Last of the Four Major Basilicas -- San Pietro

(Front of St. Peter's Basilica -- dome by Bramante.)

Fr. Joel and I left for St. Peter's at 8:00am after prayer and Mass. Our hope was to get to the Basilica before the hordes of tourists. We were successful! There was no line to enter and inside was still relatively quiet. Chairs were already set up for Sunday's feast of Pentecost so the much of the middle section was closed off. But you could still see the grandeur of the place. It is huge! But because of the perfect proportions, it doesn't seem huge. But it is.

(The tomb of St. Peter -- hard to see, but if you look closely,
you can see an upside down cross to the left of the photo.
Tradition holds that Peter was crucified upside down.)

After wandering around a bit, I visited the tomb of St. Peter (Confessio). Of course, I was not able to get as close as I would have liked. But that's the way it is in St. Peter's. After sitting down on the ground near the tomb to pray, a guard came up and said, "Prego, prego no, no, no!" I guessed that meant no sitting down. So, I headed to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.

I also visited the Pieta by Michealangelo, and the funerary of Blessed John XXIII (who called for the second Vatican Council). In each of these places pilgrims were praying, and so I remembered you all in my prayers, especially for the success of your up-coming exams.

Before we headed home for dinner, we visited Castel San Angelo. It was originally built as a Roman tomb (Hadrian's Tomb). But was eventually used as a fortification for Popes. It's also the site of some scenes from the new movie "Angels and Demons."


(St Michael the Archangel -- sits atop Castle San Angelo.)



We also welcomed back Fr. Craig Larkin. He was gone for 3 days of meetings. Sorry, Craig, we didn't realize you had left!