The first time I went to Rome was during the Holy Week of the Jubilee year with my wife, Vicky. I had wished to go back to Rome again. The canonization of our Father, St Josemaria Escriva presented an opportunity for another pilgrimage to Rome. Rome is one of the most beautiful city in the world. Well that is if you can forget about the pick pockets and crazy drivers.
In this trip, I was fortunate to be in the company of Fr Luis Lisa. He helped me live the days of this pilgrimage very well. At the end of our pilgrimage, I headed for the Philippines while he proceeded for Barcelona to visit his elderly parents.
We stayed at Hotel Anglo-Americano in Piazza Barberini. This hotel is where Vicky and I stayed last 2000. It is only a few minutes walk from the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.
And so it was, on the evening of Oct 4, I boarded Cathay Pacific for my flight to Hong Kong and then Rome. Seated next to me was an Italian from Venice. He was on a business trip from China. He hardly spoke a word of English so I had to decipher what he was saying with the little Latin I know. Our plane crossed Bari, then through Naples for an early (6:30am) touch down at Fiumicino. Here I was excited as ever to attend the canonization of our Father and to be back in Rome!
It was foggy and cloudy when I arrived. From the plane, we were all herded in buses to the main terminal. It was good to be back in Rome! As I approached the immigrations, I was told to line up with the rest of the Filipinos! Sigh! It took about an hour for us to go through immigration. The delay was fine with me as it kept me occupied while I waited for the plane of Fr Luis Lisa. Fr Luis was scheduled to arrive at 9:30am from Frankfurt. Everywhere, there were volunteers from all over the world for the canonization.
At the immigration area, I met Jun Alacazar. I remember that years back, in one occasion he gave me a basic course at one o’clock pm because there was no other better time. I thank God for his availability, although it was a good sacrifice for both of us. This is normally siesta time here in the Philippines. I haven’t meet him since 1997 when I went to Taipei. He was very kind to give me a Plastic Seat! I was so happy with this as I have a ticket at Reparto 8. This is outside the walls of St Peter’s Square…
After getting out of immigration I took my bags through customs and went to Terminal B to wait for Padre. It was a long wait and I just spent my time doing the norms. When Fr Luis came out, we spent our time talking to people to find out if we could hitch a ride to our hotel. No luck! So we took the Leonardo Express which was packed with pilgrims for the Canonization to Termini! We were greeted by some volunteers from Ecuador who upon seeing Fr Luis, very kindly escorted us to the taxi waiting area. We took a taxi to our hotel. We arrived at around 11:30am.
When we got to our hotel, our room wasn’t ready yet! So we left our things at the concierge and went to lunch at Ristorante Olympico. I remember this restaurant because Vicky and I had one of our best lunches there. We will be having our meals often in this restaurant and we got to know one of the waiters who came from New York. As Fr Luis would say, I taught him how to eat like a pagan! We had a fantastic lunch of Prociutto e Melone, pasta ai fungi and Grilled Lamb!
St Peter, Vatican
After lunch we went to our hotel to get to our rooms. Our room is the exact same room Vicky and I stayed during out last trip! Amazing!! We had our shower and headed to the Vatican. On our way to St Peter’s Square from the Ottaviano station we met my buddies from Cebu resting in front of Soprani .
But first things first, we need a better ticket. Being at Reparto 8 was out of the question for Fr Luis. We contacted the Coordinator for the Philippines and he told us that he was at the Philippine Embassy of the Vatican. This was located at the left side of the colonnade of St Peters! Going up to the Embassy we got a very pleasant surprise. Fr Luis got tickets at Reparto San Paolo for the Canonization, and Reparto San Pietro for the Thanksgiving mass. I got Reparto 1 for both events. This is a very far cry from the Reparto 8 that I originally got! I was so happy!
We had planned to have the mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. First we did our mental prayer in a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament. Like us, many were also praying. The mass was celebrated at the altar of the Seat of St Peter, located behind the main altar just below the famous Bernini stain glass window depicting the Holy Spirit as a Dove. There, in 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Today, the mass was celebrated in Italian except for the readings in Spanish because several of the concelebrants and participants were Spanish speakers. Some of the priest came from Mexico, members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, another was a numerary priest from Belgium, and a Canadian. All had come for the Canonization of our Founder. Fr Luis read the Gospel. The place was packed to capacity and not everyone could receive Holy Communion.
One thing I learned when I was with Fr Luis (and I’m thankful that he kept on pushing me for this) is to give priority on the norms. Wherever we went, he always reminded me to do the norms first! He reminded me, like a big brother, that we were there as PILGRIMS and NOT as sightseeing tourists!
On our way out of St Peters I met Lloyd Singco! He’s studying to be come a priest in Navarre!
After the mass, we had planned to go to San Eugenio to visit the mortal remains of our Father. But it was already late and Padre and I were very tired. So we went back to our hotel and after dinner hit the sack early. We needed to be early the next day!!