Between 20-25 May, 18 parishioners from Holy Rood, along with Fr Alex, went on a visit to the Eternal City of Rome for a truly inspiring, spiritually fulfilling and at times hilarious pilgrimage, visiting four of the five papal basilicas, along with other historically important churches and magnificent locations,
Our pilgrimage took us to many other places too, including the Venerable English College, Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, the Papal Palace at Castel Gandolfo, the Catacombs of San Callisto, Piazza Navona, not to mention the Colosseum or the many churches we drove past on our tour.
Prayer was at the heart of our pilgrimage. We began each day with a decade of the Holy Rosary, Holy Mass was celebrated each day including at Palazzola, at the Venerable English College and the Basilica of Santa Prassede, whilst each evening we gathered around the beautiful image of Our Lady at Palazzola and sang both the Regina Caeli and Salve Regina to give thanks at the end of each day.
During our pilgrimage we stayed at the former monastery, Palazzola, which has many special areas for private prayer and meditation: a chapel, a garden with long paths, a library, a courtyard and of course, our individual rooms. We were lucky as there was also a kind and informed resident priest, who was available for discussion.
Palazzola is a 13th century Cistercian Monastery, built on the site of a Roman villa overlooking Lake Albano in the Alban Hills, Castelli Region, 18 miles south of the centre of Rome. It is also the Venerable English College’s Pilgrimage and Retreat Centre. Now, many weddings take place in this beautiful monastery.
SATURDAY, 20 MAY
Our pilgrimage began in the dead of night, as our flight to Rome was at 6.30am in the morning. In spite of Fr Alex’s nerves we all got to Heathrow in good time and arrived in Rome filled with the excitement of being in the Eternal City.
We transferred by coach to our residence at Palazzola, catching glimpses of roman ruins and baroque churches on the way. On arrival at Palazzola we had lunch in the refectory, followed by free time to rest and explore.
This was followed by a beautiful early evening Mass celebrated by Father Alex in the Cistercian-style chapel with its lovely frescos. This was followed by dinner, singing the Regina Caeli and the Salve Regina and relaxing together in the beautiful lounge, overlooking Lake Albano, where we had the opportunity to get acquainted with each other.
SUNDAY, 21 MAY
A Community Mass was celebrated at the Venerable English College (the oldest English and Welsh institution abroad, founded as a Pilgrim Hospice in 1362). This seminary was founded in 1579 to teach Catholic priests to serve on the mission in England and Wales. Father Alex was a seminarian at this College.
The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Paul Tighe and 15 priests. During the Mass three seminarians received their candidacy, indicating the Church’s recognition of their priestly vocation. Much of the Mass was sung in Latin. A truly uplifting and spiritual service. We followed our Mass with lunch al fresco at a local trattoria, finishing just before a thunderstorm began and the heavens opened.
After lunch, we walked around the medieval quarter, visiting lots of local churches, including S Maria di Monserrato, S Agnese in Agone and SS Trinita dei Pellegrini as well as visiting the magnificent Piazza Navona. This square was built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian in the 1st century.
The centrepiece of the square are its fountains, with the central fountain adorned with four giant statues in white marble, representing the four great rivers of the world. The Danube for Europe, the Rio de la Plata for the Americas, the Nile for Africa and the Ganges for Asia.
In the afternoon, we visited one of the catacombs in Rome – the Catacombs of San Callisto. This was the official cemetery of the Church of Rome in the AD 3rd Century, with 500,000 Christians buried there, together with 16 Popes. The catacombs have their name from St Callixtus, a deacon commissioned by Pope Zephyrinus to administer the records of the cemetery, a truly daunting task considering the layout and complexity of the tombs.
MONDAY, 22 MAY
In the morning, we visited the Pontifical Palace Museum (a museum since October 2016), at Castel Gandolfo which has an exhibition of all the Popes from 1503 to the present. We also had the opportunity to view the papal apartments.
The charming town of Castel Gandolfo with its narrow lanes and beautiful craft shops is built on the remains of an imperial palace created by the Emperor Domitian (24/10/0051 – 18/09/0096), the last member of the Flavian Dynasty.
We visited the famous Barberini Gardens on a glorious sunny day. The gardens haven’t long been open to the public and are certainly a treasure comparable to the beautiful artwork in the palace. A perfect mix of botanical and archaeological beauty.
In the afternoon, the group had free time to explore the neighboring hilltop town of Nemi, famous for its miniature strawberries and liquor, or take an excursion into Rome. Both groups seem to have a few adventures, before making it back in the evening.
TUESDAY, 23 MAY
On Tuesday we arrived at St Peter’s hoping to get in for our tour. Unfortunately traffic problems meant that when we arrived the queues were over an hour long! Not to let this dampen our spirits, a number of us went for lunch in a local trattoria, whilst a few joined the much shorter queue to pray in the Basilica. Fr Alex then joined the scrum to collect our tickets to the papal audience, which was an experience he found less than uplifting!
But with tickets in hand, and a plan to visit St Peter’s later in the pilgrimage the afternoon continued to improve. We then went to visit the Basilica of St John Lateran, which was the first public church built in Rome, and is given the title “the mother of all churches in the world”.
We then walked the short distance to visit the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, a Church which shares the same dedication as Holy Rood, in which relics of the true cross are kept and which is even built on soil brought from the Holy Land.
Both basilicas were a world away from St Peter’s square, beautifully quiet and calm. An opportunity to pray and reflect in the eternal city.
WEDNESDAY, 24 MAY
On Wednesday we had an early transfer to Rome to attend the Papal Audience with Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square, together with over 30,000 pilgrims. Part of the group were married couples who met the Pope personally in the wedding attire. The pilgrimage finished with us receiving the Pope’s blessing on ourselves, our families and the items we brought to be blessed.
We had some time for refreshment before heading to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, where popes are elected. The museums were incredibly busy, but we were lucky to have an informative guide who tried to show us the best of the basilica whilst keeping us moving through the crowds.
Along with Michelangelo’s masterpiece, we also saw works by Botticelli, Perugino, Signorelli, Ghirlandaio and Rosselli. Afterwards, we all got the chance to get into St Peter’s. Even with hundreds in the church, the space seemed to absorb them, really giving a sense of its size and majesty.
THURSDAY, 25 MAY
We had planned to visit the Basilica of Santa Prassede, an ancient basilica with the most important example of Byzantine art in Rome, early in the morning. However, we arrived finding it locked until 10am.
Not to be daunted, we walked the short distance to Santissimo Redentore e Sant’Alfonso in Via Merulana, which is the titular church of Cardinal Vincent Nichols. The church also had a lovely shop, which gave us a final chance for a few souvenirs before our journey home.
We went back to S Prassede, and Father Alex celebrated Mass in the beautifully decorated Side Chapel. The Mass was celebrated facing the Tabernacle in this ancient Basilica.
After Mass we visited the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the largest Catholic Marian church in Italy and where the Popes celebrated the first Mass of Christmas until 1870. We toured this beautiful baroque church and went in its small but beautiful sacristy museum.
Our final stop on our pilgrimage was the magnificent papal basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls which has the mosaic portraits all of the 266 Popes, as well as the tomb of St Paul.
In the early afternoon, we transferred to the airport for our return to the UK, utterly exhausted (having walked approximately 10 kilometres each day for five consecutive days), exhilarated and entirely overwhelmed by what we had experienced together on our unforgettable Pilgrimage to Rome.
Each one of us has taken with us a small part of each other and will strive to continue to support each other in our Christian fellowship, in the knowledge that our Pilgrimage is a physical part of the journey of one’s heart towards God.
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