Duty to pray for the dead - visit to Genzano

Even though I have four courses to teach this semester, and these take a lion's share of my time, I've decided that I'm going to do what I can and then relax. Today I went with a group of professors to visit the "holy ground" (campo santo - cemetery) in the hill town of Genzano outside Rome. Over 30 deceased members from our university community are buried. My schoolmate from theology, Mario Toso, recently named archbishop for the Pontifical Commission of Peace and Justice, presided at the Eucharist and gave the homily (Italian cemeteries usually have a chapel on the grounds, and it is very common that people gather there for masses on the anniversary of the death of their loved ones, and in particular during the month of November). The liturgy was simple and heartfelt and quite moving really.

Following the mass, we went to the actual mausoleum where the Salesians are buried. There we were led in a prayer for our brothers and a blessing of their resting place. We then spent some time visiting tombs of some of the family members of Salesians. A group of townspeople joined us, as with 40 priests in albs and purple stoles, we could not be missed.

From the campo santo, we went down the road and into the heart of the town where we stopped on via Fratelli Cervi 33, at Ristorante Pizzeria Bernoni, owned by a Salesian past pupil from Genzano. There we gathered for a meal together and to enjoy the company of one another. The organizers of the day called this a merenda (a light snack), but it had all the makings of a dinner of appetizers, with prosciutto, salami, roasted zucchini and egg plant, mortadella, chestnuts (traditional for All Souls Day and commemorations in November) and two incredible wines from the Roman hills.

Professors and University Staff enjoy All Souls Day Merenda

Another banquet feature were the words of welcome at the beginning from the organizers and the restaurant owner, who told of his boyhood days with the Salesians in Genzano and how he and his school mates used to celebrate All Souls Day with a hike to the cemetery and a meal of cold cuts and chestnuts. At the end there were words of thanks by the provinical superior and the applause of allthe participants. In fact, we were gathered from five different communities of professors and student-priests and normally we do not have a lot of community time together. So this was a great moment of fellowship.