Of carols and festivals

This was the last day of class before the Christmas break at the UPS. As one might suspect, there were moments of caroling and parties in the key gathering points of the university. Caroling in the main classroom building has been going on every day during the past two weeks, but usually I was between classes on the other side of campus, or frantically preparing the next lesson in my office, which is located in the theology wing. Today, however, I managed to get to the classroom building to hear the Filipino students lead the singing.

The time between classes is five minutes, and usually not even that long since most professors go over time (but that is another story). This means that the caroling gathering only lasts ten minutes, but the preparation lasts two weeks. As you might suspect, the Filipino delegation brought a lively and joyous spirit to their Christmas medley.

Songs and celebrations continued through the rest of the morning, until the last hour before dinner when the entry all filled with students and professors and staff. There were more songs, this time from the Indian delegation.

But I said I would continue to give news of yesterday’s walk through the old quarter of the city of Rome with Mary Margaret Stein. Hmm, where were we?

We had dinner at Trattoria Pizzeria Polese, which I called my favourite little restaurant in all of Rome, if not on all the planet. I have qualms about calling it a restaurant because, in Italy, there are different names for different styles of eating places. A ristorante is usually upscale. You can tell because there are solid table cloths, fine china and beautiful stemware. A trattoria, on the other hand, is usually a smaller place, less elegant, more affordable and less formal, more familiar. You can recognize a trattoria through its multi-coloured table cloths, often checkered but not necessarily. The flatware is more modest too, and the price much, much more reasonable than that of the ristorante. The cooking, however, is just as good as the restaurant and often better. In the case of many trattorie in Italy, the meal can be truly superior.

Certainly this is the case for Trattoria Polese.

Mary Margaret surveys the menu of Trattoria Polese

Extraordinary as the menu is at Trattoria Polese, the meal was enjoyable for other reasons, starting with catching up on the goings on in our lives, in our families, and in our work. Mary Margaret is working now with the Bishops Conference of Alaska, which brings her into Washington DC several times a year to represent the concerns of the Catholic Bishops of the 49th state.

Image of Victory on Ponte Vittorio Emanuele

We had crossed the Tiber on the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II (Victor Emmanuel II Bridge), where we spent nearly 30 minutes watching the fast moving currents of the near-flooded Tiber. That was before dinner. After dinner, instead of returning to the Vatican, we crossed Via Vittoria Emanuele to the Chiesa Nuova — the new church. Of course, it was still the mid-day break, and the church was closed. I was a little disappointed. This is the church built by Saint Philip Neri (so it is new, as of 1577), and his relics are preserved here. I would have liked to have shown the interior of this baroque church to Mary Margaret. Patience!

Afternoon shadows fall on the Chiesa Nuova

We walked around the piazza della Chiesa Nuova for a few minutes, and spoke about what it means to call a 400-year-old church “new”. Then made our way through the neighbouring streets to Piazza Navona.

Piazza Navona is a favourite tourist site. In other seasons of the years this piazza is filled with mimes, acrobats, street artists. At Christmas time, the piazza fills with little booths and stalls for Christmas as well as Epiphany. Most sell the decorations and trinkets, the desserts and stocking stuffers, children’s gifts and things of that nature.

The piazza is really a meeting place first, and this is true even when there is a mercato. Morning is the time to buy; afternoon is the time to browse and visit. It was very festive yesterday afternoon. There were many young families with their children, as well as many groups of children, adolescents and young adults. As usual, people move from booth to booth looking but not buying.

As we did our little stroll around Piazza Navona, we noticed a group of young men putting on red costumes and dressing up as Babbo Natale (literally Father Christmas). They were listening to an elder couple who were organizing these young Santas to march on behalf of abducted children. Amid all the shopping and touring that is Piazza Navona, these Santas were raising awareness to the plight of abused and abducted minors, and the heartache experienced by their families. It was very moving to see this social justice theme brought to the heart of the plaza right at the start of the Christmas preparations.

Mary Margaret said, at this point, that seeing these young men were good for her retreat meditation. She told her friends at home that she was coming to Italy for a silent retreat.

“And where have you done this retreat,” I asked.

“It has all been one great retreat,” she laughed. “I do not speak the language, so I have just been silent all these days, until today of course. So I have watched and listened, and this leads to thinking and reflecting and praying. So, it has been a silent retreat really.”

Cute! but true! Today Mary Margaret left for Assisi. She will stay there until 27 December, and then leave on the next day for home again. We might be in touch then… but if not, I’m happy that she let me interrupt her retreat.

Visiting St Peter’s and crossing the raging Tiber

From the majestic Via della Conciliazione, the Christmas tree was clearly visible in front of Basilica San Pietro this morning. I went to St Peter’s this morning to meet a long-time friend, Mary Margaret Stein. The day could not have been better for a little walk-about in Rome. In fact, after weeks of incredible rain and dreary, dark, ominous days, this morning dawned bright and clear. Throughout the day the weather remained clear and almost balmy (well, if you dressed in layers and zipped up).

Mary Margaret Stein at Piazza San Pietro today

Mary Margaret had contacted me through facebook to say that she was coming to Rome during this month. It was a quickly put-together trip, she told me then… and today I found out how she had pulled it off with a really economic flight. I will keep all this in mind for the future. Traveling between California and Italy does not have to be expensive. Of course, she lives in Alaska now, so if she found good flights from there, there is hope from LAX, no doubt.

Okay, so we met at the entrance to the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the basilica. We spent a little time in the church, but then went out into the piazza, given the wonderful weather. We stopped in first at an exposition on the life of Eugenio Pacelli — Pope Pius XII. This is the 50th anniversary of his death.

The exposition had many photographs and documents (including some pages that show how Pacelli worked to oppose the Nazis before the rest of the world took stock, and his work to save the Jewish people). In addition to the photographs, there are paintings and artefacts, some articles of his clothing, and similar items. I have to say that I recognized all the photographs, for I have seen reprints in books and magazines ever since I was a child… but it was great to see the original prints.

It was also great to see his vestments, his red shoes, the tiara that he wore. These I had also seen in photographs. What I never saw in the photos was that much of the papal regalia that he wore had been designed for Pope Pius IX, who died in 1878, that is 61 years before Eugenio Pacelli was elected pope in 1939. Talk about recycling!

After the expo, we went out into the square just as a series of limosines were exiting… limosines of new ambassadors who had come to offer their credentials to the pope. We were not allowed to cross the square as these departed, but it gave us time to visit and speculate, of course. Once they were gone, we walked down Borgo Pio, then to the Tiber to do some damage control.

Muddy and flooded Tiber River

After 6 weeks of rain in Italy, the Tiber came dangerously close to overflowing its banks. It was within a meter of doing so last weekend. Five days ago there was an alert that the Tiber might overflow its banks. Now it is now subsiding, but we could see the marks of how high the river had come thanks to the silt and mud on the walls. It is still higher than I have ever seen it in previous years… and very muddy. There is a lot of debris floating through and getting caught in the arches of the bridges, but the fast flowing river is returning to its normal depth. This is a relief.

Evidence of debris in the flooded Tiber River

Of course, all that helped us to work up an appetite. We crossed the Tiber and made our way down Via Vittorio Emanuele II, toward the Chiesa Nuova. There, in Piazza Sforza Cesarini, is a little family-style place to eat called Trattoria Polese. This is my favourite of all eateries on the planet. We were slightly ahead of the dinner crowd (we entered at 12.50) but soon enough the trattoria filled up. The owner waited on us and we took our time with a wonderful meal where everything was genuine, from the mozzarella to the sweet basil, from the saltinbocca to the gelato. I was happy to see how much Mary Margaret enjoyed the flavours and the textures… The conversation was as delicious.

Trattoria Polese, in Piazza Sforza Cesarini: my favourite of all eateries on the planet

It was during our leisurely meal that I discovered why Mary Margaret had come to Rome… but I’ll save this for tomorrow. It is already very late.