Happy Easter

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Kansas! I pray that this post finds you with some share of the peace and joy that only Our Savior can give. 

Please forgive me for the long delay between posts. Since arriving here Feb. 20th to take up my post as chaplain at St. Martin's Academy the days have been extremely full and the nights often short--but the days have been full of joys! Just as when parents have a new child they are called to miss some sleep admits the joys of receiving a little gift from God in the family, so also here I have had to miss some sleep in all of a sudden becoming the spiritual father of 60 high school aged young men, and indirectly caring for the souls of faculty members and their families.

It has been a very joyful past two months. The school gives the boys a great combination of farm work and other manual tasks, a classic/great-books oriented program of studies, and a spiritual life that is the priority throughout the day and week. Not to mention their rugby team! Every boy at the school plays rugby (barring injury or other inability), and the teams (varsity and JV) are actually quite good. So watching them play on Saturdays, standing on the sidelines with them and cheering them on, has become a treasured part of my chaplain's duties.

The past 10 days I was at the monastery of the Benedictines of Mary in Gower, MO, assisting them with their Triduum liturgies and then filling in as chaplain for the Easter Octave. It was a wonderful place to be and to pray. The Nuns sing beautifully and the atmosphere is quite recollected and prayerful. It was a wonderful place to be.

This morning I had Mass once again at the school as the boys returned for the final 5 weeks of the year. I have to go now for dinner and then the rest of my evening prayers and duties, but wanted to write you all to wish you a very blessed Paschal Season. Hopefully it will not be as long until I write again. In the meantime, Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

May Jesus and Mary watch over each of you and grant you many graces of Easter joy.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Snowy January in Ohio

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from snowy Cleveland, Ohio! 

My apologies for the long gap since my last post. After that Dec. 5th post I hit the final two weeks of exams in Roman and packing and shipping to the U.S. Then followed a wonderful pre-Christmas week with my whole family, then a week in Kansas to get to know the faculty of St. Martin's Academy, then a week in Texas catching up with many good families there, then back to Cleveland for medical appointments as a follow-up to my back injuries last year.... I'll stop there the litany of activities, but it has been a full, and blessed, past 8 weeks!

Here are a few pictures of the school in Kansas:

You can see from the last one why Kansas is sometimes called "big sky country."

I am really excited about beginning work as the chaplain at the school. In preparation, I am not only praying for the young men and staff but also doing important study such as learning the rules of rugby and watching some of England vs. South Africa. While some of the rules are still a mystery I'm working on it! For, among my duties this spring I will be chaplain for the rugby team and so need to have some idea of what they're about.

Studies also continue at an intense pace. I'm preparing now for two final exams in Rome next week. Then, following a few more medical check-ups, I'll be off to Kansas in time for the school's annual "Prairie Troubadour" Conference, which you can look up online if you wish to see what that's about.

The daily online rosary continues to be a joy to do as an apostolate. It's a real blessing to be united in prayer with Catholics around the world seeking to respond to Our Lady's call at Fatima.

May Our Lady of Fatima intercede for you all and watch over you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Praying at the Tomb of St. Don Bosco

Dear Friends and Family, 

Happy Second Sunday of Advent! 

My apologies for not writing in a few weeks. It has been extremely busy--and will be so for the next two weeks before I board a plane for the U.S.--between exams, accessing and scanning books in the libraries for writing the dissertations, arranging final lunches with various people, making arrangements to pack and ship my library to the U.S., etc. etc. So I'm sampling more than the usual amount of Italian coffee!

I nonetheless was able to make a pilgrimage to Turin last weekend to pray at the tomb of St. Don Bosco. Please find below a few photos of the weekend visit. It was really a joy to pray at his tomb and at the tomb of St. Dominic Savio, and to ask their intercession for the upcoming apostolate with the young men of St. Martin's Academy. I was also able to pray in front of the Shroud of Turin (albeit enclosed in a case).

Please find below a few photos.

Tomb of St. Don Bosco

Statue of St. Dominic Savio (located next to his tomb)

A statue of St. Don Bosco outside of the rooms where he lived.

A letter from Don Bosco's Second Successor

In the letter the priest writes to all the other priests of the order St. Don Bosco Founded, saying "Do you want to know if you have the spirit of Ven. Don Bosco? Examine yourself as to whether 1) Your character is always peaceful and with a holy joy 2) your charity toward your neighbor is truly humble and patient, 3) you live like a victim, at every hour disposed to make sacrifices. I  hope that your conscience will be able to respond affirmatively to these questions."

I leave you with that thought...

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Visiting the Catacombs

 

Dear Friends,

Today I had the blessing and joy of visiting two of the catacombs in Rome: St. Callistus and St. Domitilla. The chapel pictured above is the chapel where an early pope was buried--there are nine who were buried in St. Callistus, a few of them martyrs. Around 500,000 Christians were buried there. It was beautiful to see the artwork, to pray at the sites of their graves, and to think about the generations of Christians who went down into the catacombs to pray at these tombs.

Another famous chapel is that where St. Cecilia was buried:

Saint Cecilia was buried here and venerated in this little chapel in the catacombs in the early centuries. Her body was then moved to a church in Rome. This early martyr's body was then exhumed in the 1500's and found to be incorrupt and in the position you see there. So a statue was made replicating the position of her body when she was found incorrupt. The statue remains here in the catacombs as a reminder.

You all continue to be in my prayers here in Rome. Studies, and life in general, are going well. Though it will be quite an intense next 5 weeks before Christmas!

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Heading to Kansas!

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry that I have not been punctual these past few weeks on posting to this blog. Among other pressing tasks, I was finalizing details for the following: I am very pleased to announce that as of this February I will become the chaplain for St. Martin's Academy ( https://saintmartinsacademy.org ) near Fort Scott Kansas for a period of five years. 

I am really excited to work with the young men, faculty, and staff there in an environment which seems quite favorable to a fruitful work in young souls. Among other things, they have a robust outdoors program, including extensive hiking and trips in nature and including daily work on their farm. 

I will be--God-willing--writing my doctorates while there. While this is a big change it was carefully discerned, including extensive discussion with my bishop and spiritual director. It would be indiscrete for me to comment on that process and the factors that led to this decision. I will simply say that careful attention was paid to the current circumstances in the world and in the Church, seeking to discern where I could most fruitfully and peacefully work for the good of souls while carrying out my studies. I am very much at peace that this is God's will. 

Please keep this in your prayers.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Early Morning Masses

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Above you see the main altar of Santissima Trinita dei Pelligrini parish in the heart of Rome. Each morning I leave the parish where I am staying and walk 10 minutes to Santissima Trinita to offer the Holy Mass. It is a nice walk to begin the day and especially it is worth it because the side altars and the way the sacristy is done make it a very prayerful place to offer daily Mass. Though you cannot see it in the photos, there are 8 side altars, almost all of which are full each morning for the Holy Mass. There is something beautiful about arriving there are 6:30 AM, quietly vesting along with other priests, and then processing out and celebrating quiet Masses simultaneously on the side altars, each of us trying to adore the Lord well and offering the Holy Sacrifice on behalf of all those souls in need. Then, we return to the sacristy (at slightly different times of course), unvest and then take time to pray in thanksgiving. For my part, I like to return to the side altar where I celebrated Mass and make my thanksgiving there.

I then begin the walk back to my room to begin the day's studies, along streets such as this:

Though first, I stop for a cappuccino and a "brioche simple"--which is a sort of breakfast roll. It's a wonderful way to begin the day!

In this month of the Holy Rosary, please be assured of my continued prayers for each one of your families.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

First Weeks of Classes

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Classes have begun! This should be--God willing--my last semester of coursework for the doctorates here in Rome. Then it will be just a matter of writing the dissertations. 

Last week, on Oct. 7th--Feast of the Holy Rosary and the 450th anniversary of Lepanto--there was a beautiful evening concert to commemorate Our Lady's interecession in that historical battle. It was held in the church of St. Ignatius here in Rome, pictured above, and the Vatican Philharmonic Choir sang beautiful pieces of sacred music, interspersed with the prayer of the joyful mysteries of the rosary.

The previous weekend I was able to spend three days at the monastery of the Monks of Norica, which overlooks the valley here:

It was a particularly blessed three days for both prayer and study.

May God grant each of your families abundant graces in this month of Our Lady of the Rosary!

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari