Homeschooling in Italy

The mountains outside my front door--2 days ago.

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Italy! Since an abundance of words has already been spilt on the current situation here, the lack of public Masses, etc. I will simply refer you to a brief article I wrote a few days ago for LifeSite: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priest-coronavirus-is-a-great-spiritual-opportunity-to-deepen-faith-help-others , and will describe a bit the "situation on the ground" out here in the countryside near Florence.

After offering the Holy Sacrifice this morning, I went for a run up the mountain. Contrary to the photo above, today it is sunny with a blue sky and around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I ran into a few couples going for a stroll and smiling. This was good to see because over the past week it has been sad to see the amount of fear and panic in people's eyes and in their voices. Though most people are not out and about I have spoken with a few of the neighbours or others who have passed through.

Italy is, sadly, a country where 90% of the population, if not more, has abandoned the practice of the faith. So the faith, peace, charity, hope, etc. that should normally accompany a situation like this are a bit harder to find at the moment.

What is my own situation like? How is this affecting me on a daily basis? I have more solitude and silence than previously, and likely will for the next few weeks since everyone has been essentially ordered to "stay at home." But those who know me know silence and solitude are treasures for me! So on a personal level, it seems that I am being given the gift of a number of weeks of these treasures. Providentially, I am also in the midst of writing a very difficult and long theology paper for France. Uninterrupted time for reading and writing is the best way to make progress in this, so my goal is to make the most of these next few weeks in order to have at least the draft finished by Easter.

Another blessing of this time is that every family in Italy with children is being offered an experience of homeschooling. As many of you know, I am a big fan of homeschooling and so am delighted to that families will have this opportunity. Here, I will likely begin Monday teaching some English and Catechism to the children each afternoon. The classic English book for children "Know Your Mass" will likely be the first text--a good way to give them practice reading out loud and deepening their knowledge of the Mass.

You are in my daily prayers here. Please keep Italy in yours--especially praying for its conversion.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Quiet Italy

Looking out my front door a few minutes ago.

Dear Friends and Family,

Blessed second Sunday of Lent! Here, Italy has become very contemplative.... people say they have never seen the cities so quiet. Unfortunately, as you are no doubt aware, many dioceses in Italy have cancelled all public Masses from now until early April. A terribly sad situation, and not at all the way saints of the past have responded. If you are curious to see how St. Charles Borromeo responded, including calling for three public processions---so massive gatherings of people--see here: https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2020/03/de-mattei-how-st-charles-borromeo.html .

But from the point of view of the contemplative life and study, the current situation is quite favourable. There is little external activity to report from this past week--all schools in Florence are now shut down and all public Masses are forbidden, even funerals! But it has been a fruitful week of study for me. Rather than write more at the moment, I would encourage you to take a look at the post about St. Charles Borromeo. May he intercede for all of us, and may Our Lady guide you as we enter the second full week of Lent.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Lent: Season of Hope and of Grace

Fire in the wood-burning stove that heats my current quarters.

Dear Friends and Family,

Blessed First Sunday of Lent! It always strikes me that Lent is a time of hope, a time in which God wishes to make all things new if we will cooperate with Him.

I currently have the blessing of beginning each morning by lighting a fire in the stove that heats my current quarters. There is something refreshingly good about watching a well-built fire slowly grow, spreading from log to log. The fire reminds me in a particular way of the graces of the Holy Spirit that God grants and that, if we cooperate with them, can grow from a tiny flame to an all-consuming fire that consumes and enlivens everything within us. It also reminds me of how God's graces can pass from one member of the Church to another (or rather, how God's grace in one soul can help others open to God's grace), producing an amazing fullness of life, as happened at Pentecost.

Today's Gospel on the temptation in the desert is also a good reminder of how the enemy attacks and tempts: often by presenting evil so that it appears to be a good and reasonable option. Turning stones into bread, when someone is severely weakend by 40 days of fasting, so that one's body can be nourished and have the minimum of energy to serve God, seems reasonable and good.

Performing a public miracle in the holiest place of the People of Israel--in the temple--so that the priests and those gathered there for prayer would see Jesus miraculously descending from the pinnacle without being hurt, might seem like a good idea. After all, a key part of His mission would be performing miracles as signs, so that we might believe in Him. What better place to begin than the temple?

Even the temptation to adore the devil for an instant in order to gain power over every kingdom on earth might seem reasonable and good: think of how much good would be done if Jesus were in charge of your country, of every country? And then, no one would see Him prostrate before the devil. They are alone in the desert. It doesn't seem that it would harm anyone else, and it's only for a moment, so that so much good can then be done...

Jesus shows us how to defeat the enemy's attacks: by faith in and obedience to the word of God. Not just a vague knowledge of what He has revealed, but a thorough knowledge of the word of God. And that takes study, time and work, much like my regular trips to the woodshed to get more wood for the stove...

We need to invest time in studying all that God has revealed--by reading Scripture, studying catechism, lives of the saints, Church history, and so many other good things.

May this Lent be a time of nourishing your souls with good things, and a true time of conversion, where God can make all things new.

Sending you prayers from Italy.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Roma: preparing for next year's classes

Looking out over the Roman Forum from the monastery I stayed in the past few days.

Dear Friends and Family,

I pray this note finds you well as we prepare for the hope-filled season of Lent. There is so very, very much that God wants to give during Lent, much more than the sacrifices that we make. May you be filled with the joy that only He can give. And may you be freed from all the things that chain you down, that is to say, sins, to the earth in ways that prevent His grace from acting in your soul.

The past few days I was in Rome to meet with a number of people in order to prepare some of next year's studies. It was a very fruitful time. Among other events, I attended much of a conference on the Angelicum on Balthasar's and Aquinas' thought on Kenosis. No doubt for most of you that sounds like Greek, because it is Greek! It's a Greek word for the self-emptying or humiliation of Christ in His Passion. I won't try to go into the details of the conference but will say that I had a very good impression of the level of teaching at the Angelicum and had a chance to speak personally with a number of the professors.

Each morning I looked out the other window of the main corridor of the monastery and saw this:

It is always good to be reminded of the heroic witness of the martyrs who died in the Colosseum. The few days in Rome included time kneeling in prayer before the tombs of St. Catherine of Siena and Santa Francesca Romana.

I had the blessing of celebrating Mass each morning in Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, pictured here:

Today began with prayer in the minor basilica of Santa Francesca Romana and continued with a train ride to Florence, where I had lunch with and taught Catechism to a family. Then the train journey back to the countryside, where I offered the Holy Mass and where I am now just about to head to dinner, so I had best sign off...

May Jesus and Mary watch over you and obtain for you a holy beginning of Lent.

Saint Germaine de Pibrac

A model showing how St. Germaine of Pibrac would have slept.

Sanctuary of the Church dedicated to St. Germaine.

Dear Friends in Family,

Yesterday, on my way to the airport in Toulouse, I was able to visit the home where St. Germaine of Pibrac lived, as well as the church dedicated to her. She was a simple peasant who died in 1601, at the age of just 22, but by whom many miracles were worked after her death.

In her lifetime, she was thought of as nothing special, indeed as less than that. She was made to do hard manual labour on her cousin's farm, and had to sleep under the staircase in the barn where the animals were kept. The first photo above shows a model of her body, laid in the position she would have slept in, just under the staircase. She had no room, just this little corner to sleep in. Though God permitted her to have poor health and to be ill-treated, He graced her with a joyful and courageous heart, and she was ever a friend of the poor, and especially God's own friend. As she tended the animals in the countryside she no doubt conversed often with Him, and she would hike through the fields in order to kneel in the church as the Holy Sacrifice was offered.

A simple life about which very little is known, other than her obvious sanctity as witnessed by the miracles God worked after her death. It was a blessing to have 30 minutes to ask for her intercession, especially after an intense week of study. This past week was particularly intense because--in addition to courses on the natural law and on redemptive suffering--I was doing a good deal of research in view of an end-of-the-week meeting with my director about my licentiate paper. I am pleased to report that I now have the green light to write and hope to have the paper finished by May. We shall see...

As we prepare for Lent, I will be praying for each of you, asking God to grant you a good preparation and a blessed time of spiritual training.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Research in Rome

Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing this afternoon from Munich airport, where I am waiting for a flight to Toulouse, where I will be spending the week with the Dominicans studying the natural law and the role of suffering in a Christian's life. Both topics should make for quite interesting studies and will focus heavily, likely entirely, on the writings of Aquinas.

Among the many blessings of this past week was assisting with the preparation of several children for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Though much of the preparation will involve studying the lives of saints, studying the catechism, a regular regime of prayer, etc. it also involved the viewing of the movie Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. On Friday evening we had our class and then I led them in a "mini-holy hour," with the parents in attendance. I have always been struck by how helpful the regular practice of silent Eucharistic Adoration is, particularly by candlelight. God-willing, a weekly Holy Hour will help them to deepen their prayers lives in these coming months.

Then, last night, I watched Narnia with them and their family (in Italian, of course). Given the children's particular interests, this made for good discussion afterwards, including an analysis of Edmund's sins and ways in which the children commit some of the same sins, Peter's role and the role of the Holy Father, Bishops, and priests in the Church, Aslan's (Christ's) great sacrifice and the role of the Cross in the spiritual battle, etc.

On Tuesday I headed to Rome in order to spend the day in the Angelicum's library scanning in hard-to-find books. It was a very helpful trip as I was able to scan in texts from St. Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure, Philip the Chancellor, William of Auxerre, and others. Now the challenge will be to digest them all and include them in the first chapter of my licentiate thesis... My director requested this specific research and, while time-consuming, it has been quite interesting to see how they envisaged the moral law, and in particular the role of the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life.

I should go now to prepare for boarding. Before leaving Rome I was able to make a Holy Hour in the Minor Basilica of Santa Francesca Romana, located right in between the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. You all were in my prayers there.

May Jesus grant you some share of His strength, peace, and joy, and may Our Lady be your guide and sure refuge.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Italiano a Firenze

The Piazza in front of the Basilica della Sanctissima Annunziata (Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation)

Dear Friends and Family,

A blessed Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary! It is a real joy to have this feast fall on a Sunday. As hopefully all of you experienced at Mass this morning, the feast begins with a solemn blessing of candles: in fact, five different blessings are given to the candles at that moment. Then each member of the congregation is invited to come forward and kneel at the altar rail, where they receive their blessed candle, which is then lit. We then process and sing songs in honour of what occurred on this day, and then re-enter the chapel. The procession with each of us carrying the lighted candle is meant to symbolize the Virgin Mary carrying the Light of the World as She came into the temple.

In my case, I chanted the liturgical antiphons as we processed around a courtyard just outside of the chapel and then re-entered for Mass. People remain with their candles lit until after the Gospel is read. They are then extinguished, to be relit at the Sanctus and held throughout the canon, up until the chanting of the Our Father. Even with the very simple means at our disposal here it was a beautiful moment and striking for me to see how much the lighted candles helped the children to focus. The beautiful wisdom of the Church's traditions...

This week was above all an intense week of study for me, leading up to an exam Friday. I did well on the exam and can now move onto the next level, but it was an intense week of memorizing verb conjugations and how different verb tenses fit together depending on the sentence. It is a real joy to see certain things beginning to make more sense. Now, when I hear an Italian speaking using the subjective or other verb tenses I am beginning to pick up on why this particular verb is used in such a context, etc.

The above photo is taken from where I had a coffee on Wednesday. After classes finished, I stopped into the cafe next door, which is run by this good couple.

Maurizio and Graziella of the "Fiore del Café"

It turns out that Maurizio is from Calabria, and from a village very close to where my ancestors grew up. It was neat talking with him, and their cappuccinos are quite good, which comes in handy when the nights are shorter! On this occasion, I had one cappuccino in the morning before classs and then another to begin the afternoon in order to be awake for that afternoon's pastoral visit to a home. I wasn't due for lunch at the house until 2PM, so I walked to this piazza:

And at the steps drinking my cappuccino. After then spending some time praying the divine office I walked to the part of the city where the home was located and spent a few hours getting to know the teenage children. I was quite pleased that I was able to do almost everything in Italian, except that I butchered the word for "midfielder" ("centrocampista" for those who are interested), and it took a little bit for the teenager who played that position to help me understand.

After the week of study I worked on yesterday's sermon for the First Saturday Mass, then today's sermon for the Presentation. This week's studies will shift in order to focus primarily on research and writing for my licentiate paper for Toulouse. You all are in my daily prayers here. I will post a few more photos below, but above all will send you prayers. Please do keep me in yours.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

The entrance to the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, where I am studying.

My professor from the past two weeks (will be someone different next time), in our classroom. The man on the left is a real estate agent in Austria who works with a lot of Italians and who spent a week with us working on his Italian.