaics.

Church of St. Agnes (Sant'Agnese in Agone) is a massive structure from the outside and inside has some of the most beautiful ceiling work I have seen in my travels.  The Church features the important relic of the young virgin martyr, St. Agnes - it contains her skull.

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