Roma

Our Lady keeping watch over the convent as flowers spring up.

The side door to the cloistered garden....

A lane leading into the village.

The neighbor's farmhouse and some flowers.

Dear Friends and Family,

It is now 10PM in Rome, where I have just arrived in order to follow a colloquium at the Angelicum. It is a beautiful time of year in Rome, but an even more beautiful time of year in Cornwall. Nature seems to be singing a Paschal hymn of joy to the Risen King. Among other blessings this week, a family with many young children visited and attended the Holy Mass at the convent each Sunday and a rosary with some of the families Wednesday evening. One of the beautiful things about the Latin Mass is the way it brings people together very quickly, giving you a sense of the "universal family" of the Church. Any family accustomed to attending the Latin Mass quickly feels at home and can pray the Mass wherever they turn up. But that is only the beginning. So many other things naturally go (the vast majority of the time) with attending the Latin Mass: belief in the full range of Catholic doctrine, devotion to Our Lady, a sense of modest dress and the importance of silence in the Church, the importance of raising the children well in the Faith, etc. etc. This tends to help families quickly feel at home with one another. This week was a beautiful example of that. We hope our guests will come back soon!

I'm in Rome this week because a mandatory part of my theology studies in France is that we have to attend, and write a paper on, a theological colloquium somewhere in the world. This one at the Angelicum piqued my interest. It is entitled "City of Man vs. City of God" and will try to take a theological look at God's plan for society while looking at some of the more challenging concrete situations in the Church today, such as the situation of the Church in China.

Because of the hour, and an early morning start tomorrow, I had best sign off. I will be praying for each of you at the tomb of St. Peter, as well as at that of St. Catherine of Siena and hopefully at several other tombs.

May Jesus and Mary watch over you and guide you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari