Ravenna

I got on a train from Siena at about three on Friday and then went to Florence. I had an hour stop here before my next train and so I headed out to see the famous duomo, Santa Maria della Fiore! It is absolutely gorgeous! I can’t wait to get to see it more this next weekend when I will for sure be heading there for a full day! But after that short stop I go on the train and two and half hours later- having gone through the beautiful Apennine mountains with some amazing views- I was in Ravenna. I met my friend Patrick at the train station and we headed to the parish that he lives in. There are actually two churches there- Saint Mary Major- which was built after the council in Ephesus in 431 (and was actually consecrated before the church by the same name is Rome!) which proclaimed Mary, officially for the first time, as the theotokos or God-Bearer, and then the church of San Vitale, which is from 550 or so and has some absolutely beautiful mosaics! So I got settled there in the rectory and met Don Rosino who is the pastor there- a very good priest, who was extremely welcoming.


That evening we headed out with Don Denis, a priest from Michigan (Saginaw in fact- where the new Archbishop of Saint Louis came from!) also living and studying there, and met up with some of their friends from their language school for a dinner. It was interesting meeting these people from
various places like Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, and the Netherlands, and I think they were kind of overwhelmed by the fact that there were three young men who are desiring to be or are priests, because from the sounds of it they all have a pretty bad conception of the church and the priesthood. I ended up talking with this Calvinist guy from Switzerland for a while and it was so interesting- and sad- to hear how bad his experience with the church was, but also how little he really understood that religion was about and what the church is about. Europe is really in a sad state- most young people really dislike the church and think that it is a thing of the past that will soon be gone! They can use a lot of prayers so that hopefully they will come to see the beauty and love which Jesus and his Church are offering them! But after that Patrick and I, went and walked around San Vitale which was incredible and then spent some a few hours sitting and talking about the seminary, and the faith over some gelato (the gelato there was far inferior to the stuff in Siena!)

The next morning we went to mass at the parish and then headed out to see all the big churches there in Ravenna. There are several from the 5th and 6th century because the city was the center of the Byzantine empire for a time so the Emperor built a lot of big churches! They were all quite beautiful, but nothing as nice as San Vitale in my mind! We were church gazing for about 5 hours and after that- later in the afternoon we headed to the beach- the Adriatic Sea- which is only about a 15 minute bus ride from the center of town. I was lovely- the beach was packed, but we just chilled there and relaxed in the water for a few hours. It was very relaxing and nice to just be able to sit and think in peace- Despite the crazy Italians around! After dinner we got back to the rectory and the pastor was making us dinner! So we had a really nice Italian dinner, and it was so nice to just sit and talk- in Italian- with this priest and he told so many funny stories and legends about Ravenna and his life. It was a really cool evening. Fairly surreal to think about the fact at I was having dinner and talking in Italian to a random pastor in Italy! The Lord is truly blessing me with this incredible experience!

Finally on Sunday we had mass at 10:30 at San Vitale and I got to serve! It was so cool to be able to serve mass at this church which is some 1500 years old and to think that so many saints have said mass at the altar! I was especially thinking of all of my family and friends at that mass and just knowing that in faith and love were all were right there next to me! After mass we Americans cooked a nice lunch and we just sat around and ate and talked for a few hours about the church in Europe and how best to reach out to those who dislike the church or just don’t even understand the first thing about it! It was awesome- and inspiring – to hear the thoughts and insights of those guys and it gives me so much hope for the church in the US to know that all over the country there are good men whom God is calling to lead his church as priests and pastors! After having seen one last church that afternoon, I left Ravenna about 5 on Sunday and despite almost missing my connection in Ravenna (I was running through the train station, I probably looked ridiculous!) it made it back safe a sound. European Trip 1: Mission Accomplished!

I hope that all is well back at home and that everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer before school starts up! This is truly the longest summer of my life seeing as I don’t start school until October! I will hopefully get another post up this week about all this weekends events around the feast of the Assumption and the Palio! It was awesome! Be assured of my prayers, please keep me in yours. VIVE JESUS! Caio!