Holy Thursday in Rome

Thursday, April 09, 2009 Holy Thursday
This is a very important day for my niece, Mary Frances, who
is going to the Chrism Mass this morning at St. Peter’s Basilica where she is to receive communion from the Pope. This is a very special, once in a lifetime, opportunity for her. We would be going with her but we already have tickets to see the Borghese Museum and we know that since we do not have tickets we would not be able to get in to where we would be able to see her…. But am hoping that we will be able to find pictures on the internet because of the photographers that are always at events involving the Pope.

The Borghese Gardens & Gallery were built by Cardinal Scipione Borghese to display the art that he loved to collect. His gardens have created a lovely park for the roman people at the top edge of the city. We enjoyed wandering around in it Tuesday when
We went to pick up our tickets for the Gallery. This is a very exclusive tightly run museum so getting tickets are not something one does at the last moment. They are ordered long in advance of your trip to Rome. When you arrive at your appointed time you must leave all purses, bags, camera etc in the check room and then you have exactly two hours to roam thru the mansion enjoying all the art and sculptures scattered about the rooms of this 17th century roman home where you will find many famous works by artist such as Bernini, Canova, Caravaggio and others. I was especially thrilled to find a canvas by David Teniers II, a Dutch painter from the 1600’s, who has become my favorite artist. Most of the big museums that we have visited have one or two pieces by him. This one was from 1640 and titled “The Drinkers” or in Italian “I Bevitori.
It’s hard to believe that people actually lived in this home filled with so much art. Martha’s daughter Mary Frances was able to join us before our tour was over, so even though she did not have the time to linger and exclaim over each piece as we did, we were so glad that she made it back from the Vatican in time to share the last part of our tour.

Leaving the museum we caught the bus and got off at the Plazza del Republica to tour the basilica of Santa degil Angeli, also known as the Baths of Diocletian Tour. It is built within the ruins of the roman public baths of Diocletian. This is a huge building that overall is the size of a football field and is seven stories high at its center. After enjoying a sidewalk café lunch treat by Mary Frances we headed for the metro for our trip over to San Giovanni in Laterano
For the 5:30 PM mass

We had tickets but knew that the crowds would be massive as the Pope was the main celebrant. We stood for over an hour and finally entered the church after being crushed in a massive line through security. By that time the seats in the center aisle were all taken but we managed to find a seat on the side where we were able to comfortably hear the Mass as opposed to the hundreds that were milling about and/or sitting on the cold marble floor. Our view of the main altar was blocked by a massive pillar but the Pope was sitting in the Bishop’s Chair in the very front of the church so very few people were able to actually see him. But, the acoustics were wonderful and the choir and speakers, including the Pope, could easily be heard throughout the church. The Mass lasted for two hours but was a once in a lifetime Holy Thursday experience.

Mary Frances was able to work her way through the crowd towards the end of the Mass and did get some video of the Pope as he and the priests transferred the Holy Eucharist to the ciborium and carried it through the church in procession to the place of reposition which had been prepared in a chapel decorated for the occasion. Here the Blessed Sacrament is left for adoration. Many of the churches in Rome were open till midnight last night for people who were traveling from church to church praying at the many Altars of Reposizione Del Santissimo Sacramento.