Day 5

June 28th, Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Irenaeus

Our day began with this early morning bus experience and ended with our first gelato!

At S. Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), Father  Luke Millette offered Mass in the crypt which displayed a relic of the wood from Christ’s manger brought back from the Holy Land by St. Helen. 

Like a good teacher, Father taught us to read the sacred art throughout the day at the simple Basilica di S. Lorenzo fuori le mura, the historically amazing Basilica San Clemente , and the majestic Basilica di S. Giovanni in Laterano. As 21st century Catholics walking into the 12th century church of St Clement (a slave who became the fourth pope), which had been built upon the site of a 4th century church with the excavations of a first century house below it we experienced a sense of unity with all who have gone before us in faith. On this day filled with sacred images of fullness of life in Christ we happened upon both a funeral and a wedding . Father's message that sacred art is intended to be easily read is expressed in the office of readings for today:

“The glory of God gives life; those who see God receive life. For this reason God, who cannot be grasped, comprehended or seen, allows himself to be seen, comprehended and grasped by men, that he may give life to those who see and receive him.” St. Irenaeus, bishop martyred around the year 200.