Piazza Oderico da Pordenone

On Wednesday night the city of Rome

planted a 100 year-old olive tree

in the center of Piazza Oderico da Pordenone.

It is quite a grand old tree!

This is looking at our building

Number 1 on Piazza Oderico da Pordenone.

This is looking out at the "new" tree from the gate of our building. The piazza is really more of a traffic circle than a park. To give you a sense of Piazza Oderico da Pordenone here are some pictures of what the tree sees.

The Via di Villa Belardi ends at the piazza.

This is Viale Guglielmo Massaia,  named after a 19th Century missionary in East Africa.

This is looking toward Via Rosa Raimondi Garibaldi, named after the mother of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the leader of Italian unification. Our apartment faces this street.

To the left of the tall building is Via Giovanni Genocchi, named after a missionary to South America.

This is the Via della Sette Chiese, the street of the Seven Churches, as it leads to the Basilica of San Paolo.

This is looking at the Via della Sette Chiese as it goes to the Basilica of San Sebastiano.

Rome with Dee Mingey

Dee Mingey, my friend and colleague for nearly twenty years, has spent sixteen Easters in Rome with the Community of Sant' Egidio. This year when she came to Rome I was here too!



On the Monday after Easter we did a little exploring, including visits to a couple of my favorite churches. The Basilica of San Prassede is at the top of my list of old churches in Rome. It was built by St. Pascal I in the early 9th century and honors Saint Pressede, who sheltered persecuted Christians in the 1st Century. Twenty-three of these early believers we discovered and martyred before her eyes. Legend has it that she collected their blood with a sponge and placed this is a well where she herself was buried. The walls of the current church are decorated with frescoes from the 17th century, but the jewel of this basilica is the very small side chapel of Saint Zenone with some of the most beautiful mosaics I have ever seen. (This chapel also contains the pillar where Christ was scourged during his passion.)

Chiesa Dio Padre Misericordioso, the Jubilee Church by Richard Meier, is Number One on my list of modern churches. I think that even a person who does not care much for modern architecture would be inspired by this simple, light-filled church located in a working class neighborhood about 12 km from the center of Rome.

On Wednesday Dee accompanied me to school. I enjoyed having her see me in my new work environment, meeting my students and colleagues.

On Thursday Dee guided me around Trastevere and the parts of Rome that are home to the Community of Sant' Egidio. We spent time in the Church of Sant' Egidio reflecting on the icons and symbols that are important to the life and mission of the community.

Reproductions of this icon with the "Face of Jesus" can be found wherever the Community of Sant' Egidio gathers for prayer around the world. 

There is a restful garden behind the church that has some banana trees from Mozambique, given in thanksgiving for the community's role in bringing peace that country in the early 1990's, and a 100 year-old olive tree that was planted this year to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the community.

Spring on the Terrace

Our apartment has three small terraces.

Today was a bright Spring day in Rome

and the flowers were smiling!

This is our "herb garden."

St. Francis watches over the cactus.

The gardner at work!

The orchid in our kitchen came from IKEA four years ago!

Easter Eggs

I did not see any colored hard boiled eggs this Easter. But, there were many chocolate eggs to be found... in supermarkets, tabacchi, candy stores, news stands and bakeries. The most popular Easter Egg in Rome is a large hallow chocolate egg with a toy inside. It is wrapped in "abundant" and colorful  foil or cellophane. 

Here is our dining room table on Easter day. The blue package on the left is a hollow egg that contained a mini-basketball game. The orange package in the foreground contains a "colomba," a special frosted Easter bread in the shape of a dove.

Images from Easter

We are part of an international Catholic community in Rome called Caravita. It gets this name because it meets at the Church of St. Francis Xavier "della Caravita" near the Pantheon. During Holy Week I was an acolyte and reader, and Vincenzo sang in the choir.

Msgr. Don Bolen blessing the new fire

at the start of the Easter Vigil.

The Pascal Candle and baptismal water

On Easter Sunday afternoon we stopped by the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva to look again at the amazing statue of the Resurrected Christ by Michaelangelo.

Happy Easter

When we returned home from the Easter Vigil we found flowers on all of the doors in our apartment building with the message "Christ is Risen!"

Good Friday: Stations of the Cross

These Stations of the Cross by Mimmo Paladino are in the Church of Santo Volto di Gesù in Rome.

I. Jesus is Condemned to Death

II. Jesus Takes Up the Cross

III. Jesus Falls the First Time

IV. Jesus Meets His Mother

V. Simon Helps Jesus

VI. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

VII. Jesus Falls the Second Time

VIII. Jesus Meets the Women

IX. Jesus Falls the Third Time

X. Jesus is Stripped

XI. Jesus Dies on the Cross

XII. Jesus Dies on the Cross

XIII. Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross

XIV. Jesus is Placed in the Tomb

XV. Resurrection