..this
is the post that will be about the whole adventure of the canonization at the
Vatican because truly there was no end and subsequent beginning to Saturday and
Sunday….this was the most incredible, inspiring, awesome experience, and I cant
believe that I was there!....
…our
Saturday started late morning….we knew we were camping out for the canonization
and so we probably wouldn’t get much sleep, so we were taking advantage of the
beds at the hostel….when we finally did wake up and get ready, we left our bags
for the day with the hostel and took off to find ourselves some cappuccinos and
pastries….
…then
were off on a kinda odd adventure, when we were in St. Peter’s Square on
Friday, Kaitlyn had seen a hill really close with a church at the top that
would be great for taking pictures so we were off to find it….it would be on
the other side of the Vatican from us so we just took off walking the wall…and
walked….and walked….all the way around the Vatican City…only to find out that
was part of the University of the Pope and it was closed to the public during
this weekend because of the busyness Id assume….so we just headed back into the
Square…..but on our way inside we were stopped by a police motorcade taking
like 6 or 7 cars into the Vatican, so apparently some great dignitaries, there
were supposed to be dignitaries there from 42 countries….
…but
once inside we went around to buy our gifts of rosaries and such and then were
off to the nearest grocery store to buy food for dinner and breakfast, then
went back to the hostel to drop it all off with our bags…..then it was off for
our 2pm entrance into the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel….unfortunately the
tour itself was much more expense so my friends decided to do without so I was
very thankful that I got to do that the last time I was in Rome….but again we
got to skip the incredibly long line….and were in….we took our time and I
basically told Kaitlyn everything I remembered about my tour from 3 years
earlier which wasn’t much….but we had a lot of fun…..Kaitlyn isn’t Catholic but
she is just the kind of person who finds it interesting so she kept asking
questions just like the weekend before when she came with me to Easter Vigil at
the Duomo in Florence…..so I think I told her the simple version of everything
I think I learned growing up….it was really fun actually J….we got to see so much, I truly think that this museum is one of the best ive ever been to because they have such a collection of everything, and then it culminates with the Sistine Chapel and lets be honest that place is amazing….
….we
some how left through the groups only exit and ended up right at the steps of
the Basilica, and got to see the changing of the Swiss Guard which was pretty
cool…..but then it was time to head back to the hostel, grab our bags and some paninis and go
find where to start camping out…..
…we
had been asking just about every officer we had seen all weekend long when the
square was closing and opening and where and where we could stay….and we kept
just getting different answers, and people were already camping out in the
square…..so we decided to ask one more guy and he was the best, spoke perfect English
and told us just exactly the answer to our questions…..he told us they were
closing the square at 7pm and opening it at 5am Sunday, and that then end of
the street were the only gates that would open and there was where to go camp
out…..so we set out down the street with all of our things….and then we hear
some American English from this guy in a Seahawks shirt so I stop him and ask
if he is (because my mom told me to talk to people and hear their stories this
weekend) and come to find out he is a news producer for a news station in Miami…..so
they interviewed us for TV it was so so so cool!!!
….after
the interview which they said were some of the best soundbites J
(im still looking to try to find it online, so ill post a link if I can)….we
were off to the end of the street which was filling fast and it was only 6pm….eventually
we found a place and sat down to set up a bit….the wind was picking up so we
hurried to put down our trash bags then the sleeping bag I brought to sit on,
then put our bags into plastic and then had just enough time to sit down and
get out umbrellas up before it started to sprinkle and we could start to hear
the thunder and see a few flashes….we were worried that it would be like this
all night but no one else was moving so we knew we were fine….
…we
started talking to the people around us and met a really nice couple from
Yorkshire, England, Isabel and Ted, and a younger man (about 5 years older than
us), Oliver, from France….they were all so nice and ended up being out little “group”
for the night….we just sat and waited out the rain, which did end up stopping
about 7 or 7:30/…..so then I decided it was a good time to head off to the
bathrooms…
…as
I was heading back I heard this older Irish lady saying, “excuse me, sweetheart”….i
turned around to realize that she was looking at me…and she continued to ask me
if I would walk her back to her seat….i giggle to myself and did….but man she
was like the Irish Jimmy Broyles…she had soooo many stories! She spent most of
the walk telling me about working at the Plaza Hotel as the owner’s assistant….and
so many others….when I got her back to her seat and met her friends, I told her
I was going back to mine and she said oh just one moment ill walk a little with
oyu I have one more story…she continues to tell me that one of the ladies I had
just met, Olive Watson, was astigmatist, she hadn’t eaten food or drank water
in 15 YEARS! She had been solely living on the blessed sacrament….i was floored….if
that isn’t faith im not sure what is….so that was an amazing person to me…..Eilen
Sweeney J
….when
I returned, Oliver got back and said that people were starting to pack and we
were going to have to move soon….see in situations like these you want to be in
the front 1/3 not only to get into the square but mostly to stay in the safe
zone and keep from getting trampled by the sheer incredible number of people….so
at about 9pm we were up packing into the street…..but after a bit we realized
we weren’t moving anytime soon, so we sat right there for another 2 or so hours…..while
we were sitting here Isabel and I started talking, she told me that 9 months
previous she had been told she had terminal liver cancer, with 95% of her liver
riddled with cancer….they started attacking it with radiaton but eventually she
stopped and said that wasn’t how she wanted to spend her last 6-12 months….she
started praying instead, and in 1 month she went back for a scan and suddenly
the cancer was gone but replaced with 2 big tumors that when biopsied weren’t cancer
but weren’t fine either…..no one knows what they are but she doesn’t have
cancer anymore J…..so
then I told her my story, and then we found out that Oliver had also had
testicular cancer…..what were the odds that 3 cancer patients met up for this…..and
3 of all numbers……it was then oliver said that we would get into the square J
….at
about 11pm everyone started moving and we packed in so so tight…..to the point I
wasn’t holding my body up at all, just being held up by the people around us….and
we continued to stand like that for the next 2 hours….until they finally opened
the gate to the first cross street at 1am because it was so dangerous how we
were…..and honestly im so surprised no one died when they opened those gates….because
it was all we could do to stay together and go in…..we lost ted and Isabel amongst
the 10s of 1,000s of people….but we all got stopped at the first cross street
until about 2am….standing of course…..then they let us into the 2nd
cross street and stopped us…and thankfully we had enough room to sit and sleep
a bit until 4am….when someone start clapping so everyone got up and pushed
together again and we stood that way until the gates to the square opened at
5:30am…
…from
then on it was extremely slow going because they would make a string of about
100 big guys who would snake through the crowd across the street in order to
divide us into groups of about 1,000 or 5,000 I guess. I didn’t really pay
attention to the numbers…..but then once we got to go in with the group we thought
that was as far as we could go….but the police kept telling us to move around the
square so we did and realized they were pushing us to the explosive detectors
to enter the square!....i was so so so excited…..we made it into the back right
quarter (facing the altar) about 1/3 back from the barrier at about 7am…..after
12 hours of waiting, standing…we made it…..
…thankfully
we were able to sit and sleep until about 9am…something really only the 250,000
in the square had enough room to do….the 600,000 in the street behind were
packed much too tightly…..so we took advantage…until it began at 9:30…
…this
part wasn’t showed on tv but they started the “pre celebration” which was made
up of prayers, singing, and 5 moments from the lives of the two popes. 3
passages from homilies of JP II and 2 from homilies of John XXIII…..then the
real deal began….and it was amazing
…I
wish there were better words to describe it all….but as soon as the parade of
saints started and it clicked where I was what I was seeing I was getting
choked up just trying to get out “ora pro nobis”…but then Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI came out and the tears started to flow….and then when Pope Francis
came out I couldn’t even kind of contain it….i was just so moved to be there….to
see all the flags and hear people praying in every language I knew, and even
more I didn’t….and realize that the million people there and the other 500,000
scattered at the 17 screens around Rome were mostly all Catholics…..it gave a
whole new meaning to the Universal church….it made you so so proud to be a
Catholic….
…Francis
started with the canonization and it was sprinkling a bit, but after he was
presented the relics, kissed them, and as soon as he said, “we from now on will
recognize Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII as Saints and part of the Holy
Catholic Communion of Saints…” …the rain stopped and the sun came out…the kind
of sun you can feel before you can see…..it was amazing! You could hear
everyone around you say the same thing too “the sun is ot”…..i just turned to
Kaitlyn, and said, how can people not believe in something bigger than us…..it
was so so cool….
….mass
then continued as a normal one, just in Latin, it was wonderful, but then when
communion started, I was standing up after the consecration, when I see all of
these yellow and white umbrellas coming my way….no one in the crowd thought we
would receive the sacrament…but sure enough it was hundreds and hundreds of
priests coming to the people….we made our way to the barrier and received the
body of Christ as consecrated by the Holy Father Pope Francis…..it was the best
moment of my life….scratch #1 off my bucket list (it makes me teary just remembering
as I write this)….
…at
the end of mass, we all found out that during the Apostolic blessing all the
rosaries or reglious tokens on our person had been blessed….that was so so cool…thankfully
after mass Oliver told us we couldn’t go yet, and sure enough as I looked up
front, I saw the Pope Mobile roll up…..we stood some more, waiting for him to
finishing saying goodbye to the dignitaries before he got in the car and drove
right by all of us….i was about 10 feet away as he looked at us when we drove
by….it was absolutely amazing….my experience at the Vatican was perfectly
complete….
…after
we made our way out, it hit us how much we wanted to be separate from the
masses of people and how badly our feet hurt from 12 hours of standing and how
badly we needed a bathroom after not being able to go for 14 hours….so we
stopped a few blocks away for some lunch and then went straight to the airport….we
were there 6 hours early but it didn’t even matter because we were able to just
sit and rest….eventually our flight left and we were home in a few hours….it
was one of the busiest, but best weekends ive ever experienced….from saying I was
going to go the day the date was set almost 9 months ago to actually being
there, it was such a blessing and something I will never forget….it has all
come full circle…..God is good and life is beautiful
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