Our Lady of the Rosary Family Catechism Launches

 

Dear Friends and Family,

I had a beautiful weekend here in Rome. The three children whom I helped prepare for Confirmation this September made a "post-Confirmation pilgrimage" to Rome to ask for the intercession of the saints, that they might become better soldiers for Christ.

Yesterday we were able to visit the rooms where St. Philip Neri lived and prayed, with an excellent tour guide, as well as the church he built--Chiesa Nuova. The afternoon was then spent visiting the Colosseum, and then the chapel on the site where St. Sebastian was martyred, spending time in Adoration.

This morning, after Mass at the tomb of Santa Francesca Romana, we visited the Mamertine Prison, an ancient prison in the heart of ancient Rome, right next to the Roman Senate building. More importantly, Sts. Peter and Paul were prisoners there. It was a real grace to pray at the site where these heroic martyrs prayed and suffered.

As most of you are likely aware, Our Lady of the Rosary Family Catechism launched this week at olrfamilycatechism.com . It is a real joy to be able to offer families throughout the world, for free, access to the teachings of Our Lady at Fatima and to a whole program for teaching their children the Baltimore Catechism. May it bear fruit!

Meanwhile, some other filming was going on here in Rome:

One of the main streets in Rome was blocked off for... the filming of Mission Impossible 7. If you look carefully in the center of the picture you will see them filming some sort of crash scene, with the large microphone visible against the white background.

You all are in my prayers here in Rome. I hope that this catechism program will be of use for you and your children. Much work and love was put into creating it, and will still be put into the post-production phase. So please keep in your prayers all the work of video and audio editing.

Wishing you a very blessed Sunday.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Classes have begun!

Dear Friends and Family,

Classes have begun! After almost a year of preparation, it is a real joy to now dive into studies. The atmosphere is rather unusual--a year like no other--in the sense that masks are now obligatory everywhere indoors, including in classrooms, along with social distancing, pulse and temperature checks, etc. But none of that should affect significantly my doctoral studies.

Rather than try to recount everything that happened this week, I'll tell you about Wednesday, which was spent getting to know the library, which you can see here:

It is a beautiful, old library--and I was told by a professor at a different university, the best one in Rome! What you see above is just a few of the rooms. It has multiple levels and, as you can see, within rooms different levels of bookshelves. There is something neat about the smell and feel of old books.

My morning orientation began with a walking tour of the different parts of the library especially pertinent to canon law--among them is a room full of doctoral dissertations from the past 100 years or so from multiple Roman universities. Other rooms have canonical journals, other historic commentaries, others general books, etc. etc. Then we went to see the collection desk. 

No one is allowed to take books out of the library (well, no one except for the professors and some of the Jesuit community in residence, I believe). This reminds me of something recounted in the life of St. John of the Cross. When he was studying theology at Salamanca, several hundred years ago, books were chained to the wall to prevent any student from carrying them away.... which gives an idea of how seriously books and libraries are taken here. So, the system is that you locate, in the online catalogue or on the shelf, the book(s) you wish to consult. You then submit an online request to the collection desk. Within 30 minutes, sometimes less, they produce the books for you, you pick them up at the collection desk, study them there in the library, and return them before you leave.

Because the books you see in the above photos, and the others in the rooms we could walk around into, are only a small part of the collection. Most of the books are in a reserved area that only the librarians have access to. The books in the rooms pictured above are ones that we are allowed to pull off the shelves and then put back ourselves, by the key parts of the library only the librarians go to. 

So research will involve a good deal of scanning pages so as to be able to consult them later on, and use them for eventually composing the doctoral thesis. On this day I requested and collected a number of books, after I figured out how to operate the online system, which took a while, and will now be reading from home, thanks to scanning, a book that has a collection of articles on Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, a key document for the Church's discipline in violations of the 6th Commandment by clerics (probably doesn't sound very exciting to you, but in terms of Church law it's a really important domain that is now being developed and much commented on).

There were many other events and blessings this week, but to keep this short I will stop here and tell you more about classes or other things next week. And for any of you who only follow the online rosary occasionally, I would encourage you to make sure to tune in this Tuesday, Oct. 13th, for a special announcement.

May Jesus be your strength and protection, and may Our Lady guide you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Beginning Classes Tomorrow

 

St. John Lateran visible in the distance, looking through the Colosseum.

Dear Friends and Family,

Blessed Feast of St. Francis of Assisi! As one of the patron saints of Italy, his feast is liturgically a "first-class feast," which means that it takes precedence here even over the Sunday Mass. Thus, I had the blessing this morning of celebrating the Mass of St. Francis. He is such a wonderful saint. And the gospel for his feast day is one of my favorites. Even though you know it, I'll write it here again:

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; ²⁶ yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Wonderful words to meditate on.

Tomorrow classes begin. I will spend the morning at the Gregorian going through introductory classes in how to do research and writing according to their methodology. Given the presence of COVID, it will be interesting to see how we will be given access to the library. It will also be interesting to meet the other doctoral candidates. Apparently, we are 17 this year beginning the doctorate in canon law.

Then the afternoon will be spent at the Angelicum, hopefully getting to know their library system and also attending a class on the historical development of the doctrine of the Trinity. The class should be interesting because much of this semester we will be reading the original texts of authors such as Athanasius, Basil, and Gregory--Fathers of the Church who were key in the articulation of the great mystery of the Trinity.

After much preparation, it is a joy to be able to finally begin classes and research! Please say a prayer for me tomorrow, and this week, as I begin this next chapter of God's will for my life. 

This week had many other blessings. Rather than give you a long list I will simply describe one of them. I was pleased to discover that one of the neighboring ancient churches here along the ancient Roman Forum--namely, the Church of St. Sabastian--has daily Eucharistic adoration from 5PM to 6PM. I went there yesterday and it was very quiet and conducive to prayer, which is not always the case in the churches frequented by tourists in this area! The church is built on the site of St. Sabastian's martyrdom. Saint Sabastian was a Roman soldier renowned for his courage, who became a captain of the Praetorian Guard. Eventually, his faith was discovered, after he had helped a number of others to convert, and he was martyred and went to his eternal reward. 

I will be returning to the church in a little bit to make a Holy Hour, and will pray for you all there, for the virtue of courage in today's world.

May St. Sebastian intercede for you, and may Our Lady be your counsel and guide.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari