22 september 23
It’s hard to believe I have only been here in Italy a week, but such is the case. I arrived at a hot and humid Rome last Friday early afternoon, an uneventful direct overnight flight from San Francisco. Our old friend Mario Zanotti, now stationed at San Gregorio in Rome and my fellow visitator, met me at the airport and whisked me to the monastery. I was feeling pretty grimy after the long flight, and I did not want to sleep, so I put on my walking shoes and took a good walk, my favorite itinerary, up to Roma Termini, around Santa Maria Maggiore, Via Cavour, etc. Also a chance to practice my Italian with some merchants, buying a panino and a spremuta at the station. Then back to San Gregorio, shower, evening prayer with the brothers. Only a small group there now for the summer season but the students are starting to return already. Our oblates, friends (and employees) Louise and Gabe Quiroz were in Rome for the Congress of Benedictine Oblates at Sant’Anselmo, and Friday night they treated George and I to a wonderful meal in Trastevere. I spent Saturday walking again, reading and writing, letting my soul catch up with my body. Then Sunday, after a nice morning run around the Colosseum, we had Mass and pranzo and it was time for Mario and me to drive to Camaldoli where we arrived just before cena.
I am here in an official role as the Visitator of our mother house, the dual community of the monastery and hermitage of Camaldoli. Normally members of the Consiglio Generalizio, the Prior General’s three assistants, do the visitations to all the houses around the world, but two special visitators are elected for the mother house, since it is the Prior General’s own abode. That honor-duty fell to Mario and me this time.
The Italians observe a little more ceremony around the visitations than we do. Monday morning we met with the Prior General and he offered us a schema of the days ahead, how we might proceed. Then, as of pranzo that day, he, in a sense, steps down as prior of the community and the 1st Visitator (me, this time) steps in for all ceremonial roles. I pray the opening prayer at lunch and decide when lunch is going to end. They wait for me to signal when to enter the church in procession and when to leave at the end of prayers. It all felt very strange at first, unseating the Prior General, but I got used to it quickly. It’s not very much different from what I do at home, and Alessandro is as always very gracious.
Monday afternoon we had our first riunione with all the monks, including those from the Sacro Eremo who came down for that purpose. Again I had to open the meeting with a few shorts remarks, then the word fell to Alessandro to give his presentation of the community over the last six years. As always, his remarks were very global in their perspective, the state of the world and the state of the Church as well as the state of the community and congregation. The floor was open for discussion of what he had brought up. Not too many spoke but enough so that it was not uncomfortable. We then presented the schema for the week ahead, and that’s when I got to see the Italians at their most characteristic. I could barely follow the discussion, arguing about how many meetings there would be, when and if the two communities should meet together (you could see the polemics arise between the hermits and the cenobites!), what ought to be discussed, etc. etc. In the end it was decided that we would re-write the schema. This was all new to me since I have never done a vistation before. Mario has had some experience, so I let him carry the load.
Then we had Mass with Vespers with me preaching. I find that to be one of the most nerve-wracking challenges––to preside and preach at Mass not only in a different place but in a different language, being so at ease doing so in my own. Of course I had everything written out and had gone over the missals countless times to make sure I know where the prayers were. It went fine. A big festive meal followed with all the monks from both communities again, and then the next day, Tuesday, we headed up to the Sacro Eremo.
The Visitation at the Sacro Eremo, I must say, went very well. It was nice to get started on such a good note. The vice-prior, Alberto, gave his opening remarks. As always, he was brief and to the point, every word weighed and poignant. We then opened the floor for discussion. It took a few minutes, but pretty soon a pretty lively discussion took place. We were to deal with certain topics along the way––liturgy, Lectio Divina, hospitality, the economy––one at a time. Having never done a visitation before may have been to my benefit since I had no preconceived notions of how they should flow. But every community meeting we held went pretty much the same way: a topic was introduced by someone, and then the guys just talked. At the end several of them said how different this was from other visitations and that they liked it a lot.
After that first meeting we had a bit of a scare. Several of us noticed that Alberto’s voice was a little odd, almost as if he was half asleep, kind of slurring his words a bit. After the meeting while walking to his cell––thankfully someone was with him––suddenly he started dragging one foot and was not able to move half of his face. An ambulance was called, and he was carted down to the monastery where a helicopter whisked him off to a hospital near Florence. He had indeed suffered a minor stroke, which they think was due to a blood clot resulting from a surgery he had last summer. Fortunately, he recovered rather quickly but they kept him two nights to make sure.
Alberto is often described as a living saint, so there was great concern. I think he’s an amazing guy; he loves life at the Eremo and works hard to protect it, and yet he is very open to other expressions of the life as well. He is soft-spoken but I find him also to be fearless in saying what he thinks. He has very intense eyes and a very long beard. One of my favorite moments of the week was when he was talking about another monk who died some years ago who used to give the young guys a good piece of advice when they complained about not enough silence and solitude. Se vuoi silenzio, stai zito––“If you want silence, shut up.”
We had individual meetings with the monks each afternoon, and again I am thankful to say that many signed up for them and they were wonderful encounters. Thursday afternoon I began to write up our relazione, our report to the community, as is our due as visitators, which we were then to read to the community at the end. My aim was to keep it short (even as the Prior General had encouraged me to do) and just reflect back what we had heard. I did my draft and sent it to Mario and then Friday morning we worked together on the final version, adding some things and trying to get every word right. I was a little nervous about a few things and had him change one sentence just before we printed copies for everyone. The other tense part of this, of course, is that the Prior General is present for all of this since he is technically the prior of both houses, though the vice priors ideally run things. So if there is any hint of criticism it could be seen as criticizing the Prior General. And if you know our Prior General, Alessandro, you will know that he is a force to be reckoned with.
We were both very pleased with the report and a really fine discussion opened up again, and I think it ended well. The last thing we told them was that it been a joy to find a community so at peace with one another, and such a welcoming environment. These are the three words that we heard from then that we fed back to them as a mirror of their communitarian identity: discretion, peace, and brotherhood.
We packed up and headed down to the monastery in the early evening and then Alessandro took Mario and I out for a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant last night. I didn’t even realize how much I needed a little break after a pretty intense week, and we had a great time together, not talking “business” at all. It was nice to see Alessandro relaxed, laughing and enjoying himself. He is carrying quite a load.
Today begins the visitation here at the monastery, a very different environment and climate. We have a meeting with the men in formation this morning and then the beginning of our personal interviews this afternoon. I’m also in the meantime doing laundry…
