Thunder on the Third Day

Our first day in Rome was not for the weak hearted, but it was worth it. We left at 8:30 to walk to the Capitoline hill and learn about Rome’s layout en route. Our first stop was St. Ignatius Church, which is the star of Jesuit History Class, to start off our learning on a holy note. The ceiling is basically a baroque expression of the Ignatian worldview, with America, Asia, Europe, and Africa all moving up into heaven with the help of Ignatius. Past this fresco is a huge dome – well, that’s what it looks like, anyway. It’s really completely flat; the Jesuits wanted a nice big dome, but the Dominicans sued because they thought it would cast a shadow on their neighboring courtyard. It was the first suit over air rights in the history of the world. The Jesuits won, but by that time they had lost the money for the dome. So they ended up with an incredible optical illusion instead. We went specifically to say hello to Luigi Gonzaga, more formally known as St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the namesake of GU and St. Al’s church in Spokane. We all mugged for the camera in front of his lapis lazuli casket before continuing on. We practically needed blinders to get us through all the streets without gawking along the way, but we made it to the Capitoline museum and began our morning in earnest. We saw so many sculptures and works that I’d studied in Art History and Western Civ and everything else – dying Gaul, The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, busts with wild hairstyles, and more. All my academic notes are elsewhere and will be organized and put up at the end of this trip, so I won’t go into detail. More importantly, we enjoyed Fr. Maherisms and learned to navigate. We were awash in Italian school children doing end of the year trips. According to Fr. Maher, the only kind of terrorism in Italy is Italian schoolchildren in museums. He does not take kindly to rowdiness in the presence of great history and art, and even told one group to go home if they wouldn’t behave. The teacher took them home. Go, Fr. Maher! At home, Fr. Maher dropped by an Italian peer to help us d o some cooking. We made tortellini with tomato sauce, nothing fancy, but it was good. On the food front, I also discovered that Italians love their coffee so much they have coffee flavored yogurt. Pretty good stuff. Today, Day 2, feels more like day 5 or so, we’ve learned so much. I think my body has finally accepted Europe’s time zones so I felt pretty perky. We took the subway to the Colosseum first thing to beat the crowds. The weather was unusually brisk, with a chilly wind blowing. Fr. Maher was astounded, but true to form it heated up for our walk up Palatine hill and the tour of the Forum. On Palatine hill we stopped to get something to drink/eat and I ordered my first cappuccino. I was afraid I would get a caffeine buzz too much for my poor system, but I didn’t, and the coffee---we shouldn’t even call the American stuff coffee. It was frothy and mellow and full of cream and beautiful. It was also rather filling, which explains why Italians see it as a breakfast only kind of beverage. Fr. Maher said to order coffee after a meal would be like asking for a bowl of cereal after dinner. I think coffee will have to happen more often. Up on the hill, since we were close, we popped into the church that houses Michelangelo’s Moses, St. Peter’s chains, and Nicholas of Cusa’s tomb. Once again, so cool to see things that I have learned about in the past. The Forum was really pretty, with wildflowers in bloom and grass coming up through the ruins. We were mobbed by school children again, but we strolled through the piercingly hot sunshine taking pictures and learning from our wise guide. We walked next back towards home, via a quick stop at the Pantheon. (Fr. Maher wanted us to see both Constantine’s Basilica and the Pantheon in one day, since they were the basis for St. Peter’s). While we were cut loose to look around, thunder started rolling over the city, and soon masses of people dashed under the massive columns to avoid the downpour. The rain plummeted through the oculus, while the thunder reverberated around the dome and tourist cameras flashed on the walls like lightning. It made me think that the pagan gods had woken up, or that God was proving the point that the oculus really was dedicated to Him, the nameless over-god. This was probably my favorite moment so far in Rome. We waited out the rain, bought sandwiches, and made it home around 3:30. At 5:30 5 of us and the venerable father headed out for the feast of St. Rita, celebrated at the church of St. Rita. You buy roses with a donation, then take them to the priest to have them touched to the relics of Rita. People packed the beautiful little church, and the air smelled sweet with smoke, roses, and incense. My Catholic peers faces absolutely lit up. On the way home we helped some lost Chinese find a Spaghetti restaurant. Fr. Maher is so considerate; he will go to any lengths to help someone with little things. For instance, I wanted to buy a hair straightener, and instead of just telling me where to go he insisted on showing me where and helping me buy it. Then he wanted to stop and get his daily coffee, and I came along to watch the process. The bartender thought I wanted one too, and Fr. Maher insisted on paying. He explained to me what a macchiato was (macchi is the same root as immaculate, that is, macchi is a stain. So a macchiato is an espresso with a stain of cream) as well as the marble countertop and how the coffee bar used to be a dairy. The point is, he has my loyalty forever. Anyway, the thunder and pelting rain started up again on the way home so we took shelter under an arch and worked our way to a spacious porch to wait most of it out. Fr. said he’d buy us some cheap umbrellas. Bless him.