On Sunday I journeyed with three friends to
St. Peter's Square to witness the canonization of six saints, including
Mary Mackillop, Australia's first saint.
Maria, Brad and Larry
Caravita, our church in the historic center,
was a center for picking up our pilgrim packs.
The packs included a guide to places in Rome that were important to Mary Mackillop, a booklet with her biography, a bottle of water, a rain pancho, and our pilgrim scarves.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square for the canonization Mass. (In addition to Mary Mackillop (1842-1909), Pope Benedict XVI also canonized the French Canadian Andre Bessette (1845-1937), Stanislaw Soltys (1433-1489) from Poland, Juana Cipitria Barriola (1845-1912) of Spain, and two Italians, Giulia Salzano (1846-1929) and Camilla Battista Varano (1458-1524).
St. Peter's Square was literally a sea of people. We we in front of a group from Scotland, beaming because of the Scottish heritage of Mary Mackillop, and behind a group of Australians of Lebanese descent.
Proud Australian Flags!
This cross contains a relic of Mary Mackillop and was presented to the pope during the canonization. (It was at Caravita a couple of weeks earlier, pictured here with Sister Maria Casey, a member of Mackillop's religious order who was the procurator for Mary Macillop's cause for sainthood, and Tim Fischer, the Austalian Ambassador to the Holy See.
When you stop in at McDonald's in Rome for something to eat, part of the menu will seem familiar to Americans. You can see a picture of CBO, a sandwich with pollo, bacon and cipolla (in the US that's cheese-bacon-onion) next to the McFlurry options.
On Sunday I journeyed with three friends to St. Peter's Square to witness the canonization of six saints, including Mary Mackillop, Australia's first saint.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square for the canonization Mass. (In addition to Mary Mackillop (1842-1909), Pope Benedict XVI also canonized the French Canadian Andre Bessette (1845-1937), Stanislaw Soltys (1433-1489) from Poland, Juana Cipitria Barriola (1845-1912) of Spain, and two Italians, Giulia Salzano (1846-1929) and Camilla Battista Varano (1458-1524).
St. Peter's Square was literally a sea of people. We we in front of a group from Scotland, beaming because of the Scottish heritage of Mary Mackillop, and behind a group of Australians of Lebanese descent.
This cross contains a relic of Mary Mackillop and was presented to the pope during the canonization. (It was at Caravita a couple of weeks earlier, pictured here with Sister Maria Casey, a member of Mackillop's religious order who was the procurator for Mary Macillop's cause for sainthood, and Tim Fischer, the Austalian Ambassador to the Holy See.
The architectural details in my neighborhood of Garbatella are always a feast for the eyes.
Today as I walked home along the Viale Guigliemo Massaia, named after a 19th century missionary to Africa and the Orient, I took some pictures of interesting windows. 
On Sunday we went to the Alban Hills, south east of Rome, for the 12th Castelli Romani Half Marathon. Vincenzo ran a 22 km course that began and ended in the town of Genzano, winding its way through the hill towns of Fontanaccio, Ariccia, Villimi, Albano, Castel Gondolfo and Le Piagge.
About a dozen Italian coffee bars are scattered about in other parts of the mall. Here are a couple of them.
Nestled against the west side of the monument to Victor Emmanuel II in Piazza Venezia is the site of an ancient Roman insula, or apartment house. Excavated in the early 20th century, it is possible to identify all five floors of this 2nd century AD building that contained the apartments for about 380 people.
We climbed 124 steps in front of the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli to reach a glass elevator that took us to the top of the monument.
When this equestrian statue was completed there was a celebration with 20 people sitting down to lunch inside the horse.
