More Jam - Thursday and Friday - 14-15 June 2012

In Search of...

Thursday is the last day of the conference and it concludes with a concelebrated mass at All Saints C of E near the Spanish Steps.  A choir from Durham, England is in residence, so our mass has beauty of song, as well as word and sacrament.  It's both lovely and sad, having made new friends, it is difficult to part with them.  Following the mass, Lizette and I go and have lunch somewhere along Santa Croce.  And then we part ways.  I have writing and shopping to do, as does she.  We agree to meet the next day at Piazza Navona.

And so we do at a café near the Neptune group.  We have coffee and talk about the Society and its role in the church.  We also talk about Navona, and the wonderful shops that surround it.  We decide to go to see the Basilica of Saint Laurence outside the Walls.  This means that we have to navigate getting there, which involves a bus trip to Termini, and then by foot to the church, which I remember as being close.  It is not, but on the way we pass Porto Maggiore, and the remains of its aqueduct and ancillary buildings.  Nearby is Santa Croce in Jerusalem, but we resist the temptation, and wend our way to San Lorenzo.


Finally I do something I never do.  I ask directions from a passing priest, and he supplies them, sort of.  It's still some distance, because, unknown to us, we are not taking the hypotenuse of the triangle.  When we get there it's closed.  So its off to lunch in a little restaurant that Barton and I visited in 1989.

So it's the cemetery that we will do.  We wander around and fine wonderful things, such as the Cappuchin tower that marks the spot of their cenotaph and chapel.  I had always thought that it was Fransiscan, and empty.  Now it appears to be finished and honoring another order.

Most of the tombs are Nineteenth Century, and are of a similar nature, but some really stand out.  Here, not in the city itself, I can find Secessionist buildings, such as in the picture to the left.  This had almost a Mayan effect, others were more brutal, or highly ornamented in a stylized way.

Soon our hours pass and its time for Saint Laurence, so we go next door.  The purpose of the cemetery is, Lizette thinks, to be buried in proximity of the saint.  The church is surrounded by the cemetery, and the church is cut into the hill upon which the cemetery is located.

It's a delight to see this fourth century church, magnificent in its simplicity.  There have been some restorations and changes, but not to the extent that we witnessed at Saints Peter and Paul.  Here one gets the effect that early Christian pilgrims would have experienced.  There is wonderful inlay both in the floors, but also in the Paschal Candlestand, the Ambo, and the Pulpit.  Beautiful!  I especially like the ciborium over the altar.  We go down to the crypt, but most of it is gated and locked.  Lizette tries each one, but to no avail.

The portico is painted with the life of the saint, and there are several pagan and Christianized sarcophagi both inside and out.  We linger and linger - it is a magical place.

Finally it is time to go.  We grab a bus into Rome, hoping to get to Santa Maria Maggiore before it closes.  I make a mistake and we get off too early, so we stop for a drink and walk the rest of the "Processional Way".  It is closed when we get there, but Lizette has two more days here.

I notice up beyond the baroque porch a mosaic that I had never seen before.  It is quite beautiful.  We decide to part ways.  I am really tired, and Lizette needs her time as well.  It has been a very special thing to spend a day with her, especially in this context.

I take a cab back to Campo fiori, and go to the hotel to rest and to write.  At nine I go out to have dinner: amuse bouche of lentils, and a separate plate of olives and mozzarella in cream, carciofi alla romana, timbale con fungi, angel, and fruita di bosco con gelato.


I go back to pack and to rest.  Tomorrow is home!

Arrividerci Roma!