At the Abbey of Tre Fontane

This morning, I visited Tre Fontane, the traditional site of St. Paul’s martyrdom. Because of its distance from the center of Rome and the time it takes to get there and back, I had never gotten to Tre Fontane on any previous visit to Rome, and so I was determined to do so during this lengthy stay (now coming quickly to its close). After taking the Metro, Linea B, all the way to the last stop, Via Laurentina, I wandered around for a while trying to find the right bus stop, which I found eventually - in the place where I should have looked first! Then I waited some 20 minutes or so for the 761 Bus. It’s a short distance, and I probably could have walked it (I did in fact walk back to the station after my visit), but it’s mostly uphill from the station to the Abbey, and I didn’t know how much walking I would have to do at the Abbey itself (not too much, as it turned out). So I waited. Once on the bus, I positioned myself where I could read the bus stop signs; but, by the time I had realized I was at the Tre Fontane stop, it was too late to get off, and I had to ride a considerable distance to the next stop, after which I waited another 15 minutes or so for a bus back to where I needed to get off!

Murphy’s Law seemed to be fully operational this morning!

But, once inside the Abbey grounds, the hassle and frustration of getting there were all worth it! One enters through a wooded path, welcomed by a huge statue of St. Benedict. I assume that the wall to my left separated the public path from the monastic enclosure. I saw no actual signs of the monks’ presence. So the enclosure seems effective! (Tre Fontane has been a monastic sight for much of its history; but, after having been abandoned for some time, it was given by Blessed Pope Pius IX to the care of the Trappists, who successfully de-malarialized the area and planted numerous eucalyptus trees. After 1870, they were able to stay on the site by first renting and eventually buying the property from the Italian government. It is here also that the lambs are raised, from whose wool each new metropolitan archbishop’s pallium is made).

There are three churches on the site. To the left at the end of the first path is the actual monastic church dedicated to SS. Vincent and Anastasius. The sanctuary area is fenced off, but it has a nave and two aisles and offers an inviting atmosphere for quiet personal prayer. To the right is a second church, Santa Maria Scala Coeli, so named from the legend that, while celebrating Mass there, St. Bernard saw the soul he was offering the Mass for ascend by a ladder from purgatory to heaven. Below is a crypt, called the “Prison of St. Paul,” which contains the relics of St. Zeno and his fellow Roman legionaries martyred by Diocletian in 299.

Between the two churches is another charming path, with some exposed ancient pavement, leading to the Church of San Paolo alle Tre Fontane, which commemorates the presumed site of St. Paul’s martyrdom. According to legend, when St. Paul was beheaded, his head bounced three times, causing three fountains (hence the name Tre Fontane) to spring up. Whatever their origin, the three fountains are very much there, very much the focus of attention, in the sanctuary. (Even bending down, I could not actually see the water, but the sound of the flowing spring was certainly vivid enough to impress!)

After taking my obligatory photo of the fountains, I spent some time kneeling in prayer in that special place. My mind recalled the beautiful, early 20^th-century painting of St. Paul about to be beheaded above St. Paul’s altar in the Paulist “Mother Church” in New York, with its quotes from Paul’s famous words to Timothy, I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith. I prayed that, when my final day comes (hopefully not by beheading), I too may make those words my own.

Cleansing the Temple

Today’s Gospel’s account of Jesus at war with the Temple’s money-changers (John 2:13-25) is a familiar one. It appears in all 4 Gospels, and its imagery has had influence far beyond its original context. Some 79 years ago, on March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated President of the United States in the depths of the last Great Depression. Everybody knows his famous line about the only thing we have to fear. In an era much more religiously literate than our own, however, almost everyone would have recognized the reference to today’s Gospel is something else he said in that speech.

“Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.”

(Imagine a President - or Presidential candidate - with the fortitude to talk like that today!)

The “cleansing of the Temple,” as it is often called, was obviously a provocative act on Jesus’ part. It has been suggested that, together with Jesus’ Messiah-style entry into Jerusalem, it may have been the provocation precipitating his arrest and execution.

For devout Jews in Jesus’ time, the Temple was certainly something worth fighting – and dying – for. Contemporary Palestinian progaganda to the contrary notwithstanding, the Jewish Temple was the heart and soul of historic Jerusalem. The original Temple (built by King Solomon and completed around 960 BC) had been destroyed by the Babylonians on the 9^th of Av in 586 BC. A reconstructed 2^nd Temple (completed in 515 BC) lasted until its destruction by the Romans – again on the 9th of Av – in A.D. 70. Before that, however, around 20 BC, King Herod the Great had begun a grandiose renovation of the entire Temple complex, making it one of the most impressive shrines in the ancient world.

In the process, perhaps, some of the classical, pagan model of a temple as a cultural, commercial, and social center seems to have crept in from the surrounding secular culture. Jesus’ strong reaction to the activities in the Temple precincts probably reflected his fidelity and devotion to a more traditionally Jewish notion of the Temple and so soon got him into trouble with the Temple’s priests (Sadducees, known at that time for their more accommodating approach to secular culture).

What Jesus was fighting for was Israel’s core national value – faithfulness to God, who had made Israel a nation and given it his Law, transforming a semi-anarchic mob of ex-slaves into an actual nation and a moral people.

Like the exodus generation, we too are wanderers in life’s desert, desperately in need of a map. (Here in Rome, one need not go far to get lost amid little zig-sagging streets with constantly changing names. A city street map is absolutely essential!) Likewise in life, we may wander far and wide with only a vague outline of where we are heading. Along the way, however, God has given us the map we require – the familiar map he gave the Israelites in the desert – what Jewish tradition refers to as God’s “10 Words” and which we commonly call the “10 Commandments.”

The 10 Commandments spell out in daily life the consequences of becoming one of God’s people. Living a morally serious life is our response to God’s covenant with us, our cooperation with the plan God has been pursuing through all of human history – from creation to Christ (and continues to pursue to the end). In living morally serious lives we reflect our gratitude to God and our commitment to remain faithful over the long haul.

According to one legend, at Mount Sinai God made the wombs of all of Israel’s women as clear as glass – so that all future generations would see for themselves what was happening and personally commit to the covenant. I suppose that’s poor biology, but it makes for a great image! It certainly makes the all-important point that the commandments are addressed to each of one us individually (which is why they are phrased in the singular – “thou salt ... thou shalt not”). We are all each individually responsible to respond with what we do how we live.

As our map through the desert of daily life, the 10 Commandments call us over and over to commitment and fidelity:

- commitment and fidelity to God, who has revealed himself to us, in his world and in his word and above all in Jesus his Son;

- commitment and fidelity to God’s world, which has been entrusted to us and which we have individually and collectively managed to make such a mess of;

- commitment and fidelity to one another, our fellow-wanderers in God’s world, whom we have been commanded to care about and care for, whether we like it or not and whether we like each other or not, both when war or recession may make us more conscious of shared danger and common need, and in times of peace and prosperity, when wealth and safety may tempt us to go it alone and leave others behind;

- commitment and fidelity finally to God’s Church, by being part of which we are being empowered to live as God’s people in this world.

Commitment is never automatic and fidelity doesn’t come cheaply – not for the folks at Mount Sinai (as so many subsequent episodes in Exodus illustrate) and not for anyone else either. But the commandments teach us that the fast food of individual fulfillment and personal autonomy just can’t compare with dining in God’s kingdom. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25). Jesus saw that – despite the blinding glare of the grandeur of Herod’s Temple.

And that, this Lent, is what he challenges us also to see with him.

Allora Concludiamo Qui!

With those three, thrilling, wonderful words, the last lecturer ended the final presentation of Studium XXVIII della Congegazione delle Cause dei Santi. Last evening, we marked the occasion as a class with a final gathering on the Urbaniana roof as dusk fell over the Eternal City. (The picture, taken from there is of the Piazza della Rovere and the Ponte Principe Amadeo d"Aosta at the foot of the hill - the same bridge I have hurried across each evening at the end of class to catch my bus home to Santa Susanna).

It was exactly two months ago today that the course conducted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints began. January 9 – March 9 is really a very short time in a person’s lifespan, and it has gone by predictably quickly. A lot of important information – theological, historical, and juridical – has been packed into these 2 months. My final exam – one week away – will test whether and how well I have assimilated the material. No point tempting Providence by making predictions!

Back on New Year’s Day, I admitted to experiencing more than a little anxiety – as I tried to prepare myself for a multitude of physical, emotional, intellectual, and linguistic challenges, none of which I felt fully ready for. Admittedly, all transitions are stressful – and few more so than being bounced around from one place to another at an age when most people are preparing to retire!

That said, it’s been a wonderful two months. Living here at the heart of the Church, in Peter’s City, surrounded by the relics of the apostles and martyrs and inspired by their memory, has been a real blessing and a great gift, one for which I am truly grateful.

Super Tuesday - So What?

One of the curious contradictions of our era is that, while we constantly hear how “the media” want to keep the political campaign going because it makes an “interesting” story, the fact is that it was in large part the way the media covers primary campaigns that brought about the present situation in which the nomination is normally decided well in advance of the convention in the first place.

Those of us above a certain age can well recall when conventions still really nominated candidates, and when it was by no means certain going into a convention who would emerge as the nominee. The spread of primaries and the decline of party establishments (“bosses”) has transformed the nominating process, but so has the media coverage which (1) focuses almost entirely on the competition itself (the “horserace”) and prematurely anoints frontrunners, thus causing opponents to drop out too early in the race, and (2) increases the cost of campaigning, which in turn makes it hard for non-frontrunners without media-recognized “momentum” to remain long in the race.

When contested conventions were the norm, they were not seen as such a liability. Now that they are the exception, they have come to be seen as a serious liability for a political party trying to get itself in competitive shape for the general election. Certainly, the last seriously contested conventions – the Democrats in 1968 and 1972, the Republicans in 1976 – contributed to the party’s defeat. By extension, continuing the fight all the way to the convention (even if the outcome is by then assured) is seen as destructive to the party. The Kennedy challenge to Carter in 1980 is the obvious example. Of course, any incumbent who is seriously challenged within his own party is inevitably weakened – as was the case with Carter in 1980, Ford in 1976, and (analogously) Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

The 2008 race between Obama and Clinton is often seen as the exception. Going in, Obama was presumptively the weaker candidate (even if he was the media’s darling), and there is little doubt that the competition with a presumptively superior candidate made him a better competitor for the General Election. The Republican 2012 experience, however, has illustrated what an exception the 2008 Democratic race was.

But all of this largely misses the point. The reason the long primary campaign ended up helping the Democrats in 2008 was that the Democrats were ready to go – ready to offer a serious alternative to Republican incompetence and thus resume their 20^th-century status as the national governing party. (That Obama himself was evidently not personally ready to govern may have since become all too evident. But that is a different issue).

Compare the Republicans today with the Democrats in 2008. None of the candidates is really ready to govern. And it shows! Nor is the problem purely the personalities of the candidates (however lamentable some of them may have been). The reality is that it has been quite some time now since the Republican Party has really had something positive to offer the American electorate. If indeed, as polls have consistently suggested, Americans are distressed about the country’s direction – angry about its present and fearful for its future – what better time to offer a viable alternative? The alternative to Obama’s somewhat weak foreign policy should be a strong one in which the national interests of the United States are clearly comprehended and pursued. The noisy saber-rattling of Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich is not the same as a strong foreign policy, much less a substitute for it. (As for the fourth Republican candidate, the less said about his libertarian isolationism the better!) Likewise, empty slogans about job-creation by candidates who have become hostage to an ideology which will accomplish no such thing are no help either.

Not necessarily in order of importance and not to exclude other important issues, I can quickly list a number of critical issues threatening or undermining our national path to prosperity and security. They include:

1. Iran and North Korea (and specifically the prospect of either or both of them acquiring nuclear weapons)

2. Our excessive dependence on imported energy (and our excessive dependence on energy, period)

3. Our out-of-control expenditures on entitlement programs and the out-of-control cost of health care

4. Our deteriorating educational system that is forming a population ill-equipped to compete with other societies which truly value education

5. Our dysfunctional transportation system

6. The catastrophic breakdown of consensus on cultural and moral issues and the personal and social consequences thereof

7. Our loss of confidence as a society in the political process as a means to move forward on these and other problems.

I’ll stop at seven.

Does anyone hear serious solutions to these problems being proposed – or even just the problems being discussed in an intelligent, rational, and honest way?

Bells for Nuper Nonnulli

There are so many wonderful things about Rome that I will miss when I leave. For sure, one of them is a good public transit system - the sine qua non of a vibrant, healthy urban life. But one thing I will especially miss is the sound of church bells - not just clock bells tolling the hour, but loud, clanging, constantly pealing bells - calling people to Mass in the morning. This morning, just as we were beginning our stational Mass at the church of Santa Balbina (photo), we were treated to the wonderful clamor et clangor of the local church bells. It was every bit as loud and overwhelming as that other common background noise that tends to drown out everything else in European cities - the sirens of emergency vehicles - but so much more uplifting!

The bells rang because it was morning and time for Mass. For the Paulist Fathers in Rome, however, this was a special morning, for it was on this day in 1858 that the Congregation for Bishops and Regulars issued its Decree Nuper Nonnulli, which brought Isaac Hecker's first stay in Rome to its successful conclusion. That decree dispensed Hecker and 4 others - Augustine Hewit, George Deshon, Francis Baker, and Clarence Walworth - from their vows as Redemptorists and authorized them to return to the U.S. to continue, under the authority of the local bishops, their work for the evangelization of the country. This set the stage for Hecker (together with three of the four) to found the Paulist Fathers, four months later, on July 7, 1858, in New York City.

"We are left in entire liberty to act in the future as God and our intelligence shall point the way. Let us be thankful to God, humble towards each other and everyone else, and more than ever in earnest to do the work God demands at our hands." (Isaac Hecker, Letter to the American Fathers, Rome, March 11, 1858).

Fittingly for Nuper Nonnulli Day, I finally took the bus to the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence Outside the Walls), which is one of the Seven "Pilgrimage Churches" of Rome. S. Lorenzo is actually 2 churches - an ancient one and a medieval one placed end-to-end. It enshrines the Tomb of Rome's esteemed 3rd-century martyr, the Deacon St. Lawrence (+August 10, 258). In addition to Lawrence's tomb, it also houses a marble slab, said to have been where the martyr's body was first laid after his death. It also has a beautiful medieval chiostro (cloister), housing scores of antiquities, which alone would be worth a visit.

The connection with Nuper Nonnulli is that, since 1881, it has also housed the Tomb of Hecker's papal patron, Blessed Pope Pius IX, with whom Hecker had 2 audiences during his momentous months in Rome - one before and another after the Decree Nuper Nonnulli. Pius IX was Pope from 1846 to 1878. His burial at S. Lorenzo was delayed until 1881 in the hope of avoiding a hostile demonstration in recently united Italy. As it turned out, a "patriotic" Italian gang did attempt (unsuccessfully) to throw the Pontiff's body in the Tiber. Pius IX's feast day is February 7.

Another modern Pope associated with S. Lorenzo is Venerable Servant of God Pius XII, who rushed there during the allied bombing of the basilica and neighborhood on July 19, 1843, to pray with the victims and distribute cash to those in need. An outside statue of Pius XII "Defensor Civitatis" commemorates this event. It has been suggested that the King was convinced that the Pope's presence would spare Rome the experience of other bombed cities. When that proved illusory, he switched to Plan B. Just 6 days later, he fired Mussolini. In fact, the Pope's presence probably did make a major difference in Rome's fate. Romans certainly remember him fondly for having stayed with them through the bombardment and the German occupation that soon followed - unlike the King and the Government, all of whom fled.