Recent Happenings in the Eternal City

Well things have gotten into somewhat of a routine here the past couple of weeks with the start of school.  Yesterday marked the end of week two of my classes at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (a.k.a. The Angelicum or The Ang) and so far so good.  Since we finish our degree in only 3 years here as opposed to 4 back home, we end up taking a good number of classes.  This semester I am taking 8 courses: Fundamental Theology, Intro to Scripture, The Acts of the Apostles, Intro to Theology, The Pentateuch,  Biblical Greek, Intro to Patristics and Ancient Church History.  Lucky for me I go to one classroom and the teachers change out each class so I don't really have to remember which class I have on a given day...I just make my way to my classroom and wait.  The setup for classes here is spoiling me already.  We have 4 - 45 min classes each morning starting at 8:30.  After each 45 min class we get a 15 min break, even if the class goes over two of the periods...it is quite nice!  Even better, there is a coffee bar in the university about 30 seconds from my classroom, so we are able to have a nice cappuccino in between classes...this does wonders to help one stay awake and alert in class...not that it matters for me, but it is a big help for those who have trouble with that sort of thing!

Another great experience, which I mentioned briefly in my last post was being able to attend a Papal Mass in St. Peter's Square where Pope Benedict and Holy Mother Church elevated 6 people to Sainthood.  Among them of note for the NAC community, were Sts. Mary MacKillop and Br. Andre Bessette.  St. Mary MacKillop is the first saint from Australia and so the Aussie population in the house was glowing and gitty with excitement for the big day.  St. Andre was a Holy Cross brother from Canada, so the 1 1/2 Canadians in the house along with some from the Northern U.S. were also very excited.  I was able to share in the excitement of the day by attending the mass with about 6 of my Australian brothers and a fellow American.  We really got to enter into the excitement as we (the two Americans) were assigned to prepare and hold the Australian flag...we were honorary Aussies for a day!  It was great to see how getting a saint really boosted the guys faith.  Not only were they happy and proud to have a saint from their motherland, but they were also excited about what her canonization was doing for the Church in Australia.  There were many people who came to Rome for the canonization and the guys here were telling us of the effect St. Mary was having back home.  The faith of the people was truly increased by having a concrete and personal example of how to live a Christian life.  I feel like I truly got to see what the whole meaning behind having devotions to saints is all about.  Also, being at mass with the Holy Father was amazing.  It was the first time since Would Youth Day in 2005 that I have attended mass with him and I was reminded of the universality of the Church and the pope's role as chief shepherd of the flock on earth.  A final amazing thing about the mass was that my next door neighbor here at the college got to chant the gospel.  He was one of the men recently ordained a deacon in St. Peter's, so at that point he was a deacon for less than two weeks.  He chanted the gospel in Latin in front of the Pope, several cardinals, a plethora of bishops priests and deacons, and o yeah a square full of people!  I mean it was time, he had been a deacon for almost 2 whole weeks!

I guess that is about it for now.  I hope that all is well back home.  Let us remain united in prayer.

In Christ,
Patrick