Rome Pilgrimage Stories and Photos
Martin Saints on Easter Sunday in St. Peter's Square, Rome.
Every year during Holy Week, Martin Saints seniors go on pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi (plus this year we had a bonus day in Florence). This year, ten of our students and three of our teachers gathered with other Chesterton academies from around the US for nearly two weeks of prayer and joy.
Everyone is home now and just about recovered from jet lag. Yesterday at school prayers, the rest of us got to hear their stories. Here are some highlights:
Easter Sunday Mass with Pope Leo. "The pope's blessing had gravity. I felt it."
Looking out over Rome from a hill at 1am on Easter Monday
Going deep underground in the catacombs of St. Callixtus on Holy Saturday. Being where the early Church prayed.
Hiking in the hills outside Assisi
Climbing the holy stairs on our knees
Praying at the tombs of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis
Rallying to attend the Easter vigil even though I was tired
When the church went from darkness to light during the Gloria at the Easter Vigil
The choir and foot washing on Holy Thursday
Cantoring and singing in historic churches, especially under the dome at the cathedral in Florence. "At first I felt so small and nervous, but it all felt free after the first Psalm. It felt like an offering to the Lord. It had gravity."
Being part of a universal Church that is beautiful and huge.
Walking up a mountain barefoot while praying Psalms.
The architecture and craftmanship at St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls. "You could feel the gravity, the weight. Huge pillars, guilded ceilings. Windows of alabaster stone, sliced thin enough to let the light in."
The small simple churches that St. Francis built in Assisi.
Dancing with the boys from other schools in the piazza in Assisi.
Advice for next year's pilgrims? Start praying about it now; if you're aligned with God now, you'll get even more out of it when you are there. Start fundraising now. And pack an extra pair of pants.
THANK YOU to our faculty chaperones who made it all possible: Casey Gillenkirk (who did it all while five months pregnant), Bridget Burke, and Sheehan Clark. Our pilgrims are forever in your debt, grateful for your gift of self.
From the Church's rite of blessing for pilgrims when they return home, which we prayed yesterday in school: "The sanctuaries that we have visited are a sign of that house not built with hands, namely, the Body of Christ, in which we are the living stones built upon Christ, the cornerstone. As we return home, let us live up to the vocation God has given us: to be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people God claims for his own, so that we may everywhere proclaim the goodness of him who called us from darkness into his marvelous light."
You might also enjoy this article from Vatican News, about another group of Chesterton schools who went on their pilgrimage the week before we did. But first, here's a few of our photos:
We started with a prayer in the Philly airport.
Airports are a hassle, but the heavens declare the glory of God.
Inside St. Peter's.
We bumped into this fine gentleman who used to go to school in Philly.
Martin Saints senior Eli Rojas cantors at the Holy Thursday Mass.
The Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona.
The Colosseum.
