A deacon at Romero's canonization

Last month Padre German Navarro, my pastor and I went to Rome for the canonization of Monseñor Romero and others. Padre German has a very deep devotion to Saint Óscar Romero.

Through the help of a friend in Rome I found out a way to get a ticket for him to concelebrate and mentioned in the e-mail that I was a deacon. I got a message back in Italian that told me to go on the Saturday morning before the canonization to the Vatican liturgy office to get the tickets. I went and stood in line for two hours.

On Sunday morning, we lined up to get in. One of the providential moments while waiting was seeing Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, the Argentinian human rights advocate, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, and director for some years of SERPAJ, Servicio Paz y Justicia. I had met him when he was on a speaking tour in Iowa.

with Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

But Padre German and I waited a few minutes longer before going through security.

When we entered St. Peter’s square, I tried to follow him but was ushered to another site, inside St. Peter’s Basilica. In the chapel which holds the tomb of Saint John Chrysostom, there were close to a hundred deacons. A few were young transitional deacons but I saw a large groups of older men.

Permanent deacons from the diocese of Brescia

There were about thirty from Brescia, the diocese in which Pope Paul VI grew up and where he was ordained. Interestingly, Pope Paul VI was responsible for implementing the recommendation of the Second Vatican Council to restore the diaconate as a permanent order and allow the ordination of married men. (Pope Paul VI released a motu propio to restore the permanent diaconate on June 18, 1967.)

We vested but didn’t use our own stoles. We were given identical stoles, which were priestly stoles that we wore in the diaconal style with the help of a safety pin.

We were told, in Italian, that we would distribute the consecrated bread and wine to the priests. I couldn’t understand the details of how we would do this but decided that “watch and follow” might work. It did.

We were escorted to sit in chairs by the colonnades of St. Peter’s to the left of the Pope’s throne.

At the offertory we were given a ciborium and a chalice with wine and went to stand to the right of the pope at the altar. There we stood as the pope, bishops, and priests recited the words of consecration. For me it was a moving experience, realizing that what I held in my hands was transformed from mere bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood. It was a humbling experience.

We were led to where the thousand or so priests were sitting and held the sacred vessels while the priests took the Body and Blood of Christ, most receiving by intinction.

After we were finished, we were directed inside St. Peter’s Basilica to receive communion and to put the chalices and ciboria in the Blessed Sacrament chapel.

Afterwards, we went out for the end of Mass. While waiting to leave, I got this picture of Pope Francis.

What did we deacons do at the Mass?

I thought we just had a good spot to participate in the Mass, but we had work to do – to serve. Which is what we’re here for.

And it was a privilege to serve at the Mass for the canonization of seven holy people, including Monseñor Romero, Pope Paul VI, Mother Nazaria who worked in South America, and Nunzio Sulprizio, a nineteen-year old Italian.

His story touched me. Orphaned at an early age, he was taken in by an uncle who worked him hard and mistreated him. When Saint Nunzio got ill, his uncle turned him out of the house. Another uncle took him in and arranged a way for him to get medical care. Dying, he assisted other sick and maintained a deep sense of God's presence.

He is a good saint for many young people here - orphaned or left with a single mother, hardworking, mistreated, ill, but keeping faith. I need to learn more about him. 

We deacons sat under his banner - maybe that's another message for me as I continue to try to serve here in Honduras.

Sculptures of St. Francis - Rome

OCTOBER 2018 PILGRIMAGE: 1

Sculpture of Saint Francis and Companions in Rome

During my pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi, I was moved by a number of statues of Saint Francis of Assisi, most of which I had seen in 2013.

Across from the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, next to the Lateran Palace where the popes used to live, is a sculpture of several images of friars. Francis, after he found himself with several followers, went to Rome in 1209 to seek the approval of the Pope for his way of life.

What would be the reaction of a medieval pope, surrounded with money and power, to this rag-tag group of men? Even if he was into reform, he was probably suspicious. But he had a dream in which the Lateran was falling down and the rag-tag leader of this group kept it from falling down. He then received Francis and approved his rule.

At the top of the work is Francis, arms raised. Are they raised to pray for the Church, which was experiencing extreme difficulties? Are they raised to rebuke the church for the failure to live the Gospel? Or are they raised to help support the church, not leaving his role to mere prayer and definitely not acerbic criticism?

Look at the images.

First of all, look from the back. From one vantage point, Francis seems to be lifting up the church.

Look at the five brothers. One is prostrate; one is kneeling in prayer, seen only from the back; two are standing.

I was particularly struck by the kneeling friar whom I had never really noticed, since I hadn’t gone behind the sculptures. He is barefoot.

  It is not by power or might that the Gospel was preached by Francis – but with poverty and simplicity, and a deeply rooted passion for Christ.

Saint Bartholomew and the martyrs

Today, Catholics celebrate the feast of the apostle Bartholomew, of whose life we know very little. He is usually identified with the Nathaniel of John’s Gospel. The tradition is that he evangelized the East, even going as far as India, and that he was flayed alive in in Armenia. A graphic painting can be found in the Vatican Museum here.

On an island in the Tiber is a church which is not on the itinerary of many pilgrims or other visitors: the minor basilica of Saint Bartholomew. The church, built on the ruins of a Roman temple to Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing, dates back to the tenth century, though it’s a mélange of various architectural styles.

But it was, for me, an important pilgrimage site since it’s the church dedicated to the new martyrs of the twentieth century

Entering the church I was struck by the icon at the front – the icon of the new martyrs where one can discern many twentieth century martyrs – Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant

Icon of the new martyrs

The side altars are dedicated to the martyrs with “relics” of many witnesses who are important for me:

On the altar of the new martyrs of Nazism there is a letter of Blessed Franz Jägerstätter to his family. Franz, an Austrian peasant, refused to serve in Hitler’s arm and was beheaded.

Letter from prison of Blessed Franz Jägerstätter to his wife

On the altar of the new martyrs of Africa is a letter of Dom Christian de Chergé, abbot of the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of Atlas in Algeria, who was among those killed by Islamic fundamentalists. Their story is portrayed in one of my favorite movies, Of Gods and Men.

The prayer beads of Father Aleksander Men, killed in Russia, are on the altar of martyrs of Communism, as well as a relic of the Polish preist, Blessed Jerzy Popielusko, who was a chaplain to Solidarity.

Reliquary of Blessed Jerzy Popielusko

On the altar of the new martyrs of the Americas is the missal Archbishop Oscar Romero used at the Mass at which he was martyred.

Altar of the martyrs of the Americas

I prayed and wept in that church, remembering the witness of these and many others who gave their lives for God, for the poor, and for the Truth of the Gospel.

Visiting that church renewed my commitment to my mission here in Honduras. Recalling it today gives me strength to continue – seeking to be of service to those most in need.

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Other blog posts on my visit to San Bartolomeo can be found here and here.
My blog on the movie Of Gods and Men can be found here.