The brothers back home were gracious enough to allow me a six-week
mini-sabbatical working vacation, a little pause at the midpoint of my
six year term as prior. From here I will be traveling to New Zealand,
Australia, Singapore/Malaysia, mostly doing a few retreats and a little
retreating myself. I’ve got just a bit of a yen to write again since I am on
the road, so I’ve found my old blog (I had forgotten the address!), and we shall see what happens.
Saturday, 3 Sept.
I arrived safe and sound in Rome Friday morning. I was
relayed by Jordan to San Jose where my friend John brought me the rest of the
way up to my Euro hotel in Redwood City Wednesday PM. It was a very cool little
inexpensive place, but I don't think I slept a wink all night. I’m not sure if
it was the excitement about the trip or too much tea. At any rate, that plus
not sleeping very much during the 16+ hours of flying, it was almost like a
trip to India: I was so tired when I got here that I slept all through the
night (nine hours!) and hoped that I had already overcome the jet lag. (I
hadn’t quite.)
I had a good long walk Friday afternoon and another this
morning, picked up all my supplies (my favorite Italian magazine, a book on
Taoism in Italian, new sunglasses and a new shirt––yes, its grey but it’s a
polo (Favored style of my Italian confreres), not a T-shirt, that shows some
creativity, no?), and then just hung out at Roma Termini for a while just
because I like it there. It feels so good just be on my own for a few
weeks. I stopped in at the church of Santa
Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs) on
my way home. I thought I had never seen it before but afterward I remember my
friend Stefano Rossi taking me there some years ago, his favorite spot. It’s a
former Certosa-Charterhouse of the
Carthusians near the historic baths of Diocletian. The church itself is rather
typical Roman, but its unique feature is a small pinhole in the roof, whose
light falls on a big zodiac calendar each day to mark the dates in the
floor. Besides the famous painting of St. Sebastian that is there, there
were a few beautiful modern paintings and sculptures, one striking one of the head of John
the Baptist.
It’s hot hot hot here in Rome still (feragosto-the
summer break time, though there are lots of tourists) and sticky, especially up
here on the top floor of San Gregorio, where I am staying. Our monastery shares
space with the Missionaries of Charity––soon-to-be-Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s
congregation––so there has been a steady crowd of people outside, and they are
expecting a over 100,000 people in St Peter's Square tomorrow for the
canonization.
* * *
I had to check in to the Congress of Abbots already Saturday
night, an early session for newcomers. (Even though three years a prior, this
is my first Congress.) I have not spent much time at Sant’Anselmo, the Benedictine
University where the Congress is being held, on the Aventine right up from our
Camaldolese nuns’ monastery, Sant’Antonio, and the ancient beautiful Dominican
church of Santa Sabina. It’s a beautiful very clean and well-ordered campus. I
was put somewhat at my own ease to realize that for many of us this would be
our first real experience both of Sant’Anselmo and the Congress, so I was not
the only one feeling a little spaesato
(out of place). It certainly was fascinating to see and meet monks from literally
all over the world, many Asians and Africans as well as from all over Europe
and the southern hemisphere of the Americas. It is jarring sometimes to note
just how informal we Camaldolese are in regards to a lot of the OSB world. (Our
monks are the only students here, for instance, who don’t wear their habit to
classes.) After aperitifs we had Vespers, all in Latin, Gregorian chant, and
then an ample dinner was served. They are undoubtedly accustomed to feeding
large crowds with much to choose from. And that was the end of it. I enjoy the
walk to and fro; it only takes about twenty minutes across the bustling Circo Massimo and may be the only real
exercise I get during these weeks.
Sunday was a bigger day. Departing at 7:30 AM from
Sant’Anselmo we were taken for a day at Monte Cassino. It is close to Naples,
about a two-hour bus ride. It is a massive impressive place that has a storied
history. I’ll quote here from my homily (if I may) of this last Feast of
Benedict: “There were several pivotal moments in the life of Saint Benedict.
The way Saint Gregory the Great lays it out, one significant one was when
Benedict left the remote Anio Valley where he had lived as a hermit for three
years in the sacro speco near Subiaco and also had his first experiences as an
abbot, and moved up to Monte Cassino, a plateau that can be seen from very far
away.” I think I’ll re-post that homily here on this site (it’s on the
Hermitage blog already, it will appear before this one). It is interesting for me even to look back on it now
after having been to Monte Cassino and now attending the Congress.
The ancient part of the story is wonderful and I obviously
learned more about the place being there. Benedict found and old temple to
Apollo there, which he didn’t destroy but in a sense “baptized.” There was also
an old Roman tower which is where Benedict had his cell and from which he had
his famous vision which Gregory the Great writes about in his Dialogues.
(Gregory actually mentions it twice, once in the life of Benedict and another
time in Dialogue 4). This is right after his twin sister Scholastica has died,
and both times Gregory mentions it, it is in connection with the death of
Germanus the bishop of Capua.
In the dead of the night he
suddenly beheld a flood of light shining down from above more brilliant than
the sun, and with it every trace of darkness cleared away… According to his own
description, the whole world was gathered up before his eyes in what appeared
to be a single ray of light.
Part of our tour was to go down into the depths of existing
structure and see everything that has been excavated, particularly after the
destruction during World War II.
 |
| Monte Cassino after the bombing. |
And that, of course, is the other part of the place’s
history that is perhaps even better known in this day and age––the famous
Battle of Monte Cassino of 1944. The Americans, mistakenly as it turned out,
thought that the Germans were encamped there and bombed it to almost total
destruction. The sad irony was that the Germans were able to occupy the ruins
after the bombing, and the spot was only secured later by the Polish army,
thousands of whom died and are buried there near the abbey.
I forget how much (perhaps especially in Europe? In Italy?)
Benedictine monasticism gets associated with Gregorian chant and “traditional”
liturgy. The first thing on our program was Mass. It was quite high church,
Abbot Donato presiding in magnificent vesture, almost all in Latin except for
the readings and homily. The Eucharistic Prayer as done facing “in the same
direction as the people” (ad orientes).
The music (again Gregorian) for the most part was executed by two monks and the
exceptional organist. Those of us who chose not to be vested were seated in the
choir, which was behind the high altar and so could see or hear almost nothing.
It was all done very well, but my gosh, what a different world from Big Sur!
There are only eight monks there (at least as I counted)
though it is a huge monastery. They treated us to a wonderful pranzo in the enormous refectory, and
somehow I got places at the Abbot’s table (though on the very end). He speaks
beautiful English (Oxford educated, I believe). And then we had a tour of the
museum, sang Vespers with the monks and headed back home, not arriving back in
Rome until 7:00. I was glad to get home to San Gregorio. By this time Don
Alessandro had arrived and they were just sitting down to dinner, so I was
greeted warmly and very happy to be back in the warm environs of a Camaldolese
community. After dinner I couldn’t wait to get my habit off, throw on my shorts
and go for a long walk (and some gelato) in the cool Roman evening.
* * *
Today was our first morning of real conferences, four of
them, all held in nave of the church at Sant’Anselmo, chairs set up on either
side in choir style. (It reminded me vaguely of Vatican II!) There are also
booths set up for simultaneous translators––English, French, German, French,
Italian, Spanish. It must have been easier when everyone knew, or faked their
way through, Latin. The first three sessions were pretty informative, Abbot
Richard Yeo, who is one of the candidates for the next Abbot Primate, explained
the Benedictine Confederation. I learned that we Camaldolese along with the Vallombrosians,
the Sylvestrines and the Olivetans were the last congregations to join the
Confederation, and that the Camaldolese of Monte Corona along with the
Cistercians and the Reformed Cistercians were the only ones was not to accept the invitation to join.
Then the outgoing prior of Sant’Anselmo, Elias Lorenzo, who is also a possible
candidate but was just elected Abbot President of the American Cassinese
Congregation, gave us a good explanation of Sant’Anselmo itself. It is made up
of three distinct but interwoven communities––the Benedictine Curia, the
community of students and faculty (the College) and the university itself (the
Athenaeum). Then Abbot Placid Solari gave us quite a good history of the
Athenaeum itself, starting with its inception as a school for the monks of San Paulo Fuori Muri–St. Paul
Outside-the-Walls back in 1687, its demise after the Napoleonic Suppression and
its resurrection under Leo XIII, who also mandated the Benedictine Confederation.
The last talk was painful, all about juridical rights and finances, and I felt
sorry for poor Abbot Bruno Malfer, who spoke in German to have to deliver it
last after a long morning. (He also is a candidate, I’m told, but a bit of a
dark horse.) I listened to his conference in the Italian translation just to
keep myself entertained.
That’s all for now. We begin in earnest tomorrow and we
shall see if I have anything fit to share.
