Day 13: A Day of Surprises
As we did most nights, we had planned out what we were going to do the night before. Maria really wanted to go to daily mass, so we searched the MassTimes app and double checked parish websites to find an accurate time for August schedule. Nico didn’t want to go to the 730 am mass at the closest parish, so we found another not far at Santa Maria in Vallicella. The only thing we knew was that they were having mass. As we rounded the last corner, we saw a sign that said Oratorio. We knew that one of the patron saints of Rome, St Philip Neri, had oratories, but we had no idea where they might be. It just happens that not only was this church one of them, but it was also the one that contained his remains. We ended up having mass at the altar where he is buried! Never did we imagine that we were going to be so blessed!
We headed next for our long drive. We had to take a bus to the airport to pick up a rental car in order to drive to San Giovanni Rotondo. The bus ride is about an hour. It took us about 30 minutes to wind through the airport to find the car rental hall. Then a 40 minute wait in line. We were supposed to pick up the car by 10 am, but it was 1 pm by the time I was finalizing the paperwork. Then we had to find our way up to the car parking before we could hit the road. From the airport to San Giovanni Rotondo it is about a four and a half hour drive, but then there was an accident that slowed us down even more. I worried that we weren’t going to make it until after everything closed, but we had just enough time.
We stopped once during the drive, right when the traffic was stopped for the accident at a service area. Maria said she had to go to the bathroom, so Nico and I waited in the car. She came back in a couple of minutes to share, “The lines not moving, can we go somewhere else?” It’s not as if there were any options, so I told her to just be patient. She came back really quickly with a big smile on her face. I assumed that she used her charm and jumped to the front of the line. “No,” she shared,” it turns out that the line was for a bus. As soon as I realized I walked past and everything was empty.” We all had a big laugh.
Fianlly, we left the nice big highway (much better than England and Ireland by the way), took the smaller, rural route up the hills to San Giovanni Rotondo. We had time to walk through the old church and museum, which is filled with more relics than you can imagine of St Pio of Pietrelcina. We venerated where the signs indicate his tomb, but there was nothing there. We ended up asking a cleaning women in our broken Italian, who explained that it was in a church around the corner. At least that is what we understood. Eventually, we found the pilgrim office where we found someone who spoke more English who explained his remains are now in the newer, lower church. It was closed at the time, but there would be a rosary at 830. We were happy.
We found a quick bite to eat and then headed back. Our timing was perfect, as the line was short. What an experience to venerate the remains of the saint who had sparked María’s reconversion, especially she is the one who inspired mine. And then to be praying the rosary in Italian with a big group of people including a capuchin friar? Wow! Well, they were praying in Italian. We were trying but mostly said it in Spanish or Latin. It was still a nice way to end the day before heading to the hotel to sleep.
We stopped once during the drive, right when the traffic was stopped for the accident at a service area. Maria said she had to go to the bathroom, so Nico and I waited in the car. She came back in a couple of minutes to share, “The lines not moving, can we go somewhere else?” It’s not as if there were any options, so I told her to just be patient. She came back really quickly with a big smile on her face. I assumed that she used her charm and jumped to the front of the line. “No,” she shared,” it turns out that the line was for a bus. As soon as I realized I walked past and everything was empty.” We all had a big laugh.
Fianlly, we left the nice big highway (much better than England and Ireland by the way), took the smaller, rural route up the hills to San Giovanni Rotondo. We had time to walk through the old church and museum, which is filled with more relics than you can imagine of St Pio of Pietrelcina. We venerated where the signs indicate his tomb, but there was nothing there. We ended up asking a cleaning women in our broken Italian, who explained that it was in a church around the corner. At least that is what we understood. Eventually, we found the pilgrim office where we found someone who spoke more English who explained his remains are now in the newer, lower church. It was closed at the time, but there would be a rosary at 830. We were happy.
We found a quick bite to eat and then headed back. Our timing was perfect, as the line was short. What an experience to venerate the remains of the saint who had sparked María’s reconversion, especially she is the one who inspired mine. And then to be praying the rosary in Italian with a big group of people including a capuchin friar? Wow! Well, they were praying in Italian. We were trying but mostly said it in Spanish or Latin. It was still a nice way to end the day before heading to the hotel to sleep.