Guadalupe or Chantal in rainy Roma

Portrait of St Jane Frances de Chantal, at Visitation Monastery, St Louis, Missouri

This morning in Rome, at the Salesian University, we celebrated Our Lady of Guadalupe… but when I went to give a conference to the postnovices in Via Appia Antica, they told me that they celebrated "Santa Giovanna di Chantal" … The ordo for the dioceses of Rome and Lazio lists an optional memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe for December 12th; and St Jane’s memorial in on August 12th.

The young post novices insisted with me that they were following the Ordo -- and I told them that I was happy that they remembered Jane with great enthusiasm… but I really suspect that they were reading the feasts as found in the sacramentary and liturgy of hours published for the Great Jubilee (2000). I also expect that they do not yet know what the “ordo” is.

On my return, I consulted the Guida Liturgico-Pastorale 2008-2009, and yes, Jane is listed in August. Then I googled Chantal linked with Liturgy and I found that the changes were made in 2002, with the publishing of the Roman Missal 2002, and the new directory. Jane’s feast is set for August 12, as found on page 113 of the instruction.

The move was made to make room for at least 16 new saints, and for a number of other liturgical celebrations. It is amazing that these changes have never really been made known to the wider public. We keep waiting for updated sacramentaries and liturgical books in English, and so we will probably we playing catch up for a few years.

What was I doing in via Appia Antica? As I have said, I went to see the young Salesian “postnovices” at Comunità San Tarcisio, which is on the grounds of the Catacombe di San Callisto. I gave the young brothers a conference (too long) on Paolo Albera, second successor of Don Bosco. Morand Wirth teaches them a course on Salesian history, and he asked me to do this input. I gave a similar input to his licentiate students at the UPS last week, but I did not know about this group. It was a different level and perhaps I gave more information than needed. Still, I was happy for the opportunity to meet them and see the house. The last time I set foot inside San Tarcisio was in 1994 when I worked on the commission for volunteerism at the Salesian generalate.

Morand Wirth, SDB, Professor of Salesian Studies at the UPS

Our trip home was not so easy. The tiber is flooding and the city is worried that it will overflow its banks. That is amazing considering how high the stone embankments are! A number of roads were blocked and two bridges are closed. The city was one big traffic disruptions as we left the prenovitiate in Via Appia and drove home. But we made it back safely, and all is well in our little corner.