Roman Laundry Rant, Complemented by a Few Lovely Church Goings

+JMJ+

I am currently in my room.  My room is currently has my laundry draped all over it.  Why?  Well, there is only one (there might be two) washer(s) and one dryer here.  They belong to the religious brothers who live in the monastery on the grounds.  Apparently they do not want the students touching the washer and dryer; so, someone does our laundry for us.  Now, I know this should be cool and exciting, and it is, BUT we aren't allowed to sort our laundry because that would make things too complicated.  So what happens if I have a few sweaters that need to be washed and can't go in the dryer?  None of my clothes can go in the dryer.  That is how my room came to be strewn with my clothes.  Sorry, roommates!

Ok, thank you for your patience with my laundry rant.

Today, I saw and learned a lot about the churches in the Trastevere neighborhood in Roma.  We spent some more time in Santa Maria in Trastevere.  Fun Fact: Santa Maria in Trastevere (that's the name of the Church) was built on the spot it was because in 38 B.C. a fountain of oil erupted there and flowed into the tiber for a day!  This was seen as a sign indicating the imminent coming of the Messiah, Christ! (Oil was [and is] a sign of anointing; Christ is the Anointed One)

Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere

We also visited the Church of San Crisogono.  This church is taken care of by the Trinitarian Fathers.  They were founded in the middle ages to ransom slaves.  Sometimes, they would even take the place of slaves themselves so that the man could go back and take care of his family!  Pretty cool!

Church of San Crisogono

This is the body of Blessed Anna Maria Taigi.  Notice anything unusual about it?  Well, she died in 1837 and her body has not corrupted!  She is a miracle that we like to call INCORRUPTIBLE! 

The relics of St. James the Lesser (just, you know, ONE OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES!)

We also went to the Church of San Caeciliae, which means St. Cecilia.  I'd heard a lot about this church and was very much looking forward to going.  It did not disappoint! (though my amateur photography leaves much to be desired)

The Church of St. Cecilia
(that giant urn thing in the fountain is at least 2,000 years old!)

(inside St. Cecilia's)

Famous sculpture of St. Cecilia's incorrupt body

After class, I wandered around Trastever looking for food.  It was not hard to find.  Trastevere is known as one of the best places in all of Rome for Italian cuisine.  Some people got gelato, some went for pizza; I got a souple (I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling, but it is pronounced "soop/lee").  A souple is rice and cheeses and pizza sauced sort of fried/but more baked.  It only cost me one Euro!  After lunch, I headed to the Vatican and spent the afternoon in St. Peter's Basilica. My time was there filled with beauty and prayer.  I'd been looking for a place to go to Mass and found out that there was a Mass celebrated at 5:00pm at St. Peter's.  God is so good to me!

Time to go to bed then get up and hit the books!

Ciao!