July 3

Knowing that anything can happen to this group, we got up very early in the morning. Giancarlo had called and ordered three taxis. The taxis arrived at 6:30, and we stuffed five bike cases into three taxis, along with the human occupants. Thanks to the thieves, we did not have any luggage to check, except for a cheap cloth bag we bought from a street vendor.  We put our few belongings in it.  Street vendors on the other side of town were probably selling our luggage. After a quick and very fast ride to the airport, we went to the desk.

There we were told that the Corbetts did not have a reservation. After solving that problem, we took our bike cases and loaded them onto the conveyor belt. The man at the customs office kindly told me that I could not get the tax refund for the bicycle I had purchased, because I did not have the form. That form is probably in Albania or Moscow!

After passing easily through security, we went through the duty-free shops, prayed morning prayer on our phones, and waited for departure. Once on the plane, we sat there for two hours. The pilot cheerfully told us that there was a maintenance problem. If that problem was not fixed in 45 minutes, we would have to deplane and be assigned to different flights tomorrow.

Our flight attendant was a very nice woman from St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Fort Wayne. She easily understood our problem, and was extremely kind to us.  She also teased us and suggested that we were the reason for the delay! Because the maintenance took 10 minutes longer, we had to wait for an FAA waiver to break the law and allow us to depart from Rome.

When the plane took off, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. The nice flight attendant provided much beer and wine, and the flight to Chicago was uneventful.

We arrived two hours late, went to Tony and Kristi's house to sort things out and get something to eat, and then drove back to Granger. TJ Ahearn was very kind to come and get us. We got home at midnight, just in time to celebrate the Fourth of July.

It will take us a long time to sort all of this out. I am extremely grateful for all of the graces of the pilgrimage, and I would do it again in a minute! This is the most amazing thing I've ever done.

July 2

 Bill, Fr. Terry, Giancarlo, and I got up early and rode through the streets of Rome before traffic crowded the streets. We rode past St. Peter's, down around the coliseum, around the Circus Maximus, and back into Saint Peter Square. That route hardly ever happens when we leave St. Pius to head through Niles or Buchanan.

After returning to the convent, we showered, celebrated Mass, ordered taxis for tomorrow, and paid the sisters for our stay.

Then we jumped on the metro and went to the Coliseum. No matter how many times I've visited this place, it always amazes me.

Then we walked to St. John Lateran.  On the way, we visited San Clemente, an ancient church with beautiful mosaics.  At Saint John Lateran, we entered the baptistery, a freestanding octagonal shaped building next to the cathedral. In our new church, we will have an octagonal shaped baptismal font in the gathering area separate from the church.

Above the font we found the same Latin words that are around the font at St. Pius. Pope St. Leo the Great wrote these words as a meditation on baptism.

St. John Lateran is the cathedral church for the Bishop of Rome. This is a picture of his cathedra, or chair.

St. John is a beautiful church which was home for the Popes for many centuries. The Lateran Council was held here.

We left the church and grabbed some lunch.

Then we jumped on the metro and went to the fourth major Basilica, Saint Paul Outside the Walls.

Although the ancient church burned down in the 19th century, Pope Pius IX  rebuilt it in the form of Constantine's version of the original St. Peter's. 

Recent archaeological excavations have located the tomb of St. Paul. The image of Pope Francis has been added to the images of all the other popes since Peter

We returned to the convent, packed up our bikes, prayed evening prayer, had one last supper, and went to bed. We were hoping that we have experienced our last disaster.

July 1

After the fabulous meal we enjoyed with Paolo's friends last night, we were able to sleep in late this morning. Because the thieves had taken all of my shoes, I went out searching for a pair of sandals. The flip flops I have been wearing were not doing the job! To my great surprise, I found  that I could buy a pair of sandals at a pharmacy! We are not in Kansas any more, Dorothy!

We walked to Saint Peter 's Basilica, where we were given a tour of the Scavi.  Pope Pius the 12th had ordered excavations under the Basilica in the 1930s. When Constantine had built the original Basilica in the fourth century, everyone presumed that the altar was above the tomb of St. Peter. The altar was placed in the same area when the present basilica was built in the 16th century. In the process of excavating, archaeologists found good evidence of a cemetery under the present altar. There is credible evidence that St. Peter had been buried there, and the tour was the final part of our pilgrimage. We had celebrated Mass near the place where Thomas Becket was martyred. We ended at the bones of St. Peter.

After the Scavi tour, we took the metro to the Spanish steps. Unfortunately, most of it was under scaffolding.

We walked many blocks around Rome, until we found a nice place for lunch.  After lunch, we enjoyed the best gelato in all of Rome.

Then we went to the Pantheon. This is the only intact building from ancient Rome. Instead of being a temple to all gods, it is dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, and the Roman martyrs.

Then we walked to Piazzo Navona, which had served as a place for racing chariots in ancient Rome.

From there we walked to the ancient Roman forum and the Palatine hill, where the emperors lived.

Then we walked to St. Mary Major, the first church in the west dedicated to theMother of God. Pope Francis had come to this church to pray in the presence of the statute, before going to the hotel to pay his bill after being elected pope.

We jumped on the metro, returned to the convent, celebrated Mass, and had a nice supper.  We are enjoying Rome!

June 30

After the robbery, we had to buy ourselves clothes at a cheap store. Then we went to a grocery store to buy toiletry items. After showering, we celebrated mass at the convent chapel. After dinner, we all went to bed truly poor!

Early this morning, or went to St. Peter's Basilica to celebrate Mass. This is the sacristy.

Father Terry and I sat on a bench and prayed Morning Prayer with our phones. The thieves had stolen our Breviaries.

We celebrated mass in the chapel of the patron saints of Europe, Cyril and Methodius. Today is the feast day of the first martyrs of Rome. Both the feast and the assigned readings made for a very emotional Mass together. No one can rob us of the graces of this Pilgrimage, even the most vicious of thieves. Like the first martyrs of Rome, we are called to be witnesses of God's love in a world that is tempted to become bitter and angry when life deals unjust blows.

Three sisters from the Philippines joined us for Mass.

After Mass, we took a brief tour around the Basilica. Giancarlo, Bill, and Tony were much happier today.

We said a prayer at the tomb of St. Pius X, where his body is buried under this Altar.

Bill, Evonne, and Marielle were enjoying their first visit to the Basilica.

We took the metro to the American Embassy, where we waited in line behind all the other Americans who had fallen victim to thieves.  There was a group of forty kids who had all of their belongings stolen from their locked bus yesterday. Although it took 2 1/2 hours, the process went more smoothly than we had imagined. We are now enjoying lunch, and will regroup to tour Rome, hoping that no more disasters will occur before coming home. 

As you can see, we are in much better moods today. This group is learning to recover quickly.

After lunch, we returned to the embassy, where we had to wait for another hour for our passports to be printed. We jumped into two taxis, and sped to the Vatican Museum.

There we met Liz Lev, a very good friend of Paolo's. She is the daughter of Mariy Ann Glendon, the former ambassador of United States to the Vatican. She gave us a fabulous tour of the Vatican Museum, with a special emphasis on Michelangelo.

She helped us understand the cultural situation of Michelangelo, and everything that led to his sculpture and painting. That also included the design of the dome which he planned for St. Peter's Basilica in his last years. We finally ended our tour with the Sistine Chapel, where there were very few people.

She took us to the doors of St. Peter's Basilica, or we could see the setting sun illuminating the city.

She gave a wonderful explanation of the Pieta, and led us to the altar where St. John XXIII is buried.

Pilgrims have venerated the feet of the statue of St. Peter for so many centuries, that the toes are worn off.

We left the Piazza surrounded by the columns designed by Bernini, had a drink with Liz, and went with Paolo to have a wonderful supper with his friends. We have experienced wonderful hospitality and kindness from people who have looked us in the face. We have also experienced terrible suffering in the darkness of those we have never seen. It seems that the Lord is teaching us to travel more lightly.

Stage 19, June 29

We got up early, loaded the van with our luggage, prayed morning prayer, and ate breakfast of bread and coffee. Bill Corbett looked like Purdue Pete when he finished fixing his bike.

The 40 mile ride into Rome was relatively easy. This field of sunflowers was beautiful.

It is impossible to describe our feelings as we rode into St. Peter's Square. On the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the Square was crowded with people. The Pope was celebrating Mass inside Saint Peter's Basilica, and he was at the Sanctus when we arrived. The crowd was following the Mass on the monitors set around the Square. Here are the five of us who made the entire Pillgrimage from Canterbury to Rome.

Here are Paolo and Giancarlo, father and son.

The Schooler family is very happy.

So is the Corbett family.

The pastor and parochial vicar of St. Pius Parish in Granger do not usually spend Sundays here.

At noon, Pope Francis appeared on the balcony and led the assembled crowd in praying the Angelus.  He made some comments about Saint Peter and Saint Paul. He gave us his blessing. He really is in this window! The zoom on this phone is not so good.

After the Angelus, we walked our bikes to the Convent where we are staying. Janet had parked the van in the appropriate place. When Paolo reached it, he found that the window was broken and absolutely everything was stolen. All of us have lost everything, clothing, computers, passports, everything! Paolo and Janet filed a police report. We learned how to do that in Lucca! The end of our pilgrimage went from ecstasy to agony. We are now in the process of trying to figure out what to do.

Stage 18, June 28

After Morning Prayer, Paolo ferried all the bikes with Bill, Giancarlo, and Father Terry to Radicofani. Then he returned to get the luggage and the rest of us. The ride on the gravel road was bumpy but beautiful.

We arrived at the church, where our bikes were assembled and ready for riding. We met the parish priest again, and he was very helpful in finding some place for us to eat breakfast, since breakfast was not served at the Agriturismo.

After breakfast, we enjoyed a long descent from Radicofani and continued riding through the volcanic area of this part of Italy.

Our first big climb came when we went up the volcano which surrounds Lago di Balseno.

We stopped for a break at Lago di Bolsena, where we refilled our water bottles to prepare ourselves for the next climb to Montefiascone. 

After a long climb, we finally arrived at Montefiascone for a lunch break.

There had been at one time a papal court established in this beautiful town. We went through the city walls and found a very nice restaurant in the center of the city. The Square was beautiful.

Unfortunately, we got the slowest waiter and cooks in all of Italy. It took us two hours to order and eat lunch. Although the food was very good, we did not need that much time sitting around.

After lunch, we enjoyed another wonderful descent, until we came to the next volcano. We endured a very long climb of 10 miles. Finally, we arrived at the top and biked around the rim of the volcano surrounding Lago di Vico, another beautiful volcanic lake, and got lost several times. After a very long day of riding 76 miles and climbing 5500 feet, we finally arrived at the monastery where we were staying. The monastery was Benedictine, Dedicated to St. Vincent the Martyr. After dinner, we celebrated Mass, prayed evening prayer, and prepared ourselves for tomorrow's ride into Rome.

Bill Corbett's bicycle was having difficulties in the rear wheel. The master mechanics were working on it.

It is hard to believe that we have come this far, almost 1200 miles. We are only 40 miles from Rome. We plan to get up early tomorrow morning, so that we will arrive in Rome in time to pray the Angelus at noon with Pope Francis. Next to Christmas and Easter, tomorrow is the most important feast day in Rome. It is the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. The pope will celebrate Mass in the Basilica of Saint Peter and present the Pallia to the new Archbishops. We will join the crowds in the Piazza, with our distinctive outfits, and smelling really bad!